Teen advised not to fell tree that killed him, inquest told

An apprentice tree surgeon had been advised not to fell the tree that killed him, an inquest has been told.

Jonty Parkinson was working in woodland on a National Trust site near Faringdon, in Oxfordshire on 6 September 2024 when he was crushed by a tree that did not fall in the intended way.

Paying tribute to the 18-year-old at an inquest in Oxford on Tuesday, his mother Ali Cockayne said her son had a "real zest for life".

His manager George Green said he had instructed Parkinson and his colleague Joe Bristow to dismantle the 12m (39ft) tall tree in sections.

Green, who was an arboriculture team manager at the Cotswold Group, said he was "gobsmacked" when he arrived at the site to see it had been cut down.

He also disputed claims made by Bristow during Monday's proceedings that he had told the pair to take the tree down in one fell with the help of a chipper.

In his evidence, Bristow said the tree, which was 1m (3ft) in diameter, had already had its crown removed and the plan had been for its main stem to be felled into the woodland.

It was tied to a chipper to support its direction of fall, he explained, which jurors were told was not usual practice.

Bristow said he had been advised to use the technique by Green, despite neither possessing assisting felling tickets, meaning they were unqualified to do so.

Green said on Tuesday that this recollection was "wrong", saying there "should have been no felling at all" and he was "very surprised" Parkinson and Bristow had chosen to use a different technique to the one he had advised.

He said he had advised the pair to climb and sectionally dismantle the tree, "working from top down piece by piece" and taking sections of the trunk down in "manageable pieces".

He said using a chipper to carry out assisted felling was "not standard practice", but told jurors he had "known of it to be done on occasions".

A report into the incident commissioned by the Health and Safety Executive found the tree surgeons had not followed "good industry practice" when making the cuts to fell the tree.

It found the cuts were "not of sufficient accuracy" to ensure the tree fell in the intended direction.

The report, which was carried out by an industry expert, attributed the causes of the incident to a combination of inadequate supervision, planning and training.

Parkinson, from Cirencester, had been an apprentice at the Cotswold Group, which is no longer trading, since October 2022, and was nearing the end of his qualification when the incident took place.

Addressing the inquest on Tuesday, his mother said her son had been a "wonderful young man" who was a "ray of sunshine".

She said he had been "larger than life from a young age" and that there was "nothing he wouldn't do for those he loved".

"We will always be incredibly proud of him, he will be loved every single day and is still a part of all of our lives," she added.

Parkinson had been the nephew of England legend Gary Lineker, whose sons Tobias and George paid tribute to their cousin following his death, calling him "one of the nicest boys you'll meet".

The jury inquest at Oxford Coroner's Court is expected to conclude on Wednesday.