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| Head guilty after fatal step fall | |
| (about 1 hour later) | |
| The headmaster of a private school in Bangor has been found guilty of a breach of health and safety laws after the death of a three-year-old pupil. | The headmaster of a private school in Bangor has been found guilty of a breach of health and safety laws after the death of a three-year-old pupil. |
| Kian Williams died a month after jumping off brick steps at Hillgrove School while pretending to be Batman. | Kian Williams died a month after jumping off brick steps at Hillgrove School while pretending to be Batman. |
| James Porter, 66, was convicted by an 11-to-one majority after a seven-day trial at Mold Crown Court. | James Porter, 66, was convicted by an 11-to-one majority after a seven-day trial at Mold Crown Court. |
| The judge said Kian had been allowed unsupervised access to the steps which exposed him other children to risk. | |
| Kindergarten pupil Kian, from Bethesda, had been carrying a Spiderman toy when he jumped from the fourth step from the bottom of the flight. | |
| He landed face forwards, causing head injuries which led to a coma and pneumonia, and died in hospital a month later. | |
| Kian Williams had been at Hillgrove School for two terms | |
| The jury was told there had been only one teacher on duty when the incident happened during the morning break, who was supervising 59 pupils. | |
| The teacher had positioned herself so she could supervise both upper and lower playgrounds. | |
| But she had been unable to monitor the steps - to which there was no physical barrier - from where she was. | |
| Summing up, Nicholas Jones had told the jury it must not be fooled into thinking that the Health and Safety Executive (HSE) charge against Mr Porter was very precise. | |
| No-one was saying that the steps at the school were dangerous in themselves, he said. | |
| 'One in a million' | |
| But Kian had been allowed unsupervised access to the steps which exposed him and the 10 other three and four-year-olds in the kindergarten class to a risk to their health or safety. | |
| He said more staff should have been on duty, and there was no reason why a gate erected following the accident in July 2004, could not have been put up before. | |
| Defence barrister Patrick Harrington had previously told the court it was a "one in a million" accident, and had highlighted the school's exceptionally good accident record. | |
| The only penalty under the Act is financial. This is not a case which carries imprisonment, Judge Rogers | |
| Porter, who also owns the school, had told the court that Kian had known he was in an out-of-bounds area. | |
| He said that the playground supervision was sufficient because of ethos of the school, whose pupils were well behaved and looked after each other. | |
| The accident could have occurred if four people had been on duty, he said. | |
| Before they jury had retired to consider the verdict, Judge Rogers had warned them to consider the case "with their heads and not with their hearts". | |
| He called it a tragic, heart-breaking case, but said they could not reach verdicts based on emotion, but by considering the evidence in an objective way. | |
| After the verdict he adjourned the case for sentencing saying: "The financial resources are of relevance in determining the penalty. | |
| "The only penalty under the Act is financial. This is not a case which carries imprisonment," he said. | |
| Porter, who had denied breaching health and safety laws, was given bail until the 28 September, when he will return to court to be sentenced. |