A VERDICT of accidental death was recorded at an inquest into the death of a popular Barry builder, who died after falling from a snowy roof earlier this year.

Well-known and much-loved Trevor Webb, of Hill Street in Barry, fell from a roof in Heol Leubren in the Pencoedtre Village area while working on a chimney on January 12.

A jury at Cardiff Coroner's Court heard how Mr Webb had left a family birthday party to collect money for building the chimney. He told his family he’d be back in ten minutes.

Mr Webb is thought to have accepted money from Thomas Brown, the owner of the house and also a friend, but put the cash down when he saw that some of the leading was untidy and went to complete the job - despite the bad weather.

Mr Brown told the court: "I handed him the money and he put it down to go and do something – I thought he was going to collect his tools.

"I didn’t for one minute think that he would be going onto the roof.

"He was a perfectionist and a great builder, and all I can think is that he saw something on the roof that he wanted to do and went up there."

Neighbours described how Mr Webb slipped down the roof, and dropped more than 6m before landing on his stomach on the ground.

The inquest heard that Mr Webb stood up after the fall and told Mr Brown that he had been hurt.

Mr Brown said: "I saw Trevor staggering past - he said 'Tommy, I’ve hurt myself'.

"He was lying on the pavement so we called an ambulance.

"It all happened so fast.

"I put him in the truck and that was the last time I spoke to him." Paramedics were unable to get onto the estate due to the snow, and Mr Webb had to be taken to them in a neighbour’s 4x4 vehicle.

He was taken to UHW and operated on twice, but the bleeding could not be stopped. Mr Webb died as a result of his injuries in hospital on January 14.

Thomas Brown’s son, Anthony Brown, had put the scaffolding on the house and had worked with Mr Webb for three years.

He said: "Trevor was a quick worker and had been working on the chimney.

"When I got there I hadn’t expected to see the chimney at that height - he had been working without the safety barriers.

"As a manager I wouldn't have allowed my men to work like that. "But he wasn’t stupid- he knew what he was doing – taking parts out of the scaffolding that would make it easier for him to get his materials up.

"I had told him to stop taking the tubes out but it is something that every bricklayer is guilty of."

Health and Safety officer Liam Osbourne added: "The scaffolding had been missing guard rails - it was fit for purpose for building the stack but not for building the chimney at that height.

"Any work should have been planned well in advance, and precautions put in place – in this case a chimney scaffold to create a space around which he could work.

"The second point was the weather. It seemed to me that no work at such a height should have taken place on a pitch roof when there is a build-up of snow and ice."

Mr Osbourne explained that in this instance Mr Webb, as a contractor, was responsible for his own health and safety.

A jury at Cardiff Cornoner’s Court on Tuesday returned a verdict of accidental death from falling from a height, where the cause of death was a blunt injury to the abdomen.

Mr Webb's family said it was the outcome they were expecting.

They said: "It is virtually what we were told at the hospital. The coronor was very thorough - it was an accidental death."

Many hundreds of tributes have been paid to the popular builder since he died - with his family saying he was a 'funny, hard-working family man' who will be sorely missed.