THE death of Brecon schoolboy Carwyn Scott-Howell who died on a skiing holiday in the French Alps was an accident, a coroner has said.

The seven-year-old from Talybont-on-Usk had fallen 160ft to his death after getting lost while skiing with his mother, Ceri Scott-Howell and sister on the family holiday this April.

Carwyn, a pupil at Brecon's Ysgol y Bannau primary school, had slid from the cliff after taking his skies off having got lost. The inquest heard there were no warning signs in the area Carwyn had entered.

Mrs Scott-Howell told an inquest, held at Newport Coroner's court today, she was attending to Carwyn's nine-year-old sister Antonia, while Carwyn had skied some 20 metres ahead.

She had shouted for him to stop, which he did and waved. When Mrs Scott-Howell then looked up, Carwyn had gone and she assumed he had skied ahead to the bottom of the slope at the French resort of Flaine.

"We got to the bottom of the run and there was no sign of him at all, I asked the lift attendant and the police were called," Mrs Scott-Howell told the hearing.

Around three and a half hours later she was notified Carwyn's body had been found on a ledge at the bottom of a 160ft or 50 metre fall.

Senior coroner for Gwent, David Bowen said French police had sought to reconstruct Carwyn's last moments.

For some reason Carwyn had got lost and left the ski route and walked into a wooded area and had taken his skies off.

Mrs Scott-Howell said: "When he had stopped they said the snow was too deep for him and he'd taken his skies off to walk down. He had come through some trees and sat on his bottom and slid down not knowing there was a cliff."

The hearing was also told though only seven Carwyn was an experienced skier and had completed three weeks intensive training last Christmas, reaching a proficiency level of seven on a scale running to nine.

A postmortem, carried out by Dr Geraint Evans at Nevill Hall Hospital in Abergavenny, confirmed Carwyn had died from multiple injuries compatible with having occurred during a fall from a significant height.

Coroner Mr Bowen, recorded a conclusion of accidental death.

After the inquest Carwyn's godmother, Lucy England read a statement on the family's behalf which said Carwyn had skied since he was three years old.

Ms England said: "Living on a working farm Carwyn was constantly outdoors and thrived being busy and active. His love for his brother Gerwyn and sister Antonia was always visible leaving a gaping big hole in their lives, he bought so much joy to everything we did as a family."

The statement also thanked family, friends and strangers and the community of Talybont-on-Usk for their continued support.