Dad, 48, died in 'wholly avoidable' incident after taking his dog for a walk

A council has been fined £500,000 after a man was killing by a falling tree limb while walking his dog in a public park.

Dad-of-one Chris Hall was out with his cocker spaniel Benson on a path in The Carrs, a woodland area in Wilmslow, Cheshire, on August 28, 2020. The 48-year-old suffered fatal injuries when a “limb” from the Lime tree hit him as he walked on a path nearby.

Just 11 months before, in September 2019, another large limb of the same unstable tree had fallen. It had been reported to Cheshire East Council and Ansa Environmental Services Ltd, their grounds services contractor owned by the council at arms length, so the entity could take on private non-council work.

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But apart from a visual inspection by Ansa, no real action had been taken, despite “significant” structural issues, Matt Reynolds, prosecuting, for the Health and Safety Executive (HSE) told Chester Magistrates Court.

The HSE investigation found no adequate inspection of the tree had been carried out to find out if it posed a risk and the council had no tree strategy to manage the risks from trees in public places even though other Ansa staff had expressed concern about the health of the tree.

Both the local authority, and Ansa, pleaded guilty at an earlier hearing to breaching section 3 (1) of the Health and Safety at Work Act by exposing the public to risk.

Mr Hall’s wife Fiona read a victim impact statement to the court, watched by their son Sam and around 20 friends and family, who were seated in the public gallery. Mrs Hall said her husband “loved life and life loved him”.

“His death was utterly senseless and wholly avoidable,” she added. “He