Teen reveals shocking injuries after a stranger attacked her on a bus

A teenage girl was left needing 50 stitches and reconstructive surgery after a horrific attack, where her face was 'bitten off' by a stranger on a bus.

Ella Dowling, 19, got on her usual bus home when fellow passenger, Darren Taylor, 53, began making inappropriate comments about her and her friends.

As Ella sat down, Taylor grabbed her face and repeatedly bit her nose and mouth during a horrific five-minute ordeal.

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 before being transferred to Gloucester Hospital for emergency surgery.

'The pain I felt when he sank his teeth into my face is something which will stay with me forever,' says Ella.

'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.'

Since the attack, Ella has had a two-and-a-half-hour reconstructive NHS procedure to fix the damage caused to her face.

Doctors say she will be physically scarred for life - due to the enormity of her injuries.

'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,' she said.

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Adding: '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.'

The attack has also had a long term impact on her mental health.

''I haven't used the bus since because of my PTSD,' says Ella.

'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.'

Remembering the attack, Dowling says she couldn't scream because Taylor had her 'lip in his mouth.'

'I noticed him when we got on the bus, he was strange and kept asking 'Are you girls off out?' she said.

Despite the trio trying to end the interaction, Taylor did not take the hint and continued to harass the girls. 'When we told him to leave us alone, he started calling us 'white trash' and that he was a 'gangster',' she continued.

'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.'

Ella has been determined to continue her life after the attack.

'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.'

Attacker Taylor appeared at Gloucester Crown Court in March 2024 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 life-long restraining order.

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.'