PSNI let us down over Hannah, says Mum

Hannah Wiley (13) who was killed when her horse fell on top of her at the Eglinton Equestrain Centre on Friday night, pictured with her mum and dad Ethna and Edmund and her brother Aaron.

Ethna Wiley was speaking just moments after the Inquest into the death of her 13-year-old daughter Hannah yesterday at Londonderry Courthouse.

Mrs Wiley, who attended the Inquest with her husband Edmund, read out a short statement in court, much of which she repeated outside the courthouse after the hearing.

Speaking outside, she described Hannah had been “fun-loving and sport mad”, adding: “We are law abiding people. We needed the help of the PSNI, and we feel they let us down by lack of investigation.

“We then heard through the media that Derry City Council were going to carry out a thorough investigation. This never took place.”

She added that they also had to “endure” learning long after the event that Eglinton Equestrian Centre committee member Leslie McFaul, who gave evidence at the hearing, had taken down and reassembled some of the equipment at the scene of the fatal tragedy the morning afterwards.

Coroner Jim Kitson said in his summing up that while this was “regrettable”, he was satisfied that the jumps at the centre were dismantled “entirely innocently”.

Various eye-witnesses, including Hanna’s father, described how they watched in horror as her pony, named Jobbers, clipped the top pole at the fourth gate in the 80cm showjumping round, and Hannah was thrown forward onto the ground before the animal, whose legs were entangled in the pole, somersaulted and landed on top of her.

The tragedy occurred on the night on August 17, 2012, and Hannah was later pronounced dead at Altnagelvin Hospital after numerous attempts at resuscitation failed to make any difference.

Much of yesterday’s hearing focused on the cups which held the poles in place at the event gymkhana event.

An expert examined metal and plastic cups at Eglinton, but said that as far as he could ascertain all conformed to normal standards expected.

In his concluding remarks, the Coroner said: “It goes without saying we will never know exactly what happened on that dreadful night”, and added that the Eglinton Centre was clearly well run and was using equipment they had used for many years.

He added that Hannah had died from “devastating abdominal and chest injuries due to the crushing effect of her pony falling on top of her”.

A pathologist had earlier stated there had been lacerations to Hannah’s liver sustained in the accident which would have been unsurvivable, as well as other serious damage to her abdomen and chest area.