Riding charity tribute to helicopter crash victim

A horse riding instructor who died in a helicopter crash along with her husband and the pilot was a "lovely person", a charity has said.

Justyna Czoska, who was 52 and lived in Bloxham in Oxfordshire, was killed when the aircraft came down near Shanklin on the Isle of Wight on Monday morning.

Ms Czoska was a riding instructor and volunteer at Chigwell Riding Trust for Special Needs in Essex and had worked there for nearly five years.

Deborah Hall, the manager at the trust, said she "always had a smile on her face".

"Wherever she went, people liked her, she was that sort of person," said Ms Hall.

"She would have helped so many riders and changed their lives and it's just very sad because she was taken far too soon."

Ms Czoska's husband Wojciech Kowalkowski, 49, and 54-year-old pilot Simon Hewitt, were also killed in the crash.

The Air Accidents Investigation Branch (AAIB) has started an investigation into what happened, but said it was likely to take 12 months.

A spokesperson for the AAIB has said it is focusing on gathering physical evidence from the site and interviewing witnesses.

The wreckage was removed from the site on Tuesday.

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