A TEEN girl who had her face ”bitten off” by a stranger on a bus was left needing 50 stitches.
Ella Dowling, 19, got on her usual bus home when fellow passenger, Darren Taylor, 53, began making inappropriate comments about her and her friends.
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As Ella was sat down, Taylor grabbed her face and repeatedly bit her nose and mouth during a horrific five-minute ordeal.
With the help of friends, Ella managed to get away and Taylor was detained by members of the public until police arrived.
He was like a dog with a toy; moving his head side to side
Ella Dowling
He was arrested for causing grievous bodily harm with intent after leaving Ella’s left nostril down to the lower part of her lip, hanging off.
The right side of her lip had also been split open and she suffered ”visible bite marks” over her nose and mouth.
The teen was swiftly taken to Cheltenham Hospital last November before being transferred to Gloucester Hospital for emergency surgery.
Taylor appeared at Gloucester Crown Court in March this year where he pleaded guilty to GBH with intent and was sentenced at the same court on 18 July.
He was handed a six-year and nine-month jail sentence and a lifelong restraining order.
Ella, a social work student at Portsmouth University, from Cheltenham, Gloucestershire, told The Sun: “The pain I felt when he sank his teeth into my face is something which will stay with me forever.
“He was like a dog with a toy; moving his head side to side.
“I put my hands around the back of his head because I knew if I didn’t he would rip my lip and nose off completely.
“When I saw my face for the first time after the attack, I didn’t recognise my own reflection, and I couldn’t look in the mirror for months after that.
“I haven’t used the bus since because of my PTSD.
“If I leave the house, I have to be on the phone with my mum or a friend because I’m terrified that I’m going to be attacked again.
“Eating and drinking can still be painful if I eat on a certain side.
“People say that my scar is healing well but for me, it’s more than a scar, it’s a disfigurement and a permanent reminder of what’s happened to me.
“I smile and speak differently which is something I’m going to have to learn to live with for the rest of my life.”
‘HORRIFIC PAIN’
On 18 November 2023, after a day in Cheltenham, Ella got the bus home at 8.15 pm with two friends.
While on the number 94 bus, they encountered “intoxicated” Taylor making lewd remarks about the teenager’s appearance.
Despite attempting to end the interaction, Taylor refused to leave the group of girls alone.
As the bus came to its last stop, Taylor launched at Ella, biting her mouth and nose leaving her left nostril to her lower lip ”hanging off”.
“I couldn’t scream because he had my lip in his mouth, it was disgusting,” Ella said.
“I noticed him when we got on the bus, he was strange and kept asking ‘are you girls off out?’.
“When we told him to leave us alone, he started calling us ‘white trash’ and that he was a “gangster.”
“It took my friends a few seconds to realise what he was doing and then they started screaming at him to get off me.
“The pain was horrific and I could feel his whole body shaking- when I looked down at my clothes after they were covered in blood.”
During a police interview while under arrest, Taylor said he “was not a well man” and that “he must have lost control and cannot go around hurting people”.
He also said that he was remorseful.
‘I’M A SURVIVOR’
Since the attack, Ella has had a two-and-a-half-hour reconstructive NHS procedure to fix the damage caused to her face.
As advised by her doctors, due to the enormity of her injuries, Ella will be physically scarred for life.
Detective Constable Sophie McGough said: “The injuries Taylor caused were some of the worst I have ever seen. His actions that evening were awful, and I am glad that he will now spend time behind bars.”
Gloucestershire Police have now advised that Taylor has filed an appeal of his sentence which whilst being a further hit, Ella is determined “not to be defined” by her attack.
Brave Ella said: “Whilst I’m glad he’s been sentenced, there’s no way he couldn’t be, it was all caught on CCTV.
“I had to defer university for a year and move back home because of the attack.
“I still don’t know to this day why he did it.
“I’ve started university again this year and I’m hopeful that I’ll be able to continue.
“I refuse to be defined by this because I’m not a victim, I’m a survivor.
“I want to get back to the bubbly and outgoing person I used to be but it’s going to take time.”
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