London Daily

Focus on the big picture.
Thursday, Oct 30, 2025

Army veteran died after encouraging teen son to hit him in game of 'slaps'

Army veteran died after encouraging teen son to hit him in game of 'slaps'

A dad died after he encouraged his teenage son to hit him during a ‘game of slaps’ that went tragically wrong, an inquest heard.

Army veteran Malcolm Callender, 48, fatally hit his head on the road during ‘horseplay’ with his 19-year-old son Ewan on April 12 last year.

The coroner was told that the ex-soldier, who worked and lived at public school Wellington College in Berkshire, had been drinking with his son at pubs before he started the game by slapping him.

He then stood with his hands behind his back and said to Ewan: ‘Right, you can have your free shot.’

Witnesses said Ewan was not keen on hitting his bigger-built father but wanted to ‘make him proud’.

He was seen clenching his fists outside the Matchbox nightclub in Reading before he delivered the slap which caused his father to reel backwards and hit his head on the road.

As his father lay on the ground, Ewan was heard screaming ‘wake up Dad! Dad I love you!’


The father and son had a ‘strong’ relationship and would often play the game of slaps, the inquest heard


The serving soldier was arrested at the scene, but the Crown Prosecution Service decided not to prosecute him for any offence.

CCTV played at the inquest showed Mr Callender senior raise his hand and strike his son, who went to retaliate but instead embraced his father.

Giving evidence at the inquest, Ewan said ‘there was nothing aggressive’ about the slap and that the pair were ‘messing around’.

Kathryn Morrison, Mr Callender’s wife and Ewan’s mother, said in a statement read in court that the slapping between the father and son was a common game they played.

She said: ‘As a family, we would always be messing about with each other and we would be giving each other quick little digs in the ribs which we called “fingers of steel”.


Ewan Callender did not want to slap his bigger-built father but wanted to ‘make him proud’


‘We would wrestle with each other where we would try to grab the other person and take them to the ground. Another game we would play was slaps.

‘When Ewan was about 15 years old, he and Malcolm would progress to 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.

‘After Malcolm passed away I spoke to Ewan about what happened. From what he described, it sounded just like the games that they had been playing together since Ewan was a kid.’

Friend of Ewan’s Luke Key, who was visiting from Birmingham and was on the night out, also told the inquest that the father and son were ‘happy and laughing’ as they played the game.


Malcolm Callender served in the army for 27 years


He said: ‘It is a bit of an Army thing and Ewan and Malcolm had that sort of relationship. He always had a strong relationship with his dad.’

He added that he could see in Ewan’s face ‘that he did not want’ to slap his father and that he got the impression ‘he had something to prove’.

‘Ewan looked up to his dad as he was a higher-up figure in the Army and he wanted to make his dad proud,’ he said.

After hitting his head, Mr Callender senior was rushed to the Royal Berkshire Hospital where he was treated for an acute subdural haemorrhage, but he died in the early hours of the following morning.

The cause of death was given as ‘blunt force trauma to the head’.

A toxicology examination found Mr Callender senior was over twice the drink-drive limit for alcohol but had no other substances in his body.

Mr Wade said he would not reach a conclusion that Mr Callender had died from unlawful killing.

Giving a narrative conclusion, he said the veteran died after ‘consensual horseplay’.

‘I hope the inquest allows some closure,’ he said. ‘I cant begin to imagine the anguish and deep, deep pain the event caused the family.’

Newsletter

Related Articles

0:00
0:00
Close
UK and Vietnam Sign Landmark Migration Deal to Fast-Track Returns of Irregular Arrivals
UK Drug-Pricing Overhaul Essential for Life-Sciences Ambition, Says GSK Chief
Princesses Beatrice and Eugenie Temporarily Leave the UK Amid Their Parents’ Royal Fallout
UK Weighs Early End to Oil and Gas Windfall Tax as Reeves Seeks Investment Commitments
UK Retail Inflation Slows as Shop Prices Fall for First Time Since Spring
Next Raises Full-Year Profit Guidance After Strong Third-Quarter Performance
Reform UK’s Lee Anderson Admits to 'Gaming' Benefits System While Advocating Crackdown
United States and South Korea Conclude Major Trade Accord Worth $350 Billion
Hurricane Melissa Strikes Cuba After Devastating Jamaica With Record Winds
Vice President Vance to Headline Turning Point USA Campus Event at Ole Miss
U.S. Targets Maritime Narco-Routes While Border Pressure to Mexico Remains Limited
Bill Gates at 70: “I Have a Real Fear of Artificial Intelligence – and Also Regret”
Elon Musk Unveils Grokipedia: An AI-Driven Alternative to Wikipedia
Saudi Arabia Unveils Vision for First-Ever "Sky Stadium" Suspended Over Desert Floor
Amazon Announces 14 000 Corporate Job Cuts as AI Investment Accelerates
UK Shop Prices Fall for First Time Since March, Food Leads the Decline
London Stock Exchange Group ADR (LNSTY) Earns Zacks Rank #1 Upgrade on Rising Earnings Outlook
Soap legend Tony Adams, long-time star of Crossroads, dies at 84
Rachel Reeves Signals Tax Increases Ahead of November Budget Amid £20-50 Billion Fiscal Gap
NatWest Past Gains of 314% Spotlight Opportunity — But Some Key Risks Remain
UK Launches ‘Golden Age’ of Nuclear with £38 Billion Sizewell C Approval
UK Announces £1.08 Billion Budget for Offshore Wind Auction to Boost 2030 Capacity
UK Seeks Steel Alliance with EU and US to Counter China’s Over-Capacity
UK Struggles to Balance China as Both Strategic Threat and Valued Trading Partner
Argentina’s Markets Surge as Milei’s Party Secures Major Win
British Journalist Sami Hamdi Detained by U.S. Authorities After Visa Revocation Amid Israel-Gaza Commentary
King Charles Unveils UK’s First LGBT+ Armed Forces Memorial at National Memorial Arboretum
At ninety-two and re-elected: Paul Biya secures eighth term in Cameroon amid unrest
Racist Incidents Against UK Nurses Surge by 55%
UK Chancellor Rachel Reeves Cites Shared Concerns With Trump Administration as Foundation for Early US-UK Trade Deal
Essentra plc: A Closer Look at a UK ‘Penny Stock’ Opportunity Amid Market Weakness
U.S. and China Near Deal to Avert Rare-Earth Export Controls Ahead of Trump-Xi Summit
Justin time: Justin Herbert Shields Madison Beer with Impressive Reflex at Lakers Game
Russia’s President Putin Declares Burevestnik Nuclear Cruise Missile Ready for Deployment
Giuffre’s Memoir Alleges Maxwell Claimed Sexual Act with Clooney
House Republicans Move to Strip NYC Mayoral Front-Runner Zohran Mamdani of U.S. Citizenship
Record-High Spoiled Ballots Signal Voter Discontent in Ireland’s 2025 Presidential Election
Philippines’ Taal Volcano Erupts Overnight with 2.4 km Ash Plume
Albania’s Virtual AI 'Minister' Diella Set to 'Birth' Eighty-Three Digital Assistants for MPs
Tesla Unveils Vision for Optimus V3 as ‘Biggest Product of All Time’, Including Surgical Capabilities
Francis Ford Coppola Auctions Luxury Watches After Self-Financed Film Flop
Convicted Sex Offender Mistakenly Freed by UK Prison Service Arrested in London
United States and China Begin Constructive Trade Negotiations Ahead of Trump–Xi Summit
U.S. Treasury Sanctions Colombia’s President Gustavo Petro over Drug-Trafficking Allegations
Miss USA Crowns Nebraska’s Audrey Eckert Amid Leadership Overhaul
‘I Am Not Done’: Kamala Harris Signals Possible 2028 White House Run
NBA Faces Integrity Crisis After Mass Arrests in Gambling Scandal
Swift Heist at the Louvre Sees Eight French Crown Jewels Stolen in Under Seven Minutes
U.S. Halts Trade Talks with Canada After Ontario Ad Using Reagan Voice Triggers Diplomatic Fallout
Microsoft AI CEO: ‘We’re making an AI that you can trust your kids to use’ — but can Microsoft rebuild its own trust before fixing the industry’s?
×