A young mother of three children under the age of seven was killed by a shard of glass after a beer bottle was hurled into a pub during Boxing Night celebrations.

Emma O'Kane, 27, collapsed in a pool of blood when the glass slashed her neck as she chatted with friends in the Queen Anne in Heywood, Greater Manchester.

Police said that a man who had been refused entry to the pub after an argument with bouncers a few minutes earlier had thrown a beer bottle into the crowded saloon. The bottle smashed as it hit a pillar near where Ms O'Kane was standing, and glass pierced vital arteries in her neck.

She was with her partner, Michael Shepherd, who was celebrating his 38th birthday, and four friends when she died. Ms O'Kane, who was employed as a barmaid at the pub, lived a mile away with Mr Shepherd and her three children, aged six, two, and one.

Yesterday, as the children played with their Christmas presents, the family spoke of their grief. Mr Shepherd said: "We had all gone out for a drink to celebrate my birthday and went back to the pub where Emma works as a barmaid for one last drink to end the night. I was in the snug room and Emma wandered into the main bar. Everyone knows her in the pub and she was saying goodbye to some of her friends. I heard something and then saw Emma on the floor. I just thought that she had fallen over. But then I realised that she was not moving and that her eyes were open and there was blood all over the place.

"She was staring up at the ceiling - I realised that it was really bad. One bloke went to help her and was holding her hand. People were shouting that someone had thrown something. I tried to revive her by holding her legs up in the air because someone said that would help. I ran for some tissue paper from the toilets and a girl held the tissue paper to her neck. But I think she had lost too much blood. I think she had gone there on the floor of the pub.

"The ambulance came and the paramedics tried to revive her on the way to hospital but it was too late. The person who did this is a scumbag. I wish it was him who was on the floor. He has taken away a wonderful woman."

Emma's mother Diane, 47, said: "Emma loved looking after people and planned to get a job in a nursing home. She loved her kids - they were everything to her and she was the best mum."

Ms O'Kane was taken to Fairfield Hospital in nearby Bury but she was pronounced dead shortly after arrival.

Last night friends and wellwishers attached floral tributes to the front windows of the pub in Market Street in the centre of Heywood, located between Bury and Rochdale to the north of Manchester. Detective Superintendent Peter Jackson, of Greater Manchester Police, said: "A man tried to get into the pub and was refused entry. He became involved in an altercation with the doormen and threw a bottle into the pub. A shard of glass then caused a serious injury to this woman, who was nothing to do with the argument.

"This tragic incident has left this woman's family devastated. We are doing all we can to try and find who is responsible for this."

A 19-year-old man has been arrested on suspicion of murder and remains in police custody for questioning.