Teenager in sledge tragedy hoped for Oxbridge place

A gifted student who died after she crashed through a barbed-wire fence at high speed on a makeshift metal sledge was hoping to study at Oxford or Cambridge.

Francesca Anobile, 16, was fatally injured after she and three other girls went sledging in Rother Valley Country Park in South Yorkshire yesterday afternoon.

The girls went through the barbed wire on the sledge - made from an upturned car roof - before hitting another fence, which stopped them from falling into a river.

Francesca, from Sheffield, was airlifted to the city's Northern General Hospital with serious head injuries but died at 6pm.

Her friend Nikki Burns, also 16 and from Sheffield, was seriously injured and was taken to the Royal Hallamshire Hospital. The two other girls suffered minor injuries.

In a statement, Francesca's family said she was a "beautiful, witty, intelligent and popular young woman with everything to live for".

Her friend Laura Simpson laid flowers at the scene of the accident today. She stood for a few minutes with her family and wiped away tears as she looked at the snow-covered slope.

Speaking briefly, she said: "I was the only one who didn't get on. I had to watch it all. I watched them come down." She added: "Francesca was my best friend. We were more or less inseparable, never a day would go by without us speaking or anything. She was amazing. I've just lost a big part of my life. She was everything you could want from a friend, lots of fun."

Francesca passed 15 GCSEs at Grade A or A* at Westfield Sports College, Sothall, Sheffield, and was studying for her A-levels at another school in the city.

Westfield headteacher Sue Simmons said the teenager had been working towards her gold Duke of Edinburgh Award and was aiming for a place at Oxford or Cambridge University.

Mrs Simmons said: "We are deeply upset by Francesca's tragic death and we have sent our condolences to her family. Francesca was a gifted and talented student who was an absolute joy to teach. She was a credit to Westfield Sports College and her parents.

"It was a privilege to know her. Staff here could not have wished for a better student and role model. What has happened is absolutely heartbreaking. She was bubbly and outgoing with a lovely sense of humour. She put a lot back into her local community working as a young leader teaching sports to children from local primary schools. She was a delightful young lady."

Mrs Simmons said the college would be postponing the GCSE presentation evening next week as a mark of respect for all the girls involved in the tragedy.

It is believed they were sledging at lunchtime in a field which had been fenced off for cattle grazing.

Witnesses described how the girls hurtled down the slope at high speed and sliced through the mesh fence as if it was not there, causing terrible injuries. South Yorkshire Police said the crash was a "tragic sledging incident".

The park is owned by Rotherham Metropolitan Borough Council and is one of the biggest country parks in the area, developed on a 300-hectare site once used for open-cast coal mining.