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  "path": "/2026/04/22/father-blames-council-girl-12-killed-by-falling-branch-rope-swing-28078537/",
  "publishedAt": "2026-04-22T16:55:42.000Z",
  "site": "https://metro.co.uk",
  "tags": [
    "News",
    "UK",
    "Death",
    "Surrey",
    "News Updates",
    "Breaking News",
    "Add Metro as a Preferred Source on Google\nAdd as preferred source"
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  "textContent": "Brooke’s family have said she would still be alive if the council had carried out an inspection (Picture: Facebook)\n\nA young girl was killed as she was swinging on a tree branch that should have been removed, an inquest heard.\n\nBrooke Wiggins was fatally wounded by the falling tree branch days before her 13th birthday on November 9 2024 in Banstead, Surrey.\n\nSouth London Coroner’s Court heard that Surrey County Council, had been due to re-inspect the branch six months earlier but it did not take place.\n\nActing on behalf of Brooke’s father Lee Wiggins, Christian Weaver said that had the inspection been carried out, any rope swing found on the tree should have been removed, ‘as per policy’.\n\nBrooke’s father told the inquest his daughter was an ‘amazing young woman’, who was ‘bright and very funny’.\n\n##  Sign up for all of the latest stories\n\nStart your day informed with Metro's **News Updates** newsletter or get **Breaking News** alerts the moment it happens.\n\nHe said: ‘I am devastated that my baby girl has been taken from me.\n\n‘She packed so much into her short life.\n\n‘Only 12 years old, and now she’s gone forever.\n\n‘When I think of her, I ask myself, ‘why my darling Brooke?’\n\n‘If only people had done their job properly… the one thing they are paid to do, and did it properly, Brooke would still be here,’ Mr Wiggins added.\n\nRepresentatives for Surrey County Council said expert evidence shows an inspection may not have achieved a ‘materially different outcome’.\n\nIn a statement read by assistant coroner Ivor Collett on behalf of Brooke’s mother, Claire Etherington, she was described as a ‘beautiful, fun, caring and loving girl’ who had ‘the most incredible way of lighting up every room she went into’.\n\n‘She was always surrounded by the people who loved her, and it’s easy to see why – she gave so much love back,’ her mother said.\n\nBrooke loved dancing, art, singing and taking photographs.\n\nShe took pride in expressing herself, and ‘never went anywhere without her eyelashes on’, she said.\n\n‘She was a smart girl with so much potential.\n\n‘We will always wonder what she would have gone on to achieve in her life,’ Ms Etherington said.\n\nShe added that she hopes knowing what happened to Brooke will bring ‘a small sense of closure’ and ‘some understanding’.\n\nSpeaking at the start of the hearing, Mr Collett said: ‘This is a particularly sad inquest.\n\n‘Of course, there are no happy inquests, but this is dreadful because it concerns the death of a young child and there’s no escaping that.\n\n‘To the family, I am bound to sound, at times, rather cold and distant… (but) I do not take away for a moment the unending pain felt by the family by the loss of their beloved daughter.’\n\nA Surrey County Council spokesperson told Metro: ‘We continue to offer our deepest sympathy to the family and friends of Brooke Wiggins, who tragically died in November 2024.\n\n‘Representatives from Surrey County Council have provided detailed information to support the Coroner’s enquiries and are fully committed to participating in the inquest process this week.’\n\nThe inquest continues.\n\nComment now Comments \nAdd Metro as a Preferred Source on Google\nAdd as preferred source\n",
  "title": "Father blames council after girl, 12, killed ‘by falling branch on rope swing’"
}