THE death of a father-of-three from Crondall after a cherry tree fell on his car on the A287 Farnham Road in June was a tragic accident, a coroner has ruled.

Renowned environmentalist David John Hoyle, 48, died at the scene of the fatal incident, which happened in stormy weather at around 7.17am on Tuesday, June 6, between Rye Common and Ewshot.

An inquest into his death re-opened at Basingstoke Law Courts last week and resulted in the coroner recording a verdict of ‘accidental death.

The inquest heard Mr Hoyle, who devoted much of his life to preventing deforestation, was driving his Citreon Xsara Picasso at 70mph when the roots of the tree became dislodged in torrential rain and collapsed on top of his car.

He suffered fatal fractures to the skull and, according to a police detective sergeant who was first to arrive at the scene, died instantly.

The tree had twice been inspected by Hampshire County Council in the 18 months prior to the incident, but the tree was not deemed a danger.

Mr Hoyle is survived by his wife Marceline, their three children Henry, Kate and Emily, his brother Nick, sister Julia, and both his parents.