A 12-year-old girl was killed by an ‘inherently unstable’ wall after two other students pushed against it while ‘mucking about’ in the school gym, an official investigation has found.
Keane Wallis-Bennett was killed in April 2014 when she was hit by a 6ft 6in ‘modesty wall’ as she got changed for PE at Liberton High School in Edinburgh.
A fatal accident inquiry (FAI) held at Edinburgh Sheriff Court examined the tragedy and said two students accidentally tipped it on top of her while they were ‘mucking about’.
Experts said the gym wall was old and ‘unstable’ because it was poorly made and also had an internal crack.
Sheriff Principal Mhairi Stephen said today: ‘No pupil should shoulder any responsibility or burden whatsoever in the wake of what happened.’
Keane Wallis-Bennett (pictured) died when a shorter modesty wall in the PE block at Liberton High School in Edinburgh collapsed on her on April 1 2014
The Gym Hall at Liberton High School where Miss Wallis-Bennett was killed was later pulled down
Sheriff Principal Stephen concluded the immediate cause of the collapse was ‘the application of a lateral force to the wall sufficient to push it beyond its tipping point’.
Keane was getting changed when the wall collapsed on top of her, leaving her fatally injured
In her findings, she said: ‘It is probable that the activities of other pupils who were braced between the freestanding ‘privacy wall’ and the shower wall was sufficient to cause the wall to move beyond the tipping point.
‘The lateral force generated by the innocent high-spirited behaviour of those pupils could push it past its tipping point due to the wall being inherently unstable and liable to sudden collapse.
‘The unstable nature of the wall was the real cause of the accident.’
She concluded: ‘There are no reasonable precautions I can propose whereby Keane’s death or the accident might have been avoided.’
The sheriff principal added that the incident had been ‘horrific’ and praised the ‘courage and maturity’ of the pupils who gave evidence.
She said: ‘The actions of pupils over many years many have unwittingly contributed to this inherently unstable painted monolith cracking’.
The children who put pressure on the wall should not be blamed for the tragic death of Keane, pictured with her brother Ryan
The school’s privact wall was wobbly and also had a hidden crack, which all helped it collapse
The sheriff principal found that the instability of the wall had been caused by its design and construction, and also an internal defect or crack that had occurred long before and ‘would not be obvious on visual inspection’.
Flowers at the school gates after Keane’s death, which shocked the whole community
‘The potential risks from free-standing masonry walls in the light of the evidence to this inquiry is clear,’ she said.
‘Measures were taken by the Health and Safety Executive, in conjunction with the Scottish Government, in 2014 to warn and raise awareness of these risks.
‘All reasonable steps should be taken to reinforce that warning to ensure that measures are taken in both the public and private domain to assess the risk of the continued use of such walls.’
Consideration should be given to measures to strengthen similar walls or remove them, she said.
The sheriff principal also paid tribute to Keane as a ‘much-loved daughter, sister and friend’.
‘She was clearly a popular and well-liked pupil in senior 1 at Liberton High School.
‘Her devoted parents are clearly bereft and attended the inquiry not only as a mark of their love for Keane, but also in an impressively dignified search for answers about what happened on April 1 2014.
‘I offer my sympathy to them, and to Keane’s family and friends.’