Boy died after trunk of dead tree toppled over

AFOUR-YEAR-OLD boy tragically died after a tree fell on him, an inquest has heard. Louis William Ellor, who lived in Dawlish, was on holiday with family in Brittany in 2019 when a ‘rotten’ tree trunk fell.

The inquest at Plymouth Coroners Court was held by Senior Coroner Ian Arrows, who said the four-yearold boy tragically died from fatal injuries as a result of the fallen tree. Louis was staying with a grandparent in Saint Marine in Brittany, when a tree, which had been dead for several years, fell onto him.

Louis was born on 30 August 2014 in Torquay, and lived with his family in Dawlish. They had been staying at a holiday home in the north of France.

On 28 August 2019, Louis had been walking into the garden behind his grandmother, Anne Gore, who, at the time, was on the telephone. In a translated copy of evidence from French police officers, Mr Arrows read that Mrs Gore heard a large cracking sound from behind her.

As Mrs Gore turned, she saw the tree fall on top of Louis. As she cried out, more people came out of the house to the scene. Mr Arrows did not reveal the extent of the injuries sustained by Louis, but did confirm that they were fatal.

The tree trunk had fallen lengthwise, Mr Arrows read, and French police confirmed the child had been struck by the trunk. Evidence read by the coroner said French police arrived on the scene and performed CPR on Louis, though this was disputed by his father, Mr Ellor, who said he had performed CPR.

Evidence read by Mr Arrows revealed the tree had stood on the border of the holiday home. A statement read from the owner of the property said he had known the tree was dead, and had planned to remove it in the winter of 2019. He added the branches of the tree had been removed, and only the trunk remained.

A member of the co-owners association said they also knew the tree was dead, but had no idea it could fall so suddenly. He added they had also been looking at removing the tree in the autumn months. The report of a French forester described the tree as a maritime pine tree of around 40-years-old when the tree died. The trunk was 45 centimetres in diameter at its widest point.

The diameter of the truck when it fell on Louis was estimated to be 36 centimetres. The tree was also logged at 762 kilograms in weight. Evidence from the forester also spoke of the tree’s degradation at the hands of fungi and insects – hoof fungus was reportedly growing on the trunk.

The inquest heard that the landowners were initially under criminal investigation regarding Louis’s death, but it was noted that the current status of this proceeding was unknown.