A dad was killed when he was hit by an ‘extremely large’ branch that had fallen from a tree during a storm, an inquest heard today.
Donald Hamilton Baxter, known as Don, was walking his dog, Taz, in Black Woods, Woolton, on the morning of Tuesday, February 11, 2020 during Storm Ciara. A high branch broke off from a beech tree and plummeted down during the storm's high winds.
Mr Baxter couldn't move as he was trapped underneath and was found face down with a single drop of blood by his mouth.
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A tree specialist who conducted a report and visited the site the following day (February 12) said large gusts of wind from Storm Ciara were likely to have caused the fall. A witness heard a large crack after 10.30am and said Mr Baxter, 67, was trapped and couldn’t move.
The witness flagged down a bus driver who phoned emergency services but Mr Baxter was pronounced dead at the scene at 11.08am. The retired housing manager’s dog stayed with him loyally throughout.
The tree specialist said the beech tree had a codominant stem which led to decay and a soil build-up between the two branches. He said a gust of wind moving at around 55mph was likely to be the main factor in causing the branch, which weighed between 2.5 and 2.7 tons but was the smaller of the two, to fall.
The remaining part of the tree stood at 26 metres high. There were also other small defects including a hole near the bottom of the tree.
The tree specialist said an inspection regime at the time by the council was adequate. A zoning exercise, which allocated trees to zones ranging from red risk (high) to green (low) was carried out and the beech tree was put down as in an amber zone (medium risk). The specialist said this was appropriate.
The Black Woods were closed to the public after Mr Baxter’s death. Mr Baxter was born on December 17, 1952 in Liverpool. He went to Woolton Primary School and West Derby Comprehensive.
The inquest continues.
