Girl dies catching rugby ball

A 12-year-old girl died after she was hit by a rugby ball during a PE lesson yesterday.

Leonie Nice, a pupil at Woodlands School in Basildon, Essex, had apparently been trying to catch the ball when it hit her in the chest.

Headteacher Andy White said: "Leonie keeled over and appeared to go into a fit." She was given CPR but was later pronounced dead at hospital.

Last month, a schoolboy in Dorset, Kyle Rees, 16, died after he was hit on the head by a cricket ball.

PA