Tributes to lake tragedy teenager Ben Henshaw

Tributes have been paid to a "cheerful and popular" teenager who died after the car he was travelling in ploughed through a hedge and into a fishing lake at a hotel near Wolverhampton.

Ben Henshaw, 16, of Alveley, near Bridgnorth, was due to receive his GCSE results in a few weeks' time and was expecting to start an apprenticeship later in the year, according to staff at Oldbury Wells School in Bridgnorth where he was a pupil.

Villagers have described Mr Henshaw, who was a keen cricketer, as a "fantastic" person and a "great lad" who was popular with people of all ages.

Mr Henshaw died when a silver Peugeot 306 in which he was a back-seat passenger plunged into a lake at Patshull Park Hotel, Golf and Country Club in Pattingham, near Bridgnorth, early on Monday. The 18-year-old driver and a 15-year-old girl who was also a passenger swam to safety and were treated at the scene.

Mr Henshaw's body was recovered more than five hours later by specialist underwater divers.

An investigation has been launched by Staffordshire Police to determine the cause of the crash. Sarah Godden, headteacher at Oldbury Wells School, said: "Ben was a happy, cheerful and popular student, much liked and respected by all staff and students."

Manjit Sunner, who runs the Londis store in Alveley, where Mr Henshaw had a paper round for fours years, said his death would be a huge loss to the village. He said: "He was a fantastic person and so outgoing. There was never a day when he didn't turn up for work."

Richard Twigg, chairman of Alveley Cricket Club, who also lives opposite the family, said: "Ben was an absolutely smashing lad, just a very genuine person.

"He was very polite and very well known in Alveley, where he had a lot of friends.

"He played for the junior team off and on. He would always help out when we were short of players. Ben would always enter a side in the club's six-a-side tournament every year."

Neighbour Jenny Jones of Holmes Orchard said: "He was a nice lad, and it's a tragic thing that has happened."