Horatio Chapple inquest: director defends exploration firm
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Version 0 of 1. The charity behind an Arctic expedition which ended with the mauling to death of a schoolboy by a polar bear has accepted that there were problems with some of the equipment it provided for the trip but has denied being a "fly-by-night" organisation. An inquest covering the death of Horatio Chapple, 17, from Salisbury, a pupil at Eton College, has been told that a trip-wire designed to warn campers of the approach of any bear was patched together with paper clips. It has also heard that the second world war rifle issued to the party was difficult to use. In addition the British Schools Exploring Society, which organised the trip to the Norwegian archipelago of Svalbard, has been criticised for not making sure a "bear watch" was set up when there had been sightings of the predator in the area. Chapple was killed in August 2011 when the bear ripped open the tent where he was sleeping and dragged him out, causing head and upper body injuries. Lieutenant General Peter Pearson, executive director of the charity which is now re-branded as British Exploring, said the makeshift adaptations to the trip-wire system were unsatisfactory but he said the organisation had asked the high-court judge Sir David Steel to examine the tragedy and would adopt his recommendations. Pearson told the inquest in Salisbury, Wiltshire: "This is not a fly-by-night organisation. We tasked a high-court judge to carry out an independent inquiry ... we are absolutely an open book." Pearson said he was not aware at the time of the tragedy that parts of the trip-wire system were missing. He said British Exploring was working with a company to develop a new system, which was being trialled in Greenland. Lizanne Gumbel QC, representing the Chapple family, criticised the safety system, saying it was designed to protect chickens from foxes and suggested to Pearson: "When safety equipment is modified, it needs to be tried and tested by the manufacturer, not by children of 16." Pearson said the trip-wire did not fire because the bear hit a post rather than the wire, and added: "However much equipment we had around that camp, if the bear had hit a post it would not have gone bang." He said a bear watch would be set up for any future expeditions to Svalbard. He also said that more rifle training would be provided. The inquest has been told that the first shots aimed at the bear failed because the rifle was probably set up wrongly. The bear was shot after killing Chapple and injuring four other trip participants. Pearson, formerly a commandant at the Royal Military Academy, at Sandhurst, said: "What we are putting in place is more training which may reflect better the situation they may find themselves in – getting people tired, getting their heart rate moving faster, providing distraction and getting them to fire the appropriate distance. But it's going to be down to the individual and how they respond to stress. Some are better than others." It also emerged that the bear was elderly and had worn teeth which could have led to it becoming stressed, hungry, and behaving more "aggressively and unpredictably". The assistant coroner for Wiltshire and Swindon, Ian Singleton, said that a postmortem examination which looked at the bear's mouth found that the animal suffered from worn-down teeth, a cavity in one, swollen and red gums, and peritonitis in several teeth. He said that the report stated that the pain suffered by the bear would have influenced its behaviour. Singleton said: "[The bear] had badly aligned teeth causing them to wear down more than normal. It's probable that it affected the bear's ability to gain food and if the bear was in pain it would have increased levels of stress, causing it to behave more aggressively and unpredictably than it would otherwise." The inquest is due to conclude on Friday. |