A YOUNG woman was killed by a falling branch while on FaceTime with her sister who watched in horror.
Shannon Owen was walking through the woods with her close friend, Sinead, when the shocking tragedy unfolded near Whitchurch on Thames, South Oxfordshire.
The 22-year-old NHS administrator was also joined by Sinead’s 19-year-old brother, Harrison, on the fatal day of March 11, 2023.
While exploring, the group found a rope swing tied to a tree and took turns on it, an inquest at Oxford Coroner’s Court heard.
Sinead enjoyed the make-shift swing for a short while as Shannon sat on the phone to her sister Georgia.
The next moment a 20ft branch, next to the one on which the rope was attached, fell on Shannon’s chest.
A horrified Georgia was on FaceTime when she saw her sister’s phone fall to the ground, and heartbreakingly heard screams in the background.
Harrison quickly grabbed Shannon’s phone and begged Georgia to call an ambulance, as he performed CPR on his motionless friend.
In a statement read out at Oxford Coroners’ Court, Georgia wrote: “Shannon was not just my older sister but she was also my best friend.
“At around 3.30pm I noticed that a letter had been posted through the door for Shannon saying it was private and confidential.
“I Facetimed her at 3.41pm and whilst speaking to her on the phone she was stuck by the tree. It all happened so quickly.
“All I saw was her phone rolling down the hill, I was so, so confused.”
The terrified sister had tried to find Shannon’s location on Snap Maps in a desperate bid to send help and save her.
Oxfordshire senior coroner, Darren Salter, heard the deadly branch had measured a meter in diameter.
Despite the best efforts of paramedics, air ambulance, police and firefighters, Shannon was tragically pronounced dead at the scene.
The inquest was told investigations revealed the tree trunk had likely been rotten when a 20ft chunk split off and crushed Shannon.
I Facetimed her at 3.41pm and whilst speaking to her on the phone she was stuck by the tree. It all happened so quickly.”
Georgia
Mr Salter recorded the 22-year-old’s devastating loss as an accidental death and deemed it a “freak accident”.
Lisa Owen, Shannon’s mother, spoke at the inquest and said: “To prevent anyone else going through this heartache and suffering, I really do believe that there should be fencing around the woodland.”
However the owner, a man in his 80s, said in a statement to the coroner that would not be “practical or desirable” as well as “expensive and pointless”.
But, he did claim to have bought more than 20 signs reading ‘keep out’ and ‘do not enter’.
The tree involved in the terrible incident was also removed in June – months after Shannon’s untimely death.
Mr Salter concluded: “The loss of Shannon in these circumstances is sad, and almost unbelievable.
“This is just so, so unfortunate that Shannon was there when this happened. The coroner’s conclusion should be one of accident.”
