A SOUTHAMPTON park is safe to visit despite a pensioner being crushed to death by a falling tree branch, an inquest heard.

Pensioner Clive Denton was walking on Southampton Common when a 10 metre oak tree branch suddenly fell from around nine metres above him, leaving him with critical chest and head injuries.

Mr Denton, 85, of Charles Knott Gardens, was treated at the scene and rushed to Southampton General Hospital but was pronounced dead on arrival.

And the inquest heard the 1.5 tonne branch had decayed internally over a number of years due to a fungal infection and could have fallen at any time.

But since the incident on August 6, Southampton City Council and the Health and Safety Executive have both reviewed the area and declared it safe.

Mike Harris, senior tree officer at the city council, said: “There were no obvious signs of decay but the nature of it was symptomatic of a fungus. It’s common in oak trees.”

He added the winter storms earlier that year may have made the branch more vulnerable.

Mr Harris added: “We are talking a number of years for this branch to decay. It may have dropped due to a slight increase in wind on the day but we cannot be sure why it fell at that time.

“It would have taken one-to-two seconds to fall. The gentleman may have heard a loud crack and looked up but he would have had no time to react and avoid a branch of that size.”

The inquest heard Mr Denton, a retired tailor, would regularly walk through the Common and was generally fit and healthy.

He was trapped under the branch for around 30 minutes and found by dog walker Simon Waterson, who quickly called the emergency services.

In a statement Mr Waterson said: “I remember thinking this is serious as the man was lying on the ground with an apparent injury to the head and he was not responsive at all.”

Coroner Grahame Short recorded a verdict of accidental death.

He added: “It’s difficult to avoid describing this as being someone in the wrong place at the wrong time but that seems to be the case here.”