Death of boy, 10, near playground sparks major safety probe

25 October 2023 , 06:06

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Shea Ryan fell six metres to his death in a manhole (Image: DAILY RECORD)

Police are probing the death of a schoolboy at a building site after reports he fell through a manhole while playing with his friends.

Shea Ryan, 10, fell through the hole at the site in Drumchapel, Scotland, in July 2020, plunging more than six metres into the water below. Glasgow Sheriff Court heard how the youngster had been with friends and had bypassed insecure fencing before sitting near the manhole cover only 60 metres from a children's play park.

The schoolboy had begun to climb down the ladder, prosecutor Saud Ul-Hassan told the court, but "slipped and fell". Horrified, Shea's friends raised the alarm and his stepdad Graham Patterson rushed to the site to try and rescue him, but tragically it was too late.

Contractors running the site admitted health and safety failures following Shea's death (DAILY RECORD)

Contractor RJ McLeod, who was operating the site, was fined £860,000 in April this year for the health and safety failures which led to his death. Now a Fatal Accident Inquiry is to be launched to find out what went wrong.

It comes after Shea's cause of death was confirmed as "head injury and drowning", Daily Record reports. RJ McLeod - whose most recent turnover was £194million with a profit of £25million - had taken temporary possession from another company, ABV, at the time.

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The firm pled guilty to failing to ensure people not in their employment were not exposed to risks to their health and safety. Sheriff Matthew Jackson KC told the sentencing earlier this year that the fine “could never lessen in any way or replace the terrible loss of Shea’s life”.

Shea’s mum Joanne Ferguson later released a statement saying her son’s death had been “totally avoidable”. Speaking via Digby Brown, she said: “My son is not here and that destroys me every day.” Moira Orr, Procurator fiscal for the district of Glasgow, gave notice of the inquiry yesterday and fixed a first hearing for next month.

Tributes were paid online to the popular Drumchapel boy in the wake of the horror accident, who was described as 'caring and kind'. One relative paid tribute to tragic young Shea and said he would be remembered as 'forever 10'. They said: "Cant believe it absolutely devastated, never in my life did I think that my beautiful, kind caring wee cousin would be sent to heaven at this time of year and age.

"I'll love you forever wee guy, forever 10. ONLY ONE SHEA RYAN, you were the wee brother I never had."

Someone else wrote: "Absolutely heartbreaking news, RIP Shea. You will be sadly missed far too young to be gone." A second person said: "So sad thoughts are with the family and friends at this sad time fly high we guy."

Sally Hind