How did Ben Leonard die? Scout Association held accountable over 16-year-old boy's death during summer camping trip 

The Scout Association faces scrutiny and public outcry following the tragic death of 16-year-old Ben Leonard during a summer camping trip.

On August 26, 2018, Ben Leonard fell 200 feet off a cliff while on a Scout trip to North Wales. However, the Scout Association and one of its employees are subjected to further investigation, added in an inquest on February 22, 2024, as per The Sky News.

In an inquest in October 2018, the jury stated that Scout leaders unlawfully killed Ben for not supervising the kid, as seen in the publication. As per The Mirror, Ben's mother gave a statement as the inquest concluded the death of her son,

"We’ve never had any faith or trust in the Scouts. This verdict must surely now mean they have to be regulated by an external body."

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Inquest reveals grim truth: Scout Association under scrutiny after Ben Leonard's fatal camping trip

Ben Leonard, a 16-year-old boy from Stockport, Greater Manchester, went for a scout trip to North Wales in 2018. Sky News said he fell off a 200ft cliff at Great Orme in Llandudno on August 26, 2018.

In an inquest in October 2018, the jury heard that Ben and two other friends went off another route and possibly lost the track. However, the Scout Association and one of their employees, whose name cannot be revealed due to legal reasons, were referred to the police for further investigation. As per the publication, the scout leader did not supervise the kids and lost them.

As seen in The Mirror, Ben Leonard and his two friends took an unsupervised route and lost the track. However, to find his way back, he slipped off the 200 ft cliff and fell on the road and got fatal head injuries, which he couldn't survive and died.

Assistant coroner for North Wales, East and Central, David Pojur, subjected the Scout Association and an employee to North Wales police for the "unlawful" killing of the young boy. This was done in the third inquest on Thursday, February 22, 2024, as seen on Sky News.

A representative image of a cliff from where Ben fell off (Image via Getty)

Jackie Leonard, the mother of Ben Leonard, commented after the inquest concluded into the death of her son, as seen in The Mirror, she said,

"Waiting so long for this verdict means we’ve lived in limbo for years. We’ve been unable to move forward, with the strange feeling that somehow Ben has not been allowed to die until we finally get a death certificate. Now he can be in peace."

She further added,

"We’ve never had any faith or trust in the Scouts. This verdict must surely now mean they have to be regulated by an external body. We also feel that right at the beginning, the Scouts relied on the fact that we didn’t understand why we would need legal representation, particularly in our fog of grief."

Speaking about the Scout Association, the mother added,

"Normal people can’t necessarily afford the level of legal representation we’ve had throughout this inquest because there is no legal aid, and we were up against the enormity of the whole Scouts organisation."

As seen in Sky News, the first two inquests were aborted. At the beginning of this inquest on February 22, 2024, The Scout Association took complete responsibility for the incident and apologized for the loss.