A COUPLE and two of their children died when their private plane crashed on their way to visit family in Wellington.

Pilot Philip Garvey, 56, his wife Ann, 55, and children Emily, 23, and Daniel, 20, were killed when the six-seater light aircraft came down in a field off Buttles Lane, Churchinford.

They were approaching Dunkeswell Aerodrome ahead of a planned weekend with family member Charlotte Garrett, wife of Wellington School history teacher and rugby coach Will Garrett.

Headmaster Henry Price said: “We are all extremely shocked and saddened that such a devastating blow should strike a young family in our school community.

“I speak on behalf of everyone when I say that Mr and Mrs Garrett have our deepest sympathy and we will do all we can to support them in the days and weeks ahead.

“The school would also like to extend its sympathy to everyone who has been affected by this hugely sad event.”

A neighbour alerted landowner Dave Manning, of Higher Southey Farm, after the plane broke up when crashing into the field at 11.44am on Saturday.

Mr Manning said: “We just went out and looked and there was basically nothing we could do.

“We took the pulse of one of the passengers and there was no pulse and we could smell aviation fuel, so we just left it until the emergency services turned up.”

Peter Allfrey, who lives half a mile from the crash scene, said it was the third fatal aircraft accident in the area in 20 years – two crew members died when a Harrier jet came down near Burnworthy Manor in February 1995 and four people died in a helicopter crash at Corfe Hill in January 2005.

“I saw the emergency vehicles going past and thought it was probably a tractor incident,” said Mr Allfrey.

“The police were at the end of the road and weren’t letting anyone through.”

Emergency services raced to the scene once the extent of the tragedy emerged and road closures were put in place.

The Air Accidents Investigation Branch sent a team to ascertain the cause of the crash, and they were still at the scene earlier this week.

Supt Richard Corrigan said: "This is a very sad incident in which four people have tragically lost their lives.

"It's too early to give any further details about the victims but we're ensuring specially trained officers are making contact with their next-of-kin and giving them all the support they need.

"We've been working very closely with our colleagues from the other emergency services at the scene to make the area safe and ensure the resulting investigation can proceed.”

The “utterly heartbroken” family of the Garveys, who lived in the Woking area, Surrey, issued a statement saying: “They were the best family anybody could have wished for and they brought happiness to everyone they met.

“Thank you to everyone for your love, thoughts and support.”

Tributes have flooded in from people who knew Mr and Mrs Garvey and their children.

Parish priest of St Dunstan’s Church the Rev Canon Francis Harrington said: “The whole area and parish is devastated.

“They were a lovely family and were highly respected – sociable, pleasant, very nice.

“Philip was very involved with the music at Mass, where he played the guitar.”

Mr Garvey was heavily involved in the community and was a governor at St Dunstan’s RC Primary School, Woking.

Head teacher Julianne Birch said: “He was one of our foundation governors until 2014 and Emily and Dan both came here.

“We are just absolutely stunned, shocked and deeply saddened.”

Emily and Daniel were students at St John the Baptist School, Woking, until 2013.

A statement from the school said: “The SJB community is in shock as it tries to come to terms with the tragic loss of two beautiful young people.

“The family was highly regarded within the SJB community. Emily and Daniel were two of the nicest and kindest young people you could ever wish to meet and were extremely well liked and respected by their peers.

“Philip and Ann supported the school in every way, not only in the interest of their own children, but also devoting their time supporting the school as a whole, even after their children left.”