inquest<\/a> into her death heard work to remove the ivy was never carried out by council workers despite recommendations. Brooke fell from a rope swing attached to a large branch of the tree which suddenly snapped off and crushed her beneath its weight.<\/p>\nThe inquest previously heard the tree, maintained by Surrey County Council, had been reviewed in May 2022, following which there was a recommendation to remove ivy covering it to allow for closer inspection. A re-inspection was scheduled for May 2024, but this did not take place, South London Coroner\u2019s Court heard on Wednesday.<\/p>\n
![\"Brooke](\"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/britain\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/04\/1_Brooke-Wiggins-was-killed-by-a-branch-that-snapped-from-a-tree-she-was-swinging-on-using-a-rope-sw.jpeg\")
<\/p>\n
Brooke was killed by a branch that snapped from a tree (Image: Facebook)<\/p>\n
The inquest previously heard the recommendation to remove the ivy was to \u201caid future inspection\u201d of the tree, which, after Brooke\u2019s death, was revealed to have had a \u201ccrack\u201d not visible from ground level.<\/p>\n
On Friday, Katherine McDonald, the council\u2019s group manager for countryside, told the hearing the work was given a priority rating of five, meaning it \u201cshould\u201d take place within 12 months of the inspection.<\/p>\n
When asked to explain what is meant by \u201cshould\u201d, Miss McDonald said she had received advice from tree surgeon James Wade but this did not amount to a \u201cconcrete plan\u201d.<\/p>\n
Miss McDonald told the hearing the council must \u201cjuggle\u201d competing priorities, and deliver residents the best value for money by tackling \u201cthe highest priority first\u201d.<\/p>\n
![\"Brooke\u00a0Wiggins\"](\"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/britain\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/04\/1_Facebook.jpg\")
<\/p>\n
Work to remove ivy which concealed a crack on the tree was never carried out (Image: Claire Etherington\/Facebook)<\/p>\n
She said: \u201cThey can\u2019t be, because we would require flexibility\u2026 to be able to juggle different priorities and ensure that on the spectrum of priority, we are providing the most value for money for our residents, and that would be tackling the highest priority first.\u201d<\/p>\n
Miss McDonald said the number of trees the council is responsible for is \u201cin the millions, not the thousands\u201d, and it would not be possible to complete all work recommended by the team responsible for maintaining trees in the county.<\/p>\n
She told the hearing the tree is metres behind the nearby bridleway, and the council was not aware of the area being accessed by the public. The inquest previously heard the council\u2019s policy is to remove rope swings from trees within seven days.<\/p>\n
On Friday, Miss McDonald said it was \u201cstandard practice\u201d for the council to remove rope swings from trees and at least 15 are removed by the council each year. In areas where multiple swings are found, it is the council\u2019s policy to consider putting up advisory notices warning against them, the inquest heard.<\/p>\n
Miss McDonald said if she had been aware of swings hanging from the tree Brooke had been swinging from, such signage would \u201ccertainly\u201d have been considered.<\/p>\n
When asked by Christian Weaver, who represents Brooke\u2019s father Lee, if signs have since been put up at the site of the accident, Miss McDonald responded: \u201cNo.\u201d<\/p>\n
She said: \u201cThe branch had already fallen, and the rope swings were on that branch and were not on any other tree in the area… We would envisage putting them on a specific tree, where a specific tree is an issue, rather than a general location.\u201d<\/p>\n
When asked how the council educates the public about the dangers of rope swings, Miss McDonald said countryside education is \u201cnot an easy subject\u201d. She added: \u201cWhere there is an activity taking place that is undesirable, if you highlight it, it can draw attention to it.\u201d<\/p>\n
Information about the dangers of rope swings is issued by the council as advice to schools, Miss McDonald said. The inquest heard a \u201cserious incident group\u201d had been set up following Brooke\u2019s death to decide what should happen to the tree.<\/p>\n
When asked by Tamar Burton, who represents Brooke\u2019s mother, Claire Etherington, whether the group consulted with the local community, Miss McDonald said this would have been deemed \u201cinsensitive\u201d.<\/p>\n
She added: \u201cThat group was very concerned about being sensitive.\u201d<\/p>\n
When asked if any of Brooke\u2019s family were invited to join the group, Miss McDonald said: \u201cNo, and for exactly the same reason. This was a purely administrative group, administrating internally, it was not an external group.\u201d<\/p>\n
After Brooke\u2019s death, the council decided to \u201cmonolith\u201d the tree \u2013 to reduce it to a trunk, despite it being considered healthy, \u201cbecause of what\u2019s happened\u201d, the inquest heard.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"Brooke Wiggins, 12, died just days before her 13th birthday after being crushed by a large tree branch…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":21745,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[4],"tags":[450,5,6],"class_list":{"0":"post-21744","1":"post","2":"type-post","3":"status-publish","4":"format-standard","5":"has-post-thumbnail","7":"category-uk","8":"tag-inquests","9":"tag-uk","10":"tag-united-kingdom"},"share_on_mastodon":{"url":"https:\/\/pubeurope.com\/@UnitedKingdom\/116464496325554498","error":""},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/britain\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/21744","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/britain\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/britain\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/britain\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/britain\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=21744"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/britain\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/21744\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/britain\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/21745"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/britain\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=21744"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/britain\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=21744"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/britain\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=21744"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}
![\"Brooke](\"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/britain\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/04\/2_Facebook.jpg\")
<\/p>\n