As Summer Branch Drop (SBD) is currently a hot topic, We’ve seen Erena Wilson’s tragic death at Kew Gardens mentioned several times as though it's an example of a fatality from SBD.

It isn’t.

Erena Wilson sadly died at Kew Gardens on 23 September 2012, when a branch from a Cedar of Lebanon failed and struck her during wet and windy weather.

The inquest tested the SBD theory.

It failed the test.

The jury returned a verdict of accidental death and found there was insufficient evidence to establish the cause of branch failure.

What's worrying is the claim SBD was the cause of death got to an inquest. And, that SBD and Erena Wilson's death are regularly referred to as though it's a given.

Here's why.

The date alone should make anyone cautious. Late September is not Summer.

The weather evidence then makes SBD an unsatisfactory explanation.

Heathrow Met Office data shows June was exceptionally wet. July was wet. Although August and September were drier than average, the branch failed on a day reported as wet and windy, with heavy rain shortly before the failure.

Temperature data shows June and July temperatures below average. August was warmer than average and there was a short hot spell in mid-August; more than a month before the branch failed.

This data does not support a spell of 'hot, dry weather' causing the failure.

A speculative theory about SBD and preventability can easily become a negligence story - that warning signs, fencing, or pruning would have saved Erena Wilson.

That is a terrible burden to place on a bereaved family on such remarkably weak evidence.

The evidence that Erena Wilson was killed by SBD at Kew Gardens is flimsy. It did not persuade the jury to establish SBD as the cause.

So it shouldn't now be recycled as though it were fact.

We have a one-sider about managing the risk from Summer Branch Drop.