Boy's mountain death 'bad luck'

An 11-year-old boy died instantly when he fell while trying to climb Snowdon on a trip with his football team, an inquest at Caernarfon has heard.

Liam Costello, from Childwall in Liverpool, was trying to climb up to the ridge at Crib Goch when a rock he was grasping broke away.

Six adults and about 12 children had taken part in the trip last October.

Coroner Dewi Pritchard-Jones said Liam's fall was "sheer bad luck" and recorded a verdict of accidental death.

The inquest was told the trip was organised by parents of children in Liam's football team.

Liam's father, also called Liam Costello, told the inquest he had taken a group of eight-year-olds by one route to the summit.

Liam had been taking a slightly more adventurous route up Snowdon with another parent, Keith Davies, and his two sons aged 12 and eight.

Mr Davies, of Childwall Road, Liverpool, an experienced hill-walker, described how Liam had fallen backwards when a rock gave way.

"There's no such thing as a safe mountain"
Coroner Dewi Pritchard-Jones

The inquest also heard from Det Constable Tim Bird, a mountain expert, who said he had found a football glove and football cards on the path of Liam's fall.

The coroner said it had been a sensible decision to split the group into younger and older children.

He also praised the parents for having organised the trip, despite the tragedy, saying such visits gave children a "sense of adventure" and that it was better than children "hanging around on street corners".

Mr Pritchard-Jones said there was no way Mr Davies could have anticipated the rock breaking away and could not be criticised for choosing the route.

He added he was sometimes criticised for referring to mountain accidents as "sheer bad luck" but said this was a classic case.

"There's no such thing as a safe mountain," he said.

"Thousands of people go up Snowdon every year and come to no harm."

Liam, an Everton fan, had just started secondary school at St Francis Xavier's College when the accident happened.

Mr Costello said at his funeral there was no-one to blame for the "tragic accident".

He described him as "a fabulous boy with time and compassion for everyone" somebody who "touched the hearts of everyone he met."

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