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Longfield family's grief at death of Keane Wallis-Bennett girl, 12, crushed by wall at Liberton High School in Edinbrugh

The great-aunt of a 12-year-old girl who died after a changing room wall collapsed on her has described the tragedy as "too awful for words".

Patricia Wallis, from New Barn Road in Longfield is the sister of Keane Wallis-Bennett's grandfather Christopher Wallis, also from Longfield.

Mr Wallis rushed to Scotland after the collapse last Tuesday to comfort his daughter Abbie, Keane's mother.

Keane Wallis-Bennett was crushed to death in the changing rooms of her Edinburgh School
Keane Wallis-Bennett was crushed to death in the changing rooms of her Edinburgh School

Mrs Wallis, 62, said: "It's just too awful for words. You don't expect your little girl to go to school and not come home that afternoon.

"Apparently she got a phone call from the school. It had seemed just an ordinary day but then her whole world absolutely collapsed.

"Keane was my brother Christopher's granddaughter and she used to come down to visit us in the holidays with Abbie and her brother, who is 11.

"She was such a happy-go-lucky little girl and very intelligent. In all her exams she would always come first..." - Patricia Wallis

"She was such a happy-go-lucky little girl and very intelligent. In all her exams she would always come first."

Keane was in the PE changing rooms at Liberton High School in Edinburgh when a free-standing 'modesty wall' fell on top of her.

She was pronounced dead at the scene.

Mrs Wallis said Keane loved music, clothes and computer games. "She started school at the age of four so she was such a clever child," she added.

"She was really popular at school and had lots of friends. All she wanted to do was get on with her school work.

"There is going to be a massive hole in our family now and there are really no words to say how I feel."

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