A TREE growing around a headstone which crushed a schoolboy to death has been cited as a cause of its failure.

The Fatal Accident Inquiry into the death of Ciaran Williamson continued yesterday by hearing from expert witness Peter Hayman, of the National Association of Memorial Masons (NAMM).

Mr Hayman, who has worked as a memorial mason, assessor and trainer the industry since 1978, was called to Craigton Cemetery in July 2015 around two months after the tragedy.

Schoolboy Ciaran suffered a severed brain stem and cardiac arrest when the headstone, dubbed the Ross Memorial, fell on him while he was playing with friends.

While there he inspected the site of the accident and the memorial, which had split into three pieces following the accident.

The 7ft granite tombstone, which the court previously heard was leaning at an angle prior to the accident, was built in the 1920s with only a small amount of mortar left at the base.

The court heard that despite it having no dowels holding it together, “ the weight of the stone means if it was upright, it was firm and stable”.

Mr Hayman said he thought the stone was leaning due to a tree which was growing round it.

He explained: “Although the foundation of the Ross Memorial would not be acceptable in today’s standard, the forward lean was not related to the foundation failure.”

When questioned by Dorothy Bain QC, representing Ciaran’s mother Stephanie Griffin, about the cause of the lean, he said: “As the tree would grow, it would lift.

“The roots were directly behind the back of the plinth.

“There was other evidence of similar trees causing similar damage to other memorials in the cemetery.”

“The weight of the stone would work against its stability, pulling on the back of the stone.”

In his report, Mr Hayman explained: “The tree was probably self-seeded and must have been growing for many years to reach such a size.

“The roots must have caused a forward lean to the memorial.”

The inquiry previously heard evidence from both Ciaran’s mum Stephanie and dad Ryan Williamson, Ciaran’s friends who were with him in the cemetery during the accident, industry experts and council staff.

A former council employee told the inquiry previously that safety checking at graveyards was a “fairly unplanned activity” prior to 2015.

Alasdair Brown, who worked as head of environment and sustainability at Glasgow City Council at the time of Ciaran’s death, said during a previous hearing that the authority’s headstone checking procedures “did not provide an adequate level of protection” to visitors.

Since Ciaran’s death, the council have laid down thousands of headstones across all of the city’s cemeteries and graveyards.

The inquiry before Sheriff Ruxton continues.