19-Year-Old Accidentally Killed Army Veteran Dad in "Game of Slaps" Gone Wrong, Court Told

A 48-year-old ex-army man died after his son hit him during a 'game of slaps', an inquest has heard. Malcolm Callender, who was the Wellington College bursar, was messing around with son Ewan, 19, when a playful slap delivered by the latter, sent him flying backward, hitting his head on the street.

He died in hospital a day later after suffering a catastrophic brain injury, said a report by BBC News. Callender and his son frequently played the slapping game, Reading Coroner's Court has heard.

The incident happened in April 2019 at Reading Town Centre. The duo was watching a football game when Callender delivered the lad with a stinging slap, after which he encouraged his son to slap him back.

According to eyewitnesses, Callender stood with his hands behind the back and said, "Right, you can have your free shot." Ewan is said to have clenched his fists before delivering the tragic slap, which turned fatal, said a report by News.com.

The bystanders who rushed to help saw a shocked Ewan screaming, urging his dad to wake up. He was arrested immediately and left waiting for 18 months before the Crown Prosecution Service decided not to prosecute him.

CCTV footage in the bar showed Callender raise his hand and strike his son, who went to retaliate but instead embraced his father, the inquest heard.

Ewan, who gave evidence at the inquest, said: “Dad slapped me around the face on the way out just because we were messing around. It is just normal. There was nothing aggressive about it.

In a statement read out in court, Luke Key, an eyewitness, said he saw the father slap the son as part of the game, before Ewan returning it. He said: "There was no animosity between the two or aggression. What had been just a bit of a mess-around had gone horribly wrong."

Catherine Morrison-Callender, Callender’s wife and Ewan’s mother, told the inquest in a statement that the slapping between dad and son was a common game they played.

"As a family, we would always be messing about with each other.

When Ewan was about 15-years-old, he and Malcolm would try to slap each other around the face. Malcolm would always be winding him up, saying, ‘you reckon you can take me yet?’ Malcolm was very competitive so he would never let Ewan win, he would use it as a reminder that Ewan was not quite big enough yet," she said.

Assistant coroner Ian Wade QC called the case extremely heart-rending. "The slap should be seen as legal horseplay. I hope the inquest allows some closure. I can't begin to imagine the anguish and the deep pain the event caused the family," he said.