What is wrong with this cherry?

[Greeniscalming]

It had buds but they aren’t opening and seem to be shrivelling up.
Is there anything I can do, and could the snails have anything to do with it?

How old is the tree?

We've been having a lot of warm weather for the time of year, and not enough rain compared to usual - if it isn't an established tree is it struggling with low water?

Scrape away a little bark in various places. Is it green underneath?

if you are near London, water it. We have had no decent rain in 2 weeks and everything is v dry

It is established, about 15 years I think. We are Midlands but bone dry here too. @AlwaysGardening It’s not my garden & I’m home now but I’ll ask in-laws to scrape the bark and I’ll see what they say.

It will be nothing to do with the snails.

Get them to have a look at the base of the trunk, at the graft union. There should be a noticeable bulge on the trunk fairly low down. Fruit tree varieties are grafted onto a common rootstock, and sometimes that graft fails.

Are there fine webs across it, could be Spider Mites, they like dry conditions and can damage significant areas of a tree in my experience. Spray it.

Has anyone decided to prune it at the wrong time of year? Cherries should only be pruned in late summer. Leaving it to late winter or spring can leave the plant vulnerable to disease, like silverleaf or bacterial canker. You say it has buds, but I couldn't see any healthy ones in your photos, just shrivelled growth - was that left from last year, or did the tree produce these this year but the leaves have simply stopped growing?

Ask your relative to scrape at the bark of the twigs to check for a layer of green tissue. If this is present then the tree is still living, but if there isn't, nor is there any under the trunk's bark, then there is very little hope for the tree's survival.

I have had similar with a rowan tree, and on closer inspection I found that there was significant damage at ground level to the trunk's bark (which had been hidden by grass). I had noticed that this tree had the remains of new growth from the previous spring, but the growth had died fairly rapidly.