An 11-year-old girl died in a freak accident after falling off her new bike when she swerved to avoid a holly leaf, an inquest was told yesterday.

Schoolgirl Katie Cook was riding ahead of her parents, Diane, 38, and Jim, 36, and brothers Michael, 14, and Matthew, seven, when she tumbled onto her handlebars.

The impact ruptured her liver and, though her only visible injuries were a bruise and a scratch, she died of internal bleeding.

In a statement read at the hearing in Eastbourne, housewife Mrs Cook told how she comforted her daughter with loving words as she slipped away from them.

She said: "She was losing colour and her tongue started to turn blue. The last thing she did was sit bolt upright, started to speak and screamed.

"I told her I loved her and that her brothers, the horse, the dog, everyone loved her. I have tried to understand how Katie came off. I know she tried to swerve to miss a holly leaf on the cycle path.

"She thought it would puncture her tyre, she told me that after she came off the bike. It was just one leaf. All I saw was Katie go through the air."

Mr and Mrs Cook were both at the hearing and fought back tears as they listened to the evidence.

East Sussex Coroner Alan Craze recorded a verdict of accidental death.