Accident investigators still do not know why a helicopter crash-landed into trees at the back of a garden after a mid-air stall.

The machine lost power before going down in Brightling, near Robertsbridge, last April.

The pilot told the Transport Department's Air Accidents Investigation Branch he had only a "hazy" memory of what happened once the aircraft went into "free fall".

He had been flying the Robinson R44 helicopter at 1,200ft on the southern edge of a rain shower from Lydd in Kent towards a landing site near Heathfield.

The AAIB, in its report into the accident, suggested the cold, wet conditions at that height may have caused icing to the carburettor.

The helicopter was badly damaged by the landing and the pilot suffered minor injuries.

The AAIB said there were no obvious defects in the helicopter but instruments had been fluctuating in the seconds before the aircraft lost power.