News

Inquiry rules on death of Edinburgh school girl

Whole-school issues
No reasonable precautions could have been taken to avoid the death of an Edinburgh pupil who died after a school changing room wall collapsed on top of her, a fatal accident inquiry (FAI) has ruled.

Keane Wallis-Bennett, a pupil at Liberton High in the south of the city, died aged 12 when a freestanding “modesty” wall in her school’s old PE block fell on the morning of April 1, 2014.

A determination has now been released by sheriff principal Mhairi Stephen after a two-week FAI in Edinburgh earlier this year.

Sheriff principal Stephen said the “innocent high-spirited behaviour” of pupils who braced against the wall just before it fell was enough to push it past its tipping point.

“There are no reasonable precautions I can propose whereby Keane’s death or the accident might have been avoided,” she said.

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