The Cambridge News has led the way with its coverage of the Gianna Cooper story, bagging two big exclusives to give a boost to its online and print editions.

The seven-year-old girl, from Foxton in Cambridgeshire, was seriously injured when she fell from a fifth-floor hotel balcony in Majorca.

The story took a further twist when her mother, Sara Cooper, went missing.

Picture editor, Dave Harwood, managed to track down an image of Gianna in the Cambridge News’s large archive system.

This picture exclusive was run first on the paper’s online edition, long before the rest of the media was able to catch up.

“Picture by Cambridge News”

And the News was first again when it broke the story on its website that a body – that of Sara – had been found in Majorca.

The News website – cambridge-news.co.uk – broke the story less than 45 minutes after the discovery of Mrs Cooper’s body.

Dave Harwood said: “In a short space of time, I managed to locate any Foxton picture containing Gianna’s age group.

“Amazingly, this turned out to be the only image which has emerged of little Gianna since the incident in Majorca.”

Cambridge News Online has been focusing on breaking news to complement its print editions.

Digital editor, Ian Sale, said: “We have had a string of big successes recently regarding breaking news on the website.

“We have led this story from the beginning and is another boost as we build a ‘first for breaking news’ reputation.”

News editor John Deex said: “We built up contacts in Majorca and this allowed us to be the first British media to report the big developments on this tragic story.”