Following a four-day inquest held last week before the Senior Coroner for Essex, the jury returned its conclusions about the tragic death of nine-year-old Leo Latifi. Leo was killed in May 2019 when a locker unit in a swimming pool changing room at Great Baddow High School toppled over, having not been securely fixed to the wall. The Coroner considered that Article 2 was engaged, and the jury returned a narrative conclusion.
They found that the death resulted from an accident that “was significantly contributed to by a lack of appropriate assessment to a clear and obvious risk in relation to a locker-unit not being re-secured to a solid wall as per manufacturer’s instructions. This remained the case for an extensive period of time…. some six years.” They went on to conclude that: “We the jury agree that inadequate precautions and training measures were taken to address this failure and therefore prevent Leo Latifi’s death.”
Matthew Flinn, instructed by Sarah Saldanha at Leigh Day, represented the family in the inquest, which has attracted significant media attention.
Leigh Day’s press release about the inquest can be found here.
