Horror as man falls 12 feet to his death in drunken golf prank gone wrong.

Conner Groom fell 3.7m from a bay at Topgolf in Chigwell, Essex, during a work Christmas party in 2021.

Essex Coroner’s Court heard that Conner and his colleagues had been drinking before they arrived at the driving range.

They began playing pranks on one another, pushing and nudging others to fall onto the safety nets about seven times, with a security guard even coming over to speak to them about it.

An unnamed friend, who had not been part of the pranking, ran up to Conner and pushed him, but instead of falling on the net, he went headfirst over the edge and fell 12 feet.

The 22-year-old sustained a serious spinal injury and was taken to Royal London Hospital. His condition worsened and he died from his injuries just over a month later.

Detective Inspector Lydia George, of Essex Police, told the inquest how officers had taken statements from multiple people at the scene and reviewed the CCTV footage of the incident.

DI George said: “All of the CCTV shows them in good spirits and no signs of animosity. A number of times it shows the friends trying to push each other into the safety netting. It was plainly seen as a joke.

“Immediately before the fatal push, [Conner’s friend] said he was going to push Conner into the net. It was said in a joking manner. He ran to him and pushed him. It was a two-handed push.”

A proposed cause of death following a lengthy stay in hospital for Conner was a hypoxic brain injury caused by traumatic spinal cord injury.

Essex Police consulted with the Crown Prosecution Service and Conner’s family about taking taking action against the friend who pushed him.

None was taken as the “evidential test was not met” for a charge of manslaughter. The friend’s intention was only for Conner to land on the safety netting.

DI George added: “The parents of Conner Groom didn’t support a prosecution of [his friend]. They believed that Conner would not have wanted to support any action over him as they are good friends.”

Graham Jarvis, a senior environmental health officer for Epping Forest Council, conducted a review into Topgolf and its safety procedures following Conner’s death.

He told the court that the venue had made a number of changes to its policies following the incident, including updates to its signage and a more “zero tolerance” approach to those who push people into the safety nets.