FAI to probe death of boy, 8, killed by gravestone in Glasgow

A FATAL accident inquiry into the death of an eight-year-old boy who was killed when a gravestone fell on him will be held later this year.

Ciaran Williamson, who died last year after a gravestone fell on him. Picture: Contributed

Ciaran Williamson died after the incident in Craigton Cemetery, in Glasgow’s Southside, on May 26 last year. He had been playing with friends near his home.

Prosecutors probed the circumstances surrounding Ciaran’s death but in February revealed that nobody would face criminal prosecution over the incident.

The Crown Office has now announced that a sheriff will probe the circumstances behind Ciaran’s death at a fatal accident inquiry on November 7.

A preliminary hearing is due to be heard at Glasgow Sheriff Court on August 4.

Part of its remit will be to consider practices in cemeteries to ensure public safety. Ciaran’s friend Thomas McManus, who was 10 at the time, ran to get help after the stone fell.

Lourdes Primary School pupil Ciaran was rushed to hospital but was pronounced dead a short time later.

Speaking after the incident, Thomas said: “We just walked through the hole in the wall into the graveyard and there was a tree that we were going to climb.

“Three of us climbed up it, including me and Ciaran, and when we jumped off and landed the top of the gravestone wobbled and fell over.”

The Crown Office also announced that a fatal accident inquiry will be held into the death of a woman who was killed when a lorry crashed into the side of her house.

Catherine Bonner, 55, died when the HGV collided with her home on the A78 in North Ayrshire on February 14, 2013.

One wall of Ms Bonner’s two-storey home in Fairlie, near Largs, Ayrshire, was reduced to rubble in the collision with the coal lorry.

The lorry driver was reported to the procurator fiscal in relation to the Road Traffic Act 1988 for causing death through dangerous driving. However the Crown Office later said no criminal charges would be brought after considering medical evidence.

A preliminary hearing will take place on June 20 at Kilmarnock Sheriff Court.

A spokesman for the Crown Office said: “The Preliminary Hearing will be held at Kilmarnock Sheriff Court and is open to the public. The date and location for FAI itself will be determined after the preliminary hearing.”

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