Stable hand killed in fall

Rebecca Davies was treated by a paramedic team

A 19-year-old stable hand has died after she was thrown from her horse and dragged across the Lincolnshire countryside.

Rebecca Davies, was riding a racehorse at Willoughton, near Gainsborough, when she fell and trapped her foot in the stirrup.

She was dragged for a quarter of a mile by the galloping horse and suffered fatal head injuries.

The owners of the stable where she was working said everybody who knew her had been left "shattered" by the incident.

She loved the horses and it showed in the way she looked after them

James Given, raceyard owner

Ms Davies was exercising one of the 70 horses stabled at Stafford's Yard in Northfield Lane, when she was thrown on Tuesday.

Paramedics were called but the teenager, from Atherton near Wigan, was pronounced dead at the scene.

James Given, who owns the yard where Ms Davies had worked since January, said everyone was "absolutely shattered" by her death.

The racehorse trainer came back from Ireland when he heard about the accident.

He said: "She was a great friend to everybody in the yard. Everyone liked her a great deal and she is hugely missed.

"Outstanding person"

"People are still absolutely shattered about it. She was just one of the nicest people you could wish to meet.

"She loved the horses and it showed in the way she looked after them."

"They responded well to her and she was such a conscientious worker.

"She was the most outstanding person. She was not so much an employee as a friend."

Lincolnshire Police said they were treating the death as a tragic accident and expected an inquest to be opened on Thursday.