Ladder fall death

A RETIRED sailor died following a fall while cutting a tree in his garden, an inquest heard.

John Tremlett, aged 77, was gardening at his Portishead home with an electric trimmer when he fell and suffered fatal injuries, Flax Bourton Coroners Court was told.

He was found with his head on a concrete slab and his feet on the power cable by a passer-by following his fall on August 27.

The air ambulance and paramedics were called to his Drakes Way house but despite resuscitation attempts he was pronounced dead at the scene.

Paramedics and police officers initially suspected the keen gardener had suffered an aneurysm before he fell, with little evidence suggesting he had tried to break his fall.

A post-mortem found he suffered a fractured skull, several broken ribs and facial injuries, the court was told on April 4.

But there was no evidence of any aneurysm and assistant deputy coroner Gail Elliman said the former master mariner had died from a ‘horrible and unexpected accident’.

She said: “I’m satisfied that the cause of death was simply a result of his fall. It was just the injuries that caused his death.”