Mother finds eight-year-old son crushed by falling gravestone

Ciaran Williamson, 8, died after the gravestone fell on him at Craigton Cemetery in Glasgow.
Ciaran Williamson, 8, died after the gravestone fell on him at Craigton Cemetery in Glasgow. Photo: Scotland Police

A mother has told of the horrifying moment she saw her son lying on the ground in a pool of blood after he was crushed by a falling gravestone.

"I turned round and seen him lying on the floor and I knew as soon as I saw him that something really bad had happened," Stephanie Griffin, 25, told a Scottish court.

Ciaran Williamson, 8, died after the gravestone fell on him at Craigton Cemetery in Glasgow during the evening of May 26, 2015. Two other boys were hurt.

Griffin said she ran to the cemetery after one of her son's friends came to her home and told her Ciaran was hurt.

Ciaran's stepfather Thomas McGee, 26, who had raced to the scene ahead of her asked her to stay away, but she barged through to see her son. She found Ciaran on the ground, the Daily Record reported.

"I tried to check for a pulse, checking his arm and his leg," Griffin said.

"I kept slapping his face like 'come on Ciaran, come on Ciaran just get up'."

She said McGee told her "when I got here that was on him", referring to a gravestone.

She followed her son to hospital and when she arrived there was told nothing could be done.

Griffin said she had warned Ciaran not to play in the graveyard because it was dangerous and disrespectful.

She wasn't aware of a hole in the wall of the cemetery until after the incident but had since learned nearby residents reported it as far back as eight years ago.

Clutching a teddy bear, Griffin told the court her son had "the biggest heart".

"Just as Ciaran was leaving he gave us all a kiss and shouted 'love you'. Ciaran always done that," she said.

He had only been allowed out to play for 10 minutes because he had to try on holiday clothes at his grandmother's house.

McGee said that when he got to Ciaran the gravestone was on top of his chest and he looked "lifeless".

The hearing at Glasgow Sheriff Court is being held to establish if any reasonable precautions could have prevented Ciaran's death, and if any defects in the system of work caused or contributed to the death.

A post-mortem found Ciaran had head and neck injuries and damage to the brain stem as a result of "immediate cardiac arrest".

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