A French ski lift operator has been found guilty of the involuntary manslaughter of a British teenager killed during a school trip.

Kieran Brookes, 14, from Devon, died when the straps of his backpack became entangled in the mechanism of the ski lift in Châtel, on the French-Swiss border, in February 2011.

On Tuesday, Richard Cettour, 50, of Bonnevaux, who was supervising the lift at the time, was handed a six-month suspended jail term.

He was found to have not been at his post during the time of the accident, despite being in charge of safety. He was also found not to have reacted to other skiers who were calling for him to press the emergency stop button.

The company that operates the lift, SAEM Sports et Tourisme à Châtel, was also accused of involuntary manslaughter but was cleared of the charge.

After the brief hearing at the court in Thonon-les-Bains, Kieran’s parents, Cindy, 53, and Nick, 50, of Bovey Tracey, said they feared lessons had not been learned.

“This has been an incredibly difficult process and yet we do not feel that justice has been done. We are satisfied that someone has been held to account over Kieran’s death. However, we believe that this tragedy highlighted serious industry failings which went further than an individual’s inattention,” the couple, both NHS managers, said.

Châtel in Haute-Savoie, France. Photograph: Alamy

“Without widespread improvements across the industry we think a similar tragedy could happen again. It is only a slight consolation that the resort operator has apologised to us for failings, and admitted moral guilt over Kieran’s death.”

They said Kieran loved being outdoors and playing sports and they did not want his death to put others off such activities, but they hoped people would be more aware of the risks as a result.



Kieran, a pupil at Torquay Boys’ grammar school, was said to have been “one of the brightest maths prospects in the country”, having scored 96% in a national test. The court heard that he dreamed of becoming a GP in order to help people.

The teenager was suspended in the air for about four minutes before he was released, according to witness accounts of the accident. Attempts were made to revive him for about eight minutes before he was taken to a hospital in Annecy, south-east France, suffering from a severe brain injury.

Kieran was later transferred to the intensive care unit at the Royal Devon and Exeter hospital where he died on 17 March 2011.



The family’s lawyer, Mark Montaldo of Slater and Gordon, said it had been “heartbreaking for Kieran’s family to hear details of the very serious safety failings which led to this tragedy. The judges recognised that Kieran died as a result of the negligence of the ski lift pilot but were not satisfied that there was sufficient evidence to find the resort operators criminally responsible for what happened. The family now needs time to consider the implications of this verdict.”