A woman was misdiagnosed as having mental illness - which turned out to be a brain TUMOUR the size of a tennis ball
Image by: Jon Mills
A woman was misdiagnosed as having mental illness - which turned out to be a brain TUMOUR the size of a tennis ball.
Laura Skerritt, 22, began suffering migraines, sickness and psychosis and was told her symptoms were caused by anxiety, depression - and even bi-polar disorder.
She was prescribed anti-depressants but the medication had no effect on her condition which continued to deteriorate.
By November 2018, the young swimming instructor, from Templecombe, Somerset, was struggling to walk and was having seizures.
And a scan at Yeovil District Hospital revealed devastating news for Laura and her family - she was living with a tennis ball-sized brain tumour.
Laura needed emergency surgery to prevent her potentially having a fatal stroke or seizure.
Keen horse rider Laura, who works as a swimming instructor at Wincanton Sports Centre, said: "It took over two years to get a brain tumour diagnosis so I’m keen to share my story to help raise awareness.
"It was frustrating to be told by doctors that my symptoms were caused by mental illness.
"I sensed that my health problems weren’t being caused by mental illness.
"I’m quite an emotional person and flip between happy and sad moods, but this is just part of my quirky personality," she added.
In December 2018, Laura underwent a gruelling 13-hour operation at Southmead Hospital in Bristol, which removed 80% of her low-grade tumour, a central neurocytoma - but parts of it were inoperable.
And the recovery process was not easy for her.
Laura said: "Mum and my boyfriend Harry were with me as I was wheeled into the operating room. I don’t remember anything from surgery and recovery was tough.
"I lost two stone, had to re-learn how to talk and was in constant agony because my muscles had wasted away.
"I recently suffered a major seizure and now I need a second operation followed by eight weeks of intensive radiotherapy.
"It’s going to be really hard going back into hospital but I’m hoping I make it through the treatment."
Image by: Jon Mills
Image by: Jon Mills
Image by: Jon Mills
Image by: Jon Mills
She added: "Up until my brain tumour diagnosis, I thought I was invincible.
"I never worried about my health, and my own mortality was never something that crossed my mind.
"My diagnosis changed my outlook on life. I’m not sure whether or not I want kids, for fear of them inheriting the disease or seeing me suffer with symptoms.
"My plans of moving out were put on hold. I had to give up my driving licence and, living in the middle of the Somerset countryside, with that I lost my independence," she said.
Laura is working with the charity Brain Tumour Research to raise awareness of the biggest cancer killer of children and adults under the age of 40.
Mel Tiley, community fundraising manager at Brain Tumour Research in the South West, said: "We are very grateful to Laura for opening up about her brain tumour diagnosis.
"We hope that those touched by her story will donate to Brain Tumour Research.
"Brain tumours are indiscriminate; they can affect anyone at any age.
"What’s more, less than 20 per cent of those diagnosed with a brain tumour survive beyond five years, compared with an average of 50 per cent across all cancers.
"We cannot allow this desperate situation to continue," Mel added.
Brain Tumour Research funds sustainable research at dedicated Centres of Excellence in the UK.
It also campaigns for the Government and the larger cancer charities to invest more in research into brain tumours in order to speed up new treatments for patients and, ultimately, to find a cure.
The charity is calling for an annual spend of £35m in order to improve survival rates and patient outcomes in line with other cancers such as breast cancer and leukaemia.
To donate to Brain Tumour Research go to https://www.braintumourresearch.org/donation.
LOTTA BOTTLE - One of Britain's oldest milkmen still delivering morning pints aged 85
Image by: Adam Hughes SWNS
One of Britain's oldest milkmen is still leaving pints on doorsteps at the age of 85 after doing the same round - for the past 70 YEARS.
Tony Moulds still gets up at 6am six-days-a-week to drop off milk to 40 households around the village he began delivering to as a 15-year-old boy in 1950.
He would take milk straight from the cow round to homes in Holcot, Northants., using a bucket and a ladle and charge customers two-and-a-half pence.
Seven decades later Tony is still doing the same round after clocking up 65,000 miles around the village and dropping off an estimated million pints of milk.
Grandfather-of-four Tony, who also delivers newspapers to all of the homes he takes milk to, says he has no plans to retire yet.
He said: "I want to keep going. It’s doing something I’ve always done and it’s become a habit.
“A lot of people have moved out of the village, but I’ve been delivering to some people for 40 years and one girl for all of my life.
“I like the company and it gets me out. I’ve never had a problem getting up in the morning.
"I’m a morning person and still fit. I get up at 5.27am, it’s just the time I set the alarm, not for any particular reason.
“I have half a cup of tea and I like to get out by 6am. If I'm not out early enough I hit all the traffic.
“I’m done by 8am and I have a couple of rounds of toast and coffee with milk. I’ve always liked full fat milk but I mostly sell semi-skimmed.
“I don’t think there’ll be newspapers in 15 years’ time because people read on the internet and on their phones.
“But my customers like glass bottles. They are buying more milk in bottles because of the problems with plastic.
“When I started I walked the couple of miles around the village with a bucket and ladle. I’d pour it into people’s jugs. It pint cost two-and-a-half pence.
“Since 1953 when milk had to be in sealed bottles I drove a van and I now sell a pint for 83p."
Image by: Adam Hughes SWNS
Image by: Adam Hughes SWNS
Image by: Adam Hughes SWNS
Image by: Adam Hughes SWNS
Dad-of-two Tony began working on Homestead farm after leaving Northampton Grammar School before taking over milk deliveries when the farmer retired.
Tony’s wife Josephine, who died in 2014 aged 80, used to bottle milk, wash bottles and help him on the farm which he ran as a tenant until 1976.
His son Richard, 62, also used to join him on the milk round while his other son, Tim, 61, washed the bottles.
Tony, a great-grandfather-of-six, added: "They didn’t follow in my footsteps.
“Richard was in the army for 18 years and Tim had his own cladding business. Which is just as well as I don’t want to retire.
"I have always enjoyed meeting new people and knowing the people I serve but I have not always enjoyed the job in the frosty weather.
"I don't like going out at nights now but I don't really mind the mornings at all.
"When I started, we were delivering to virtually everyone in Holcot.
"But now some of the older people have died and the younger wives work and drive and can call in for milk anywhere these days so they don't need my services as much.
"This village is my life. It would be interesting to know if anyone has delivered milk and papers for as long as me."
Pat McGlasson has lived in the village for 40 years and said Tony is always at her door before 7am each day with her daily newspaper.
She said: "Come rain or shine, snow or sleet he delivers the papers and milk every single day.
"He is a unique man, he is very modest and does not blow his own trumpet. He is very aware of the older people in the village and is a real community person.
"What you see is what you get. He is highly thought of and is held in such high esteem by everybody."
Video by: Gabriella Petty
A pair of kind-hearted councillors are spending their free time trying to combat loneliness by setting up a 'chat bench' where strangers can pop by for a natter
Image by: Matthew Newby SWNS
A pair of kind-hearted councillors are spending their free time trying to combat loneliness by setting up a 'chat bench' where strangers can pop by for a natter.
Lib Dem councillors Martin McCabe and Bob Smytherman are trying to start encouraging strangers to speak to each other to combat isolation.
They have set up their first 'Happy to Chat' bench in their home of Worthing, West Sussex, after copying the scheme that has seen them pop up all over the world, including Canada, the United States, Australia and Switzerland.
Martin said: "The chat benches has been popping up all around England and Wales.
"In Worthing we have a diverse population but we have a large ageing sector. Quite a lot of elderly people are isolated and it's an issue.
"We've spoken to someone who does events at Age UK. She said some of their members go a whole month without speaking to someone. The only chance they have is when they come to these events.
"There is a very real need for these chat benches. And the cost is tiny."
Image by: Matthew Newby SWNS
Image by: Matthew Newby SWNS
Image by: Matthew Newby SWNS
Martin added: “Chat Benches are a simple idea that can encourage us to break down barriers and say hello. Loneliness is one of the biggest problems we have in society.“
"There are people out there who feel invisible. And our British reserve can sometimes get in the way. I think this is a nice way of letting people know you’re open to a chat."
With a whiteboard and pen, the two men have started going around the seaside town to turn ordinary benches into places of conversation.
The two councillors hope for the executive bench to make a decision on more permanent chat benches in early March.
He added: “We’ve been setting up our makeshift Chat Bench around Worthing and the response has been great. People love the idea and taken to it like a duck to water.
“We hope all councillors support us and that Chat Benches come to Worthing.”
In the UK, more than a million older people say they always or often feel lonely, according to Age UK.
A review found 17 per cent of older people talk to family, friends or neighbours less than once a week.
Loneliness is also a greater health threat than obesity, according to a major study released in 2017.
Transgender soldier who served in Iraq and Afghanistan swaps her combats for dresses as she takes the modelling world by storm
Image by: Andi Hailley
A soldier who served in the army for 30 years has swapped her combats for dresses -- after coming out as transgender.
Andrea Halliley, 52, was born as Andrew but hid her feelings for most of her life - even keeping her emotions secret from her wife and three children.
Serving in the military, she would wear combats in the day before sneaking to her room at night to get changed into women's clothes she'd bought from nearby shops.
She revealed her true identity when she retired from her career as an infantry soldier in February 2015, bravely confessing to her family and later splitting from her wife.
Now living openly as a transgender woman in Crook, Durham, she likes to be known as Andi and works as a delivery driver.
She has even been signed up with a modelling agency.
Andi said: "When I first came out to my (now ex) wife, I told her I was a cross dresser - I had never heard of the term 'transgender' before.
"My ex wife did some research and told me about transgender people, and it was like a lightbulb moment, we both knew that's what I really was.
"We have split up since but on amicable terms, it's just that she didn't marry a woman and that's fine, I don't hold any bad feelings towards her or anything.
"I still see our two teenage children every other weekend, they've been brilliant with my change and I have an older daughter from a previous relationship who has been fab as well.
"After telling my family, it was time to tell other people like my friends and old colleagues, and although I was nervous, I've actually had hardly any negative feedback."
Andi said she has known she was different since she was a child and liked to dress up in her mother's clothes and jewellery from five years old.
But growing up in Saddleworth in the 70s, Andi felt that coming out was not an option.
She said: "Initially I didn't think there was anything wrong, but as I grew older, I became aware of societal norms.
"I think there was a certain amount of embarrassment and a lot of confusion.
"I didn't hope it would go away because it felt right, but I did bury my feelings."
She joined the military in 1985 and served in the infantry for the next 30 years, rising to the rank of Colour Sergeant, touring in Bosnia, Northern Ireland and Iraq.
Despite Andi forming close friendships with her military colleagues, nobody knew that she identified as a woman.
Andi had been aware that she identified as a female ever since she was little, but suppressed how she felt.
It wasn't until she had left the military that she bravely ventured outside as a female, visiting a trans event in Cardiff in October 2015, and the experience confirmed what she had known for so long yet.
Andi said: "The military is very macho, especially in the infantry.
"I think I was trying to prove I was macho as well, but it was very difficult living a secret life in such an overtly male environment.
"It was difficult living with your own secret war inside your head."
Feeling most like her true self when dressed in women's clothes, Andi devised a secret routine that would allow her to live as a female when off duty.
Andi said: "Any dressing I did at that time had to be very secret.
"I'd buy women's clothes in the town of wherever we were stationed at the time and smuggle it back into my room without anyone seeing.
"After the work I needed to do had been done for the day, I'd lock myself in my room and get dressed into the clothes I'd bought in secret.
"I wouldn't put make up on or anything at that time, but just putting on more feminine clothes made me feel more comfortable.
"I was always worried that someone would knock and discover my secret, but thankfully, that never happened."
Image by: Andi Hailley
Image by: Andi Hailley
Image by: Andi Hailley
Image by: Andi Hailley
Image by: Andi Hailley
Andi retired from the Army in 2015, and several months later, she decided it was time to come out so that she could live openly as a transgender woman.
The first person Andi came out to was her wife who was shocked and initially felt angry and betrayed, but after doing research into transgender people, she grew supportive of Andi being out as transgender.
They discussed staying together but decided it was not a viable option and split amicably.
She told her family first before sharing the news with friends, including fellow soldiers that she had grown close to over the three decades that she had been serving for.
Andi said: "It was nerve wracking coming out to the guys from the Infantry, as it is such a macho male environment.
"Incredibly, a lot of my old colleagues were supportive of me being transgender.
"The general response was if it makes you happy, then go for it.
"Regardless of their reaction, I wasn't going to hide who I am any more, but it was nice to have that support and acceptance."
Andi got a job as a delivery driver and is currently in the middle of the lengthy NHS process to be helped by a gender identity clinic.
Her GP referred her to the NHS gender identity service in Leeds in September 2016 but is still waiting for her first appointment at a gender identity clinic and has been informed it will be in February or March 2020 at the latest.
Andi's struggle with waiting to receive help from the NHS has not stopped her from embracing her feminine identity and she lives openly as a transgender woman.
She was at an alternative burlesque show in May 2017 with friends when she got chatting to a woman who suggested Andi audition for The Alternative Model of the Year Contest.
Andi entered the competition for the first time in 2017, and has made it to the catwalk final of the contest for the past three years in a row.
She fell in love with the modelling world and after taking part in multiple photoshoots, Andi was signed by the agency Rogue Model Management.
Andi said: "It is amazing to think how much my life has changed since leaving the Army and embracing being transgender.
"Five years ago, I was wearing combats everyday, pretending to be this big macho man all day before secretly hiding in my room wearing girly clothes in fear.
"Now, I'm strutting down runways in feminine clothes and posing for cameras as a proud transgender woman.
"I have no regrets over joining the military, it was an important time in my life, but I do regret wasting so much time not being me.
"I'm just so happy I finally decided to come out and show people the real me, and I'll never hide that side of me ever again."
This cat has visited 43 states in America with her truck driver owner
Image by: David Durst
A 'trucking' cat which has travelled across 43 states in America in her owner's cab has built up a loyal following on Instagram.
Tora is a one-year-old Scottish Straight cat who loves riding in the passenger seat of her owner David Durst's truck.
David, 24, struggled to adopt a cat because agencies did not believe that a feline would have a good quality of life on the road.
Just as he was about to give up, a breeder sent him a picture of the then eight-week old Tora and David knew he had just found the purrfect co-pilot.
Together the pair have visited 43 of the 50 states in the USA, sharing the snaps and videos of their adventures on social media along the way.
The 'Tora The Trucker Cat' Instagram page has built up 12,700 followers.
David said: “We got Tora when she was just eight weeks old and hit the road just three days later.
"She was the bravest little kitten I've ever seen and took to the truck instantly. She loved looking out the window and taking in all the new sights. It was an instant fit.”
“We've been very overwhelmed by the amazing reception Tora has received on social media.
"It's been nothing but an outpouring of love and support, we never imagined such a great response.
"We're very thankful for all of the friends she's made along the way and we can't wait to make even more!”
Image by: David Durst
Image by: David Durst
Image by: David Durst
Image by: David Durst
Image by: David Durst
The pair have visited cities such as Sacramento, Austin, Houston, Dallas, and Orlando and plan to visit the remaining five continental states this year.
David said: "Tora loves to get out of the truck and explore, especially in big cities!
“My favorite memory with Tora isn't one of the many places we've been or one of the things we've seen together, it's actually the first time she walked confidently on a leash.
"Getting a cat used to walking on a leash is a daunting task on its own, add in the loud sounds of a truck stop and for some it becomes impossible.
"We were at a truck stop in Zuber, Florida, three weeks into having Tora on the road and took her outside to do some daily harness training.
"As soon as her feet hit the ground, she was exploring! We were outside for nearly two hours waiting for her to get tired. T
"That day was a big step towards all of the adventures the future held.”
Tora has a litterbox in the sleeper of the cab which is twice daily.
"This is the question we get asked the most by far," joked David.
Keep up to date with Tora and Dave’s adventures by following them on Instagram @toratravels
Image by: David DurstVideo by: David Durst
Amazing photos show extreme close-up pictures of the insides of precious gem stones - with colourful patterns that look like tropical seas or photos from space
Image by: Alberto Ghizzi Panizza
These stunning close-up photographs show the colourful patterns found inside precious gemstones - which look like tropical seas or photos taken from space.
The amazing, swirly patterns, in shades of yellow, orange, red, purple and blue, were found on the polished insides of a series of colourful rocks.
One photo, in different shades of purple, shows the jagged edges of an amethyst stone.
And another, in dappled hues of blue and white, resembles ocean waves breaking.
Image by: Alberto Ghizzi Panizza
Image by: Alberto Ghizzi Panizza
Image by: Alberto Ghizzi Panizza
Image by: Alberto Ghizzi Panizza
Image by: Alberto Ghizzi Panizza
Image by: Alberto Ghizzi Panizza
Image by: Alberto Ghizzi Panizza
Image by: Alberto Ghizzi Panizza
Image by: Alberto Ghizzi Panizza
Image by: Alberto Ghizzi Panizza
Image by: Alberto Ghizzi Panizza
Image by: Alberto Ghizzi Panizza
The microscopic photographs were captured by photographer Alberto Ghizzi Panizza, 44, who specialises in macro photography.
The technique allows a photographer to take extremely close-up photographs of their subjects.
His latest photos show the insides of agate rocks which have formed over millions of years due to the cooling of lava covering them.
Alberto said: "Nature always surprises with its wonder. It seems that tropical seas, remote islands and universes can be found set inside these stones."
A disgruntled painter and decorator who claims he is owed £500 for his work has taken revenge - by daubing a message on the side of an old pub he had worked on
Image by: Lee Mclean SWNS
A disgruntled painter and decorator who claims he is owed £500 for his work has taken revenge - by daubing a message on the side of an old pub he had worked on.
Dean Reeves, 50, wrote in large black letters: "Want your house painting? Don’t be like Terry, pay the bill! Now you will!” over the cream exterior he had painted.
Dean claims builder Terry Taylor paid him just £650 of the £1,150 agreed price for the work, but refused to pay the rest until he had done additional work on the building.
He claims he worked through his lunch for a week to get the job done on time on the former North Star Club in Bolsover, Derbs, which is being converted into flats.
However, he says Mr Taylor told him he wouldn't be getting paid the remainder of the cash until he "gave the back of the house another coat".
But the father-of-two says when he did what was asked, Mr Taylor told him "you're not getting paid a penny until you've done the fascias" - which was not part of the original quote.
Disgruntled decorator Dean lavished the cream coloured rendered building with huge black paint encouraging other people not be "like Terry" and pay the bill.
Dean said: "I gave him a quote for the job and he said he would 'ping me the money straight away'.
"But he tried to change the job halfway through. The job was supposed to be done on scaffolding, he was supposed to have taken all the signs and guttering off.
"But I did the job off ladders, saving him £900 on scaffolding and I took all the signs off myself.
"He changed the job, kept asking me to extra work. He said there was a number of jobs I needed to do before I would get paid.
"I did seven days hard work on it. I didn't have lunch breaks, I worked hard all week to get it done.
"He kept saying, 'I'll pay you tomorrow', but tomorrow never came.
"I did the work and he said if I go back to give the back of the building another coat, he would pay me.
"I went back on Tuesday (14 Jan) and did that, but when I sent him a picture, he just said 'that looks better' with a smiling face.
"I asked him where my money was and he said I wasn't going to get a penny until I did the fascias, which we'd never agreed on."
Image by: Lee Mclean SWNS
Image by: Lee Mclean SWNS
Image by: Lee Mclean SWNS
Dean says he took the drastic action two days after being told he was not going to get the £500 he was owed.
He added: "I went back on tea time on Thursday (16 Jan) and did it off ladders.
"It was my first job back since Christmas, I have bills to pay and need to make money.
"It just got too much and I wanted to prove the point. I don't regret it and I'd do it again if I had to.
"I was never going to get paid, but I wanted to make sure he had to pay something to get it cleared off."
When contacted for comment, Mr Taylor has denied ripping Dean off and said he was going to pay in full once the work had been completed.
Mr Taylor said: "The bloke is a prat. He should have just done the work and he would have been paid in full. It’s standard.
"None of what he says is true. He wasn’t asked to do additional work, it was offset work by other jobs he was meant to do but didn’t.
"It was his idea, he said he would do some other jobs to offset what he wasn’t doing. He was getting paid the same to do less work.
"I wasn’t going to pay him for the whole job until he finished it, no one would.
"At the beginning he even said he’d do the work before getting paid at all, but I said no.
"Then, halfway through the job he blackmailed me and asked for all the money up front.
"I’ve spoken to police now and they will be looking to arrest him. He’s going to be done for criminal damage.
"I found out about it last night but I’m completely unbothered. It’s just paint, the idiot.
"I’m the boss, so I’m just going to go round and paint over it. Do his job for him. It’ll be done by the end of the day.
"I don’t understand why you would waste your time painting that nonsense instead of doing your job, when in that time you could have finished it.
"This is the first and last time I’m working with this man."
A Derbyshire police spokesman said: “We received a call this morning reporting that a property in Welbeck Road, Bolsover had had graffiti painted onto it.
“It appears to be a dispute between two parties and we will be getting in touch with those involved in due course.”
Video by: Ashley Moran
BBC presenter's dress patched up with gaffer tape and clips after bursting open minutes before going live
Image by: Jon Mills
A BBC TV newsreader whose dress burst open minutes before going on air was saved by her colleagues - who patched it up with gaffer tape and bulldog clips.
Points West anchor Liz Beacon, 43, was drafted in at the last minute to present the evening news and rushed home to grab her new and unworn Zara outfit.
But minutes before going live the zip 'popped', leaving the black fitted dress gaping all down her back.
Without time to change, the quick-thinking crew pulled it together using big metal bulldog clips and black gaffer tape - and took a photo to show Liz.
Viewers had no idea of the outfit malfunction when they tuned in to watch the live broadcast just 20 minutes later.
Liz, from Bristol said: "I hadn't worn the dress before and it was a bit sticky when I did the zip up, but I just thought that was because the dress is quite a tight style anyway.
"Never in a million years did I imagine it would burst open half an hour later!
The dress, bought at Cabot Circus shopping centre in Bristol, was a birthday gift from her mother in December.
Liz was looking forward to debuting it on the programme because it was different to her usual presenting outfits.
Image by: Jon Mills
Image by: Jon Mills
Image by: Jon Mills
She managed to stay composed for the entire 30 minute programme with her dress haphazardly taped and clipped closed behind her.
Liz said: "We go live on air at 6.30pm and at about 6.10pm I felt this pop and thought, I don’t believe this, I think the zip has just gone.
"I asked the director - another Liz - to come and take a look, and when she saw it, she gasped and said 'Quick, get me some clips and some gaffer tape'.
"I had no other options. There is a dressing room here but I don’t store any dresses in there - that will change from now on!
"There were three people helping me in the end, with fellow presenter David Garmston next to me trying to keep me calm.
"It was all hands to the pump - a director, a fellow presenter and a cameraman, all trying to help me in the 20 minutes we had before going live.
"I was still fiddling with it, reaching behind me, trying to make sure the tape was stuck down, as we went on air.
"I couldn’t relax the entire programme, which is most unlike me! I kept feeling it move, and was completely paranoid that it would ping open again."
She has since spoken to Zara regarding the incident and is liaising with their customer services with the hope of organising a replacement.
A Muslim schoolgirl who was "strangled" with her own hijab has said she is terrified to leave her house after the vicious attack
Image by: JP Sheffield Star
A Muslim schoolgirl told how she was 'strangled' with her own hijab and punched during an horrific racial attack as she was travelling on a bus.
Redana Al-Hadi, 14, was punched repeatedly by a woman who had shouted racial slurs at her while she was travelling with her 13-year-old sister, Wadaad.
Redana was taken to hospital with a suspected fractured eye socket after the attack, which she says has left her "too scared to get the bus to school".
The teenagers were travelling home from school when the woman, who was travelling with a man, began to "mock" their accent and abuse them about their headwear.
The argument then spilled out of the bus and onto the road, where the woman knocked Redana to the ground and beat her.
Mobile phone footage of the horrifying incident was shared online and shows the woman on top of Redana as blows rained down.
Brave Redana has now spoken out about the ordeal, which took place shortly after 4.30pm on Wednesday, December 4.
Redana, of Sheffield, South Yorks., said: "As we were getting off the bus he stood up and screamed the N word towards my friend and then my friend reacted but a little boy at the back of the bus stood up and said don’t call her that, we’re black.
"Then the lady stood up and started pushing the man towards the back of the bus and then she punched him.”
Redana says a short argument broke out between the man and the woman – who are thought to have known each other – before the man grabbed one of the children.
She said the woman then turned on her and began shouting racial slurs.
Image by: JP Sheffield Star
Image by: JP Sheffield Star
Redana added: “She then threw herself at me and dragged me out the bus, and as she dragged me to the floor she strangled me with my hijab and then my little sister tried to stop it and the man grabbed my sister by her waist and threw her into oncoming traffic.
“She kicked me in my neck and knocked me out with her fist and started smashing my head and stamping on me while my arm was over my face and I thought I broke my arm.
"My face is all swollen and it’s a mess.”
She said she has been left traumatised and scared to leave the house.
She added: “I feel targeted because I’m a Muslim girl and I’ve not gone back to school because I’m too scared to go back on the bus or to leave my house.
“I’m scared of adults harassing me and I already had bad eyesight, I wear glasses, and the eye she damaged is my good eye.”
The girls' mother Racheda Ali, 51, said: “When I got the phone call from my Wadaad my youngest saying ‘mum she’s killing my sister, she’s attacking Redana and attacking us’, I just didn’t know what to do.
"When we got there all the children were crying because they were all scared and shaking.
"My daughter was having a panic attack, it’s just ridiculous what they did to her.”
A 40-year-old woman and a 44-year-old man were arrested by South Yorkshire Police, who said the incident "remains under investigation".
The solicitor representing the family, Arshaid Bashir of Adam Law Solicitors, said:
“This is an assault on a child where derogatory language has been used.
"It is a racially aggravated assault.
"There was serious harm to a child who was attacked due to her appearance.
“The CPS ought to have been consulted prior to any decision being made. Public duty requires the perpetrator to be prosecuted.
“At the very least the perpetrator should have been charged with affray as part of joint enterprise with the co-accused as unlawful violence was used towards another which caused other persons to fear for their safety.
"There are aggravating features in this case as it was a busy public area, children were present and it was a sustained attack.”
This is the moment a real-life 'Iron Man' showcased his jetpack technology to American military teams
Image by: Ben Philipson
This is the moment a real-life 'Iron Man' showcased his jetpack technology to American military defence teams.
Richard Browning, a former Royal Marines Reservist, is seen whizzing round the Royal Navy’s new aircraft carrier HMS Queen Elizabeth.
The fully functioning ‘Jet Suit’ developed by Gravity Industries is powered by cutting-edge technology and makes human flight a reality.
Richard, Founder and Chief Pilot of Gravity Industries, travelled to Annapolis, home of the United States Naval Academy to play host to the ‘Atlantic Future Forum’.
There were a series of events on board the vessel, aimed at bringing together the military leadership and great minds from a host of nations to discuss the future of Defense capability
As a beacon of UK innovation in this space, Gravity Industries was invited by the Royal Navy and British Embassy to support the two days celebrating British Trade and Innovation, by demonstrating multiple Jet Suit flights to innovators, business leaders and senior military representatives from the UK and US.
Image by: Ben Philipson
Image by: Ben Philipson
Image by: Ben Philipson
Richard can be seen leaving the HMS Queen Elizabeth and hurtling across the ocean to spin around a boat full of amazed US investors.
As the founder of Gravity Industries, Richard leads a team that also designs and builds the Jet Suits.
He recently more than doubled his own world record, achieving a speed of more than of 85 mph: he now holds the Guinness World Record for “fastest speed in a jet engine powered suit”.
Richard said: ‘We were honored to be invited to support this year’s Atlantic Future Forum and demonstrate the capabilities of Gravity’s jet engine powered suit to this audience”
“We are passionate about supporting UK PLC, Trade and Innovation and our work with the Royal Navy is part of an ongoing programme of exploration and demonstration of our tactical mobility capability.”
“This exploration is alongside our core focus which is scaling more than 90+ events across 30 countries, into becoming an international Race Series.”
Video by: Ben Philipson
