TWO gravestones that fell and injured children, in one case fatally, were just 25 yards apart in the same cemetery, a fatal accident inquiry has heard.
Police had warned Glasgow City Council chiefs of dangers following the first accident at Craigton Cemetery, six years before Ciaran Williamson was tragically killed, the hearing was told.
The details emerged during the final day of evidence at the inquiry into the eight-year-old’s death at Glasgow Sheriff Court.
The youngster died instantly and painlesslywhen the seven-foot high memorial fell on him on May 26, 2015.
In a joint minute, the details of a previous accident in 2010 were read out by Dorothy Bain, QC, representing Ciaran’s mother Stephanie Griffin.
Ms Bain explained that on July 29, 2010 about 9.40pm, 14-year-old Ross Browning was injured in an accident in the cemetery involving a “decorative pediment of a memorial”.
It added the child had been sitting on a gravestone’s plinth as a friend climbed a tree and had put a foot on the higher piece of the memorial.
Ross, according to a police
incident report from the time, said he “could not feel his legs” and was taken to hospital.
He was discharged in the early hours of the morning with an
abrasion on his back.
The court heard that the distance between both stones involved in the accidents was just 25 yards - around 22 metres.
A police officer who worked as a local sergeant at the time of the incident was also giving evidence in court yesterday.
Inspector Alan Kirk, a local sergeant at the time of the Ross Browning incident, was questioned by Ms Bain and Mark Stewart, QC, representing Glasgow City Council.
The inspector read from a police report that stated an officer had tried to contact the council just after 9am the day after the accident. Nobody answered the phone, it stated.
Ms Bain, referring to the report, said: “It specifically says ‘contact the council and make them aware of the dangers within the graveyard’.”
Another entry stated “Contact council please”, according to Ms Bain.
Inspector Kirk was asked if he remembered speaking to anyone specifically about the incident to which he replied the report
indicated he spoke to a Lucille Fury, the then bereavement services manager for Glasgow City Council.
He also said he spoke to Alex Stewart, the council’s operations manager at the time, who looked after 32 cemeteries, about the incident.
Ms Bain mentioned another entry in the police report, which referred to comments made during a telephone conversation between an officer and an unidentified woman named Catriona Johnston.
It stated: “Catriona Johnston has been spoken to and states she has to deal with thousands of pounds worth of vandalism at cemeteries, including this one.
“She suspects [Ross Browning] has tried to pull the stone over or his friend has.
“She said most gravestones are safe unless someone tries to pull or push them.”
Mark Stewart, QC, asked Inspector Kirk if he was sure he did speak to Lucille Fury, or could he have reached her office instead.
Inspector Kirk replied that if the report stated he spoke to Ms Fury then he believes he did. However, he could not remember the exact incident from seven years ago.
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