A STABLE groom working at a training complex near York has been found hanged.

Lee Weighman, 21, was discovered in a barn on part of Mel Brittain's training complex at Warthill.

Ambulance crews were called to the scene but it was too late to save the groom, who was originally from the Liverpool area.

Today Mr Weighman's employer, trainer Declan Carroll, who leases one of Mr Brittain's yards, said he and his five staff were still trying to come to terms with the tragedy.

He said: "Lee had worked for me for four or five months. He was a grand lad and a good worker.

"He was a quiet fella. He didn't say a great deal, but he wanted to get an apprentice jockey licence, that's why he was here. It is terribly sad, but we have all got to try and pull together."

Mr Carroll said Mr Weighman, who lived on the site, went to work as normal on Tuesday morning but went missing just after 7am.

He said a female groom discovered Mr Weigman in a barn in another part of the training complex in Gate Helmsley about an hour later. She was said to be "devastated" by the incident.

Mr Weighman had previously worked for trainers Amanda Perrett, in Sussex, and Mick Channon in Berkshire.

A North Yorkshire Police spokesman said: "We were called by ambulance crews on Tuesday morning to a farm at Gate Helmsley, near Warthill, to a man found hanging.

"There are no suspicious circumstances. The coroner has been informed and an inquest will be held."

Updated: 14:43 Friday, November 21, 2003