A TINY village community has been left in a state of shock this week by the death of an 11-year-old schoolgirl.

Emma Hayward died in hospital last Thursday just hours after suffering a brain haemorrhage and being found in a coma by her mother Fiona, who is deputy superintendent of births, marriages and deaths in Salisbury.

Emma had gone to bed her normal happy self at the family's North Gorley home, near Fordingbridge, on Wednesday night and Mrs Hayward discovered her unconscious when she went to wake her for school at 7am.

An ambulance responded quickly to the family's 999 call and Emma was rushed to Salisbury District Hospital. She was later transferred to the neurological unit at Southampton General Hospital.

Her mother and father Alan Hayward were at her bedside when her life support machine was switched off.

Her father, a poultry farmer, told the Journal: "She was such a bright and happy child and a friend to everyone. You just don't expect something like this to happen to your child."