Woman, 22, killed by falling tree branch as sister watched in horror on FaceTime
A young NHS administrator was killed when the branch of a rotten tree crashed down onto her as her sister witnessed the freak accident on FaceTime.
Shannon Owen, 22, had been enjoying a walk in the woods with her best friend, her friend's brother and her pet dog when the calamity happened.
An inquest heard Shannon had been talking on her mobile phone to her sister Georgia at the exact moment the 18ft branch suddenly crashed to the ground, hitting Shannon in the chest and causing fatal injuries. The pair had been speaking over FaceTime video and Georgia saw the phone knocked out of her sister's hand.
The Oxfordshire senior coroner, Darren Salter, recorded an accidental death verdict, saying that people would refer to Shannon's death as a "freak accident."
The incident happened near Whitchurch on Thames, South Oxfordshire on March 11 this year. The inquest was told that Miss Owen had gone on a walk alongside the River Thames with her best friend Sinead and her 19-year-old brother Harrison.
Teachers, civil servants and train drivers walk out in biggest strike in decade
Mr Salter heard that the three of them had walked off the path down a hill into a woodland to use a rope swing tied around a tree. Sinead had been using the swing for around 20 minutes while Shannon sat opposite her, perched on a tree stump with Harrison in between them.
Shannon's sister Georgia had then video called her after a letter came through the door marked as private and confidential.
In a statement read out at Oxford Coroners' Court, Sinead wrote: "Shannon was not just my older sister but she was also my best friend. At around 3.30pm I noticed that a letter had been posted through the door for Shannon saying it was private and confidential.
"I Facetimed her at 3.41pm and whilst speaking to her on the phone she was stuck by the tree. It all happened so quickly. All I saw was her phone rolling down the hill, I was so, so confused."
Georgia heard Sinead screaming in the background while Harrison picked up Shannon's phone and told her that he needed to call an ambulance. In the minutes that followed Georgia made desperate attempts to find her sister's location on Snapchat maps and scramble to the scene. Meanwhile, Harrison was doing CPR on Shannon, who was laying motionless in the muddy woods.
Mr Salter heard that a huge bough, around a metre in diameter and from the tree next to the one with the rope swing, had snapped off and hit Shannon, who lived in High Street, Theale, Berks. Firefighters using boats, paramedics, police officers and air ambulance crews all arrived in 40 minutes to try to save Shannon's life but she was pronounced dead at the scene.
Investigations showed that the tree trunk was probably rotten and had hit Shannon when it was 20 metres long but split in half and rolled down the hill towards the river.
A Detective constable called to the scene, told the coroner: "We had difficulty accessing the area as it was a steep embankment. When I got there it was raining heavily and was muddy and it was no longer possible to walk to the area without falling over so the fire and rescue service had to tie ropes between the trees so emergency crews could abseil down the hill instead."
He said he spoke to the owner of the woodland, an elderly man aged in his 80s and told him what had happened.
Lisa Owen, Shannon's mother, made it clear at the inquest that she wanted a fence put around the woodland to stop a freak accident happening again.
She said: "To prevent anyone else going through this heartache and suffering, I really do believe that there should be fencing around the woodland."
Greggs, Costa & Pret coffees have 'huge differences in caffeine', says report
However, in a statement to the coroner, the owner said: "It is not practical or desirable to put in a fence around the woodland. It's expensive and will be undermined anyway so will be pointless. I have purchased 24 private woodland signs saying 'keep out' and 'do not enter' which have been placed at 100m intervals either side of the footpath."
He confirmed that the tree, which was rotting away, had since been cut down but not the tree with the rope swing. Although the family were disappointed that the tree has only been cut down in the last month, despite the anniversary of Shannon's death coming up to five months.
Mr Salter concluded: "The loss of Shannon in these circumstances is sad, and almost unbelievable. A large tree trunk fell just at a time where someone is underneath it. Some people may refer to this as a freak accident.
"There is no third party involvement and there were no suspicious circumstances. This is just so, so unfortunate that Shannon was there when this happened. The coroner's conclusion should be one of accident."
He then gave a final statement which will be put on a record of inquest stating: "Shannon was in the Hartslock wood near to Whitchurch-on-Thames with her friends on March 11 for a dog walk. At approximately 1545 hours Shannon was struck by a branch which broke off and fell from a nearby tree causing multiple injuries and a very rapid death."
Read more similar news:
Comments:
comments powered by Disqus
