French verdict expected in Keiran Brookes ski lift death trial

Judges are expected to deliver their verdicts today in the trial of a ski liftoperator charged over the death of a teenager during a school trip to the French Alps.

Kieran Brookes, 14, was strangled when the straps of his backpack became entangled as he tried to get off a ski lift in the Alpine resort of Chatel in February 2011.

Kieran, a pupil at Torquay Boys' Grammar School, who was one of the brightest maths prospects in the country after scoring 96% in a national test, was on a six-seat ski lift when the tragedy struck.

He was transferred to the Royal Devon and Exeter Hospital intensive care unit where he died nearly a month later on March 17 2011.

Richard Cettour, of Bonnevaux, France, who was supervising the lift at the time of the tragedy, and operator SAEM Sports et Tourisme a Chatel, face charges in France of involuntary manslaughter along with a series of serious health and safety breaches.