A celebrated designer is facing a police investigation after a tree in the grounds of her £8 million estate fell on to a passing car, crushing a former soldier to death.
Saxon Bowes-Crick, 46, a triathlete and explorer, was killed “instantly” when the oak toppled into the road and on to a Lexus in which he was a passenger. Four other people in the vehicle were injured.
The car was in traffic on the busy A308, which runs alongside the grounds of society stylist Tessa Kennedy’s sprawling estate on the banks of the Thames in Runnymede, near Egham in Surrey.
Ms Kennedy, 80, who styled the homes of George Harrison, Elizabeth Taylor and King Hussein of Jordan, claims the tree was recently inspected and declared safe by the local council, whom she considered to be responsible for its upkeep.
Ms Kennedy told the Evening Standard: “I wasn’t home when it happened. The council had been down to cut the branches off the tree a couple of years ago. It should have been safe. They had dealt with it but unfortunately it fell down.”
Surrey county council is generally responsible for managing trees and shrubs at the side of main roads to ensure they do not pose a risk to vehicles and pedestrians.
However, the council has argued the tree was on private land and claims maintenance is the responsibility of the land owner.
A council spokesman said: “This was a tragic incident. The tree was on private land and the police are leading the investigation.”
Ms Kennedy achieved notoriety in the Fifties when, aged 18, she eloped to Cuba with society portrait painter Dominic Elwes against her father’s wishes. Frank Sinatra sang at their secret wedding, but they were soon forced to flee on a raft to Miami to escape Fidel Castro’s revolution.
Ms Kennedy went on to study in Paris, before joining a design firm whose clients included Mick Jagger and Eric Clapton. She styled Claridge’s, The Berkeley and the Rivoli Bar at The Ritz, for which she was named designer of the year.
She remarried Hollywood film producer Elliott Kastner after being introduced by Warren Beatty, and has five children.
She retired to Runnymede after a Christie’s auction in 2014 of the contents of her opulent Knightsbridge home, which was packed with gifts and mementoes from friends including Rudolf Nureyev, Marlon Brando and Richard Burton.
Police investigating the tragedy have appealed for witnesses and dash-cam footage from around the time of the accident, near the Magna Carta monument, at 4pm on Sunday, February 17.
Tributes have poured in for Mr Bowes-Crick from around the world, with friends and fellow travellers remembering a “living legend with an unforgettable laugh”.
He worked as a tree surgeon, friends said, having served in the Army, and had just returned home to Haywards Heath, West Sussex, after a gruelling solo bike-rafting trip across Mongolia.
His family announced his funeral on Facebook, saying: “All great journeys must come to an end and even for the indomitable Saxon. You’ve travelled far and touched so many lives along the way. Your adventures will never be forgotten.”
Emma Bowes-Crick wrote: “Just to let everyone know. Saxon was killed instantly by a tree that fell on the car he was a passenger in. There was no pain, fear or suffering.”
Edward Howard-Williams said he served in the Queen’s Fusiliers alongside the victim in the early Nineties. He told the Standard: “Saxon always had a joie de vivre and young professionalism for the British Army that left some in the shade.”
A tenant living in one of the bungalows on the estate said: “That tree was unreal, it was phenomenally big. Only about a third of it fell in the road.
“It had no bark because it had been struck by lightning so many times.”
A Surrey Police spokeswoman said: “Investigations are ongoing.”
