THE director of a Micheldever-based clothing brand was crushed to death by a tree during Storm Ciara, an inquest opening heard.

As previously reported, a 58-year-old man died when driving his Mercedes towards Micheldever on February 9.

He has now been identified as Kenneth Ronald Macartney, of Popham Court Road, joint director of Pavilion Clothing which has a shop in The Square, Winchester.

Paying tribute to him today, his family said: “Ken was born in Belfast in 1961. He moved to England when he was 18 and pursued a career in retail.

“He married in 2000 and has a wife Mandy and step daughter Laura.

“He is the owner of Pavilion a clothes shop in Winchester and was a prominent member of the Winchester BID.

“He was proud of Winchester, where he lived happily for 25 years.

“He was passionate about his family, dogs, football and chocolate and he will be sorely missed by everybody that knew and loved him.”

Winchester Coroner's Court heard how the tree fell on the A33 just before 4pm. The road was closed for several hours while emergency services attended and Mr Macartney was pronounced dead at the scene.

A report from consultant pathologist Dr Adan Al-Badri states the preliminary cause of death as severe crush injuries.

Senior coroner Christopher Wilkinson said: "The driver was heading along the A33 during one of the recent storms when a tree uprooted."

He adjourned the full inquest to July 27.

Four fire crews were sent to the scene, from Winchester, Eastleigh, Overton and Basingstoke and were there until 8.30pm.

Police are looking for anyone who witnessed the incident, or who may have dashcam footage of the Mercedes in the moments leading up to the incident.

They should call 101, quoting 44200050630.

Pavilion started trading in 2007 offering women and men designer fashion.

A statement on their website says: "Pavilion is the vision of Ken and Mandy Macartney who wanted to create a retail brand that would complement the lifestyles of its customers."