Alton Towers crash: One Direction star Louis Tomlinson sends get well tweet to amputee Leah Washington

One Direction's Louis Tomlinson has reached out to the youngest of the four victims of the Alton Towers crash to tell her he is thinking of her.

Leah Washington from Barnsley, South Yorkshire had been on a date at the theme park with Joe Pugh, 18, when the carriage they were in slammed into a stationary one on 2 June.

As a result of the serious injuries she sustained while riding the Smiler roller coaster, surgeons at the Royal Stoke University Hospital were forced to amputate her left leg above the knee.

Before the accident, the 17-year-old was due to see her favourite group One Direction – which also features Niall Horan, Liam Payne and Harry Styles – in Cardiff. She was unable to go due to her injuries.

"Leah has suffered a life-changing injury and now has many months of rehabilitation ahead of her. We have done this to put people's minds at rest and we would also ask everyone to respect Leah's privacy as she undergoes this rehabilitation," her father David Washington said in a statement.

"We would like to thank all the emergency services at the scene and all the hospital staff who saved Leah's life."

Following an online campaign to get One Direction to visit Washington in hospital using the hashtag #Get1DToLeah, the band filmed a video message for the teenager inviting her to their forthcoming show at Wembley Stadium and even offered to meet her backstage.

"Unfortunately because of their schedule they can't visit her in hospital, but they have offered Leah tickets to a forthcoming concert of her choice when she has recovered, and will be delighted to meet her backstage then," a spokesperson said.

Tomlinson went the extra mile by sending a direct message to Washington on Twitter.

The post was retweeted more than 22,000 times and favourited by more than 32,000 people. Washington has a huge picture of Harry Styles on her Twitter profile.

Alton Towers was partially re-opened to the public on Monday (8 June) for the first time since Washington, Pugh, Victoria Balch, 20 and Daniel Thorpe, 27, were injured in the crash.