School academy trust fined £300k after death of student

A Birmingham school academy trust has been fined £300,000 after the death of a 19-year-old student.
Owen Garnett was a sixth-form student at Welcombe Hills School in Stratford-upon-Avon, a school for children with special educational needs and part of the Unity Multi Academy Trust (MAT).
On 9 January 2023, Garnett choked on a paper towel. Whilst emergency services removed the obstruction, he had been deprived of oxygen for too long and passed away two days later.
Garnett had Pica, a condition that causes a compulsion to eat non-food items, making close supervision critical to his safety. At the time of the incident, he was left unsupervised.
An investigation by the HSE revealed that staff were not trained to manage the risks associated with Pica.
Days before the incident, he had experienced a near-miss choking episode, but the school failed to investigate or take action to prevent it from happening again.
The HSE also found that the school had not properly addressed hazards, including accessible paper towels and insufficient supervision, which contributed to the tragedy.
His foster parents Jacqueline and Graham Blackwell, said: “ Owen was part of our family, we had made so many adjustments and made so many plans so that he could remain with us indefinitely. We had been saving to take him to Florida to swim with dolphins, but this is something he will never get to do. We ended up having to use this money to cover the cost of Owen’s funeral.
“His death has ruined every part of our lives. Owen had everything to live for and was such a character and used to love joking and playing about – he had an incredible sense of humour.”
Unity MAT, c/o Woodlands School Packington Lane, Coleshill, Birmingham admitted to breaching Section 3(1) of the Health and Safety at Work Act 1974.
The trust was fined £300,000 and ordered to pay £10,750 in costs at Coventry Magistrates’ Court on 18 December 2024.
HSE inspector Rebecca Whiley said: “This tragic incident could have easily been avoided if Owen was being closely supervised, as he should have been. The near miss incident a few days before should have raised the alarm with the school and triggered an investigation into how Owen had been able to access the paper towel, and steps could have been taken to prevent it happening again.
“His death resulted from a series of management failures throughout Owen’s time at the Hub, and a failure by the school to act on the concerns raised by his family. Our thoughts today are with Owen’s family. He was a young man with a happy life ahead of him. He should have returned home safely to his family after a day at school, but because of the failings by Welcombe Hills School and Unity MAT, he did not.”