Showjumping star Ella, 18, died after losing control of car

A promising young showjumper from Cowfold died in a crash after she '˜lost control' in foggy conditions, an inquest has heard.
Ella Popely. Photo contributed by the All England Jumping CourseElla Popely. Photo contributed by the All England Jumping Course
Ella Popely. Photo contributed by the All England Jumping Course

Ella Popely, 18, had been driving her Fiat 500 car on December 6 last year in a south easterly direction on Leith Hill Road in Dorking, according to a report by Jessica Russell-Mitra, HM assistant coroner for Surrey.

The report said she ‘lost control’ of her car on a left hand bend about 120 metres before the junction with Tanhurst Lane.

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Ella, who was on her way to college at the time, had just celebrated her 18th birthday.

She grew up near Hickstead and spent 14 years at Burgess Hill Girls school.

At the inquest in Woking on Tuesday, October 10, the coroner concluded that Ella had died as a result of a road traffic crash.

“Her driver’s wing mirror clipped the wing mirror of the Audi car travelling in the opposite direction,” the coroner said.

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“The offside of her car collided with the back of that car and then mounted a verge and her car flipped over onto its roof.

“She suffered a serious head injury and was treated at the scene but life extinct was declared at 11.50am.”

At the time of her death, tributes poured in for the young showjumping star who represented Great Britain on a number of occasions.

Ella competed in her first international competition in 2011 after being selected for the Children’s Nations cup team competing in Hagen.

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She was then selected for the Children’s European Championship Squad that same year.

The daughter of John Popely, an international showjumper, Ella first took up the sport at the age of eight and was expected to follow in her father’s footsteps.

Kathryn Bell, headteacher at Burgess Hill Girls school said she was ‘a little bubbly ray of sunshine’ and that her death was a ‘tragic and devastating loss’.

Speaking just after the crash she said: “Ella, will be remembered by everyone at school for her wonderful dedication and contribution to school life, to sport and for her significant and outstanding showjumping ability.

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“She is, and will continue to be, very sadly missed by the whole school community.”

The All England Showjumping Course said Ella was one of Team GB’s ‘brightest, talented and up and coming showjumpers’.

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