Cave death council to face court

Joe went missing as his party made their way out of the cave system

A council is to be prosecuted over a boy's drowning during a school caving trip three years ago.

Joe Lister, 14, died when floodwater swept through Manchester Hole Cave in the Yorkshire Dales in November 2005.

He was one of 11 Tadcaster Grammar School pupils visiting the cave during a week at Bewerley Park Outdoor Education Centre in North Yorkshire.

The Health and Safety Executive (HSE) is bringing the prosecution against North Yorkshire County Council.

The prosecutions follow a joint investigation by the HSE and North Yorkshire Police.

North Yorkshire County Council, which owns and operates the outdoor education centre, faces charges under the Health and Safety at Work Act (1974).

Terrified

The charges allege the authority's failure to ensure the safety at work of its employees, including the Tadcaster Grammar School teacher who accompanied the school group.

Another charge relates to the authority's alleged failure to ensure the safety of persons not in its employment, namely the Tadcaster Grammar School pupils including Joe Lister.

The case will be heard at Harrogate Magistrates' Court on 27 February.

An inquest heard water levels rose to flood the exit route from a section of the cave, forcing the terrified youngsters to swim for their lives.

Local experts said the cave was prone to flooding when water was being blown over the top of a reservoir dam three miles from the cave.

The reservoir had risen by 5ft in the days before the tragedy.

The 11 pupils reached the bottom of the 500-metre cave system when water levels suddenly rose.

The jury returned a narrative verdict, blaming, among other things, weather conditions and the overspill from the reservoir as reasons for the tragedy.