Schoolboy, 11, drowns as game of dare over bridge ends in tragedy
A SCHOOLBOY drowned during a game of dare his father and grandfather had played when they were children, an inquest was told.
Robbie Williamson, 11, slipped as he and two friends clambered along a disused Edwardian gas pipe attached to a canal bridge near his home.
He hit the canal bank, was knocked unconscious and tumbled backwards into the water.
A local resident, alerted by the screams of his friends, pulled Robbie out of the water but he was pronounced dead shortly afterwards in hospital.
The three boys had just finished school and were on their way to their local cricket club when they climbed through a gap in the railings on the Dugdale Bridge in Burnley, Lancs.
It was a well-known dare among children to see if they could walk across the cast iron pipe to get to the other side of the Leeds-Liverpool canal and both Robbie’s father and grandfather had done it years earlier, the inquest in Burnley heard.
Detective Constable Wendy Rothwell told the hearing that there were rivets on the pipe and the surviving boys had described it as a bit slippery.
Robbie’s father Dean Williamson admitted that as a child he too had crossed the pipe, as did his father, but was not aware that Robbie may have done it.
Had he known of his son’s activities, he explained, he would have “really told him off”.
He described Robbie as “an absolutely brilliant child” who “loved life”.
During the hearing it emerged that the pipe had been a danger to children for more than 110 years.
The loss of a child is the hardest to bear
Engineers from the National Grid finally placed protective iron shields on either side of the pipe 24 hours after the tragedy on April 22 last year to prevent other youngsters attempting a similar challenge.
They said they had believed the pipe had been underground and were not aware that it was exposed until after the accident, despite maintenance work being carried out at the site in 2001, 2004 and 2006.
Recording a verdict of accidental death, coroner Richard Taylor said he would be contacting other gas and utility companies in order to prevent similar incidents.
He told Robbie’s family: “The loss of a child is the hardest to bear.
"We who have heard the evidence cannot possibly appreciate your grief, we can only share it with you.”
