HARROWING recollections of the ski-lift death of 14-year-old Heathfield schoolboy Kieran Brookes have been heard at an inquest six years after the tragedy.

Torquay Boys’ Grammar pupil Kieran was on a school trip to the French Alps resort of Chatel near the Swiss border in February 2011 when his backpack became entangled in the lift mechanism, leaving him fighting for breath as he was left suspended for quarter-of-an-hour by straps about 15 metres above the ground.

He was rushed to hospital in Annecy before being transferred to the Royal Devon and Exeter Hospital at Wonford where he died a month later of pneumonia and brain injury.

At an earlier trial in France his parents Cindy and Nick Brookes, NHS managers, had been satisfied that the ‘inattentive’ lift operator on the fateful day had been held to account over the death after being found guilty of involuntary manslaughter. He had not been at his post when the accident happened. One pupil, in a statement, claimed he had been asleep.

The grieving couple afterwards said they still felt improvements across the ski holiday industry were needed to prevent further potentially lethal incidents.

At Wednesday’s inquest in Exeter, the city’s deputy coroner John Tomalin recorded that Kieran was unlawfully killed.

The all-day hearing at County Hall heard from school staff about the day of the fatal mishap.

Teacher Charlotte Pitocco said she could not remember being aware of safety advice on use of chairlifts or any instructions about not wearing backpacks – which had to be kept on laps. She had only known of such notices after the accident. They had been easy to miss.

‘At no point did I see anyone being told to remove their rucksacks, and I was wearing mine on my back all day and I was never told to remove it,’ she said.

She first learned something was wrong when she heard a lift alarm sound – and then saw someone struggling and shouting suspended from a chair. The actions stopped after a few minutes and she saw the casualty dangling ‘like a doll’. She had not realised it was Kieran.

The inquest was told that one pupil was filming the rescue operation before she told him to stop and show some respect.

Mrs Pitocco described the episode as ‘really traumatic to watch’. She estimated it took up to 12 minutes before Kieran could be lowered to the ground for treatment.