Inquest due over polar bear attack on Jersey boy

Friday 18 July 2014

A coroner will deliver his conclusions at the inquest of an Eton schoolboy mauled to death by a polar bear that also attacked a Jersey schoolboy before being shot by tour leaders.

Ian Singleton, assistant coroner for Wiltshire and Swindon, adjourned the week-long hearing last Friday until 3pm today.

Horatio Chapple, 17, was on an adventure holiday to the remote Svalbard islands in August 2011 with the British Schools Exploring Society (BSES) when he died.

The teenager, from Salisbury, Wiltshire, was sleeping in his tent when the bear went on the rampage, inflicting fatal injuries to his head and upper body.

Four others were hurt before the bear was shot dead at the camp site where the group, known as Chanzin Fire, had been staying.

Also injured during the incident were trip leader Michael "Spike" Reid, from Plymouth, Devon, Andrew Ruck, from Brighton, Patrick Flinders, from Jersey, and Scott Bennell-Smith, from St Mellion in Cornwall.

Mr Singleton decided to adjourn the hearing after listening to legal submissions, including from Lizanne Gumbel QC, representing the Chapple family, urging him to consider the issue of "neglect".

During the inquest, Ms Gumbel has criticised BSES for providing "unsafe" equipment, particularly the tripwire system which had missing parts and had been modified using paperclips by the expedition group.

The tripwire failed to go off prior to the bear attack, although expedition leaders pointed out during the hearing that Norwegian police had suggested this was caused by the bear knocking the post over rather than not triggering the wire.

In an independent report into the bear attack by High Court judge Sir David Steel, commissioned by BSES, he criticised the society for its reliance on the tripwire system.

He said that a bear watch should be used instead and also called for an overhaul of rifle training.