A six-year-old girl was playing innocently with friends in her school playground when she was crushed and killed by a falling tree in an “entirely avoidable” tragedy.
A North East council has been fined £280,000 after admitting to failings that led to the “devastating” death of Ella Henderson, who was trapped under a collapsed tree at Gosforth Park First School, in Newcastle. The year two pupil was playing with her friends at lunchtime when the decayed willow came crashing down during strong winds on September 25, 2020.
A court heard on Tuesday that several children were underneath the tree when it fell but, while most were able to climb out to safety, the section that Ella was crushed under was too heavy for school staff to rescue her. Emergency services rushed to the scene to free her and took her to the Royal Victoria Infirmary, where she died from her injuries in the early hours of the next morning.
