THE ten-year-old North Yorkshire schoolgirl who fractured her skull when her horse slipped and fell on her has been released from hospital.

Katie Benbow, of Whitley Bridge, near Selby, suffered the head injury while riding her pony, Rosie, at Richmond Equestrian Centre on Friday.

Yesterday doctors at James Cook Hospital in Middlesbrough gave her the all clear, though Katie must stay in a neck brace and have two weeks of rest.

Her father, Simon Benbow, said: “We are absolutely delighted because we are on our way home. She’s just been given the all clear to go home – she is very happy indeed.

“She’s been itching to get out of hospital since Sunday. She got really bad on Monday and I think if she had been told to stay in another day she would have murdered me.”

Katie was airlifted to the hospital by the Great North Air Ambulance on Friday after what has been described as a “freak accident”.

Mr Benbow thanked all the medical teams who had looked after his daughter, a pupil at Henshall Primary School.

“They have been absolutely fantastic and she’s made as speedy a recovery as could possibly have been expected,” he said.

As reported in The Press yesterday, the family paid particular tribute to the air ambulance.

Mr Benbow said: “If we had a £1 million to drop into the fund we would. Considering the speed which she was brought to safety, it doesn’t bear thinking about if this service was not there.”

If you would like to support the Great North Air Ambulance Service, phone 01325 487263.

We also reported how Katie was helped at the scene by Wendy Scott, 49, of Knayton, near Thirsk.

Mrs Scott used skills to come to Katie’s aid she had only recently learned on a first aid course run by the Great North Air Ambulance Service.