School plans permanent memorial for Becky

12:38pm Friday 18th January 2008

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A MEMORIAL for a 13-year-old girl who is believed to havedied from an undetected heart abnormality is being organised by her school.

The head teacher of Darwen Vale High School is currently working with the family of Rebecca Duxbury, of Lady Close, Lower Darwen, to create the permanent tribute.

Rebecca's father and mother Ray Duxbury, 39, and Vanessa Clark, 37, asked for the funds raised in her memory to be donated to Darwen Vale High School, which she attended.

Although no final decision has been made on what the memorial will be, headteacher Mrs Lynn Dunning said it will reflect Rebecca's favourite love of art and sport.

Rebecca, or Becky as she was known, played for Darwen Ladies under 14s team for four and a half years and also played other sports including netball.

The teenager who was described as very outgoing,' bubbly' and friendly' by her mother, a cashier in Tesco Metro, Blackburn, was found dead in her bed at the family home on October 3.

Becky had been picked up from school, where she had been playing netball, by her father, a police dog handler for Greater Manchester Police, the previous day.

By a process of elimination, the cause of her death was probably an abnormal cardiac rhythm, an inquest heard.

Mrs Dunning said: "The money is being collected in and we're hoping to involve the family in plans for the memorial.

"We have waited until after Christmas and the inquest because they are hard times for the family.

"No final decision on the memorial has been made - we are hoping to involve pupils, and for it to reflect Rebecca's favourite extra-curricular activities."

The deputy coroner Carolyn Singleton recorded a natural causes verdict.

• A report of the inquest into Rebecca's death in Thursday's Lancashire Telegraph incorrectly stated that she had gone to bed feeling ill the night before her body was discovered. The inquest was in fact told that she had gone to bed as normal. We apologise for the error and any distress caused.