Worker told children 'didn't need to be able to swim' to paddleboard in River Tay, FAI hears

A Church of Scotland charity worker told a Fatal Accident Inquiry she relied on assurances that a 12-year-old boy did not need to be able to swim before she took him on a paddleboarding session on a “dangerous” Scottish river.

Kayden Walker drowned after he slipped from his board in churning water on the River Tay in Perthshire.

Kayden, from Bridgeton, Glasgow, who was unable to swim even ten metres without a float, was wearing a personal floatation aid, but not a full lifejacket.

He was on a day trip with ten other children organised by the Church House charity group when the incident occurred at Linn near Stanley, Perthshire, on July 28, 2019.

The schoolboy became trapped under a weir and was underwater for more than three minutes. He died in hospital the next day.

In 2024, Outdoor Pursuits Scotland Ltd., which was running the activity, was fined £10,000 for failing to carry out a sufficient health and safety assessment.

The Glasgow-based firm admitted failing to ensure participants were not at risk of entrapment and failing to ensure the children had a safe passage through the 250-metre weir.

Angela Molloy, a Church House project manager, said she booked Outdoor Pursuits Scotland to provide the trip.

Mrs Molloy, 55, told the FAI that she had worked with the firm’s owner, Phil Robinson, for 20 years, both at Church House and previously with Glasgow City Council.

She said Mr Robinson had told her it didn’t matter that children on the trip couldn’t swim “as long as they were confident in the water”.

She told depute fiscal Catherine Fraser, for the Crown, that she had driven the Kayden and the other children to the River Tay by minibus from Glasgow, but had not noticed two signs in the car park where she dropped them off, warning “The River Tay is a dangerous environment” and “Deep water, strong currents, no swimming”.

She began to weep in the witness box during more than two hours of detailed questioning.

Mrs Fraser asked: “If you’d taken cognisance or observed those signs, would that have affected your decision to allow Kayden, given the ability that his Mum had filled out, not being able to swim ten metres without a floatation device, to take part?”

Mrs Molloy replied: “I think on the day when I’ve paid an expert to provide the activity and everything that goes along with that – my job is a youth worker, I’m not an outdoor activity expert – I rely on them.”

Mrs Molloy said Mr Robinson had “never brought up” that the location was dangerous and said she did not know it had been planned to travel four kilometres in the water that day.

Mrs Fraser asked if she was concerned that it was “significantly different” from swimming ten metres.

Mrs Molloy said: “I didn’t know the distance we were going on that day.”

Mrs Fraser asked: “How did you know that the buoyancy aid that Kayden had been given was appropriate for his ability in that water environment?”

Mrs Molloy replied: “I went by the person who was running the outdoor activities. We paid for that service – that they provide the right equipment.”

Mrs Fraser asked: “I take it you didn’t consult the British Safety Institute Standards for what lifejacket is appropriate for what activity?”

Mrs Molloy said: “I didn’t, no.”

Mrs Fraser asked: “Had you identified that the risk of a non-swimmer taking part in water-based activities was a high one?”

Visibly upset, Mrs Molloy replied: “I had been told they didn’t need to swim.”

The inquiry will also look into the death of outdoor pursuits instructor Ruaridh Stevenson, 39, in another watersports-based tragedy five years later.

Mr Stevenson from Cupar, Fife, drowned attempting to assist a client who got into difficulties in the waters flowing through Dollar Glen, Clackmannanshire, on April 13, 2024.

Mr Stevenson was a director of another outdoor pursuits company, Adventure Logic Ltd., which offered ‘canyoning’ experiences on Scottish rivers. 

The purpose of an FAI includes determining the cause of death, the circumstances in which the death occurred, and to establish what reasonable precautions could have been taken to minimise the risk of future deaths in similar circumstances.   

The inquiry, before Sheriff Keith O’Mahony, is expected to last two weeks.