Brooke Wiggins died after the branch snapped when she was using a rope swing and she ended up lying crushed under a tree branch for up to two hours, an inquest has heard
A 12 year old girl tragically lost her life after a branch broke whilst she was using a rope swing, leaving her trapped beneath a tree limb for as long as two hours, an inquest was told.
Brooke Wiggins had been playing with mates when the devastating incident unfolded and the branch collapsed. Assistant coroner Ivor Collett emphasised the importance of establishing what went wrong because it involved “a tree that any normal child might look at and think it was a tree for playing on.”
A preliminary inquest review examining Brooke’s death on November 9 last year revealed that Surrey County Council owned the tree and bore responsibility for its upkeep. However, adding complexity to the situation, the ground where Brooke fell actually belonged to a separate local authority – the London Borough of Sutton.
Emergency services rushed to Grove Place near the junction with Carshalton Road in Banstead, Surrey, after Brooke became pinned down by the collapsed tree. Rescuers needed between 90 minutes and two hours to extract her using specialised equipment.
During a preliminary inquest review hearing at South London Coroners’ Court in Croydon, Mr Collett revealed that the Health and Safety Executive (HSE) had launched an investigation, working alongside tree specialists from Surrey County Council. Brooke’s mother Claire Etherington and other family members attended court to hear Mr Collett explain: “What this inquest will really be about is the role of Surrey County Council in respect of the ownership and maintenance of the tree. The accident itself and death occurred on land owned by the London Borough of Sutton.”, reports the Mirror.
“The tree was growing on land a few metres away owned and maintained by Surrey County Council. The inspection regime and maintenance falls to Surrey County Council.”
He further clarified: “There is no suggestion that Brooke and her friends were doing anything wrong. It was public land. There was a bridleway they walked along to get to it. It’s not as if they clambered over a fence to gain access to land they were prohibited from.”
When the tragedy struck, Brooke’s mates called for assistance, and brothers Edward and Patrick Delaney rushed to help, but they couldn’t shift the branch themselves. Brooke sustained severe crush injuries and tragically lost her life.
Mr Collett deemed police bodycam footage too harrowing to show in court. “It’s so upsetting to think of a 12-year-old child in this situation,” he added. “It’s the most terrible thing for any family to endure. We owe it to Brooke to investigate properly and allow a conclusion to be fully informed.”
A survey of the tree recommended it be ‘monolithed’, or stripped of all its branches. This hasn’t been done yet in case more investigations are required, a spokesperson for Surrey County Council explained. However, Mr Collett stated that work on the tree could now proceed.
Sadly, there have been numerous fatalities caused by council-owned trees in recent years. Lukasz Costazza, 30, was killed when a decaying tree fell on him in 2015 at Low Hall Nature Reserve in Waltham Forest, which is under the jurisdiction of Waltham Forest Council.
Madia Kauser, 32, tragically lost her life in Witton Country Park in Blackburn on August 11 while out walking with her husband and two children – she managed to push her daughter out of harm’s way but was struck herself. Phil Riley from Blackburn With Darwen Council stated that the council had been informed that nothing could have been done to the tree to prevent the tragic incident.
In another unfortunate event a few weeks ago, a homeless man was killed when a branch fell onto his tent in Revoe park in Blackpool. In a separate incident, seven year old Leonna Ruka from Dagenham, East London, sustained a fatal head injury during a family day trip to Southend-on-Sea, Essex, on June 28 when a tree collapsed on her.
As many as 50 people attempted to lift the tree after it trapped five children underneath. The incident is currently under investigation by Essex Police and the Health and Safety Executive.
A full inquest into Brooke’s death is scheduled for next year.
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