A young engineer who built a machine to help students revise for their exams has been crowned the winner of a competition.

Rebecca Simpson, a former pupil of Dame Alice Owens School, in Potters Bar, won the title of UK Young Engineer of the Year at the National Science and Engineering Competition.

She build the six foot arcade machine to help GCSE students revise for their maths exams, which has two educational games, a joystick and a remote control.

At the fair, shortlisted entries were showcased to more than 80,000 visitors and entrants came face to face with top celebrity judges in a Dragons’ Den-style pitching process.

As part of her prize, Rebecca has won £2,000, a trophy and an experience prize.

She said: “I am so happy I have won - I am going to use the money to develop this project further. I am also really interested in making holograms, so I want to investigate this too.”