A
17-year-old British private schoolgirl has died 12 days after
falling from the seventh floor window of a holiday apartment on
the Spanish island of Majorca. Grace Ford was celebrating the
end of her A-levels with a holiday in the Spanish party resort
of Magaluf, when she plunged 90ft shortly before dawn on Saturday
July 20.
The
girl, a student at fee-paying Kirkham Grammar, fell while trying
to sneak out of a male friend's room in an apartment where visitors
were not allowed. It was the first night of her holiday with fellow
six-formers.
Miss
Ford, from Greenhalgh, near Kirkham, Lancs, had suffered multiple
fractures of both legs and her pelvis and had been kept in a drug-induced
coma with her parents at her bedside.
She
had shown signs of improvement but died on Thursday night at the
Son Dureta hospital in the island's capital Palma after reportedly
developing an infection.
Friends
paid tribute to a "great scholar, horsewoman and athlete".
"She
was the most wonderful girl," said family friend Steve Hall.
"She was a brilliant scholar, outstanding horsewoman and
a fine athlete. Everyone is going to miss her terribly.
"She
has fought like a tiger, she has fought it as hard as anyone could,"
he said.
Carl
MacKenzie, joint owner of the Elswick Equestrian Centre near Preston,
where Miss Preston stabled her horse, said: "She was a nice
happy, friendly girl. She was friendly to everybody and spoke
to everybody.
"We're
all thinking of her family."
Miss
Ford had met British holidaymaker Edward Soppet, 18, on the night
of the accident and returned to Torrenova apartment in Punta Ballena
where he was staying.
She
tried to leave around 5.30am by climbing from the apartment window
thinking it led to another part of the building but fell onto
a courtyard below.
According
to local reports paramedics spent 90 minutes trying to stabilise
her at the apartment block before transferring her by ambulance
to hospital.
Meanwhile
Mr Soppet had gone to bed after helping her out of the window
and slept through the incident.
He
was later arrested and appeared in court accused of failing to
help the victim of an accident but was released without charge.