Bursar at prestigious Wellington College, 48, died when a ‘game of slaps’ with his teenage son, 19, went tragically wrong and he fell and hit his head on the road, inquest hears
- Ewan Callender didn’t want to slap his father but ‘wanted to make his dad proud’
The bursar at prestigious Wellington College died when a ‘game of slaps’ with his teenage son went tragically wrong, a coroner heard.
The pair had been out watching football in April last year and took part in the game which saw former Army veteran Malcolm Callender reel backwards and hit his head on the road.
The inquest in Reading, Berks., heard that 19-year-old Ewan Callender did not want to slap his bigger-built father who had 27 years experience in the British Army but ‘wanted to make his dad proud’ and did it anyway.
An inquest in Reading was told Ewan Callender, 19, did not want to slap his bigger-built father Malcolm, who had 27 years experience in the British Army but ‘wanted to make his dad proud’ and did it anyway
Malcolm Callender, who became the school bursar at the prestigious Wellington College after leaving the Army, had struck Ewan with a stinging slap.
The father, 48, and from Crowthorne, Berks., then stood with his hands behind his back and said ‘right, you can have your free shot’.
Witnesses saw Ewan clench his fists on Friar Street in Reading before he delivered the slap, which sent Mr Callender senior’s head backwards, hitting the road.