Nigel Chapman

A 13-year-old girl who almost lost an arm when she impaled it on metal fencing at Spalding’s Ayscoughfee Gardens has a plea to other children.

Surgeons say Poppy Elsey’s jumper took some of the impact and probably saved her limb.

She had a skin graft to the injury and faces further operations as she gets older.

The incident happened after Poppy and best friend Molly Usher, 12, clambered on to The Ice House.

Although not a designated climbing feature, youths are known to use its roof as a place to sit and chat.

Poppy said: “It has been the most horrendously painful week of my life and I’m still in lots of pain now.

“So I just want to urge people – please do not climb on top of The Ice House.”

Poppy wants to warn others to avoid gruesome injuries like hers. Click/tap photo to reveal.

Poppy had slipped and fallen as she was getting down.

Level-headed Molly lifted her off the fence and immediately called an ambulance.

Poppy said: “The pain hit as I landed on the fence. Then I panicked as I couldn’t get off.

“Molly lifted me off and I saw there was lots of blood. I took my jumper off and looked at my arm and the shock hit me. I began screaming.”

Molly called Poppy’s mum Katie, who arrived from the family home nearby to find her daughter laid on a bench with a member of the public comforting her.

Poppy’s dad Mark raced to the scene from his workplace in the town.

Mrs Elsey said: “I stayed calm purely to keep Poppy calm but I was gobsmacked to see how bad the injury was.

“I was relieved when I knew she could move her fingers.”

Poppy and her family accept that she should not have climbed on The Ice House but are asking South Holland District Council, which looks after Ayscoughfee Gardens, to help prevent another injury.

Mrs Elsey believes the arrowhead tops to the fencing present a danger and, if they are to remain, there should be a warning sign.

She said: “We fully appreciate that Poppy was in the wrong – she and Molly shouldn’t have been up there.

“But youngsters are adventurous. Poppy just slipped as she was getting down.

“If there wasn’t an arrowhead, her injuries wouldn’t have been as life-changing as they are. Luckily it missed an artery.

“I dread to think what might have happened otherwise.”

She added: “At the end of the day it’s our job as adults to protect our youngsters from doing silly things and they don’t need much of a deterrent to stop.”

Mrs Elsey said Molly’s actions were “amazing” and she’s also been able to properly thank the woman who helped at the scene.

The incident happened at about 5.30pm on Sunday, September 12.

Poppy, who’s using the painkiller morphine and spending much of the day sleeping, is unlikely to return to studies at Spalding Academy until November.

A spokesperson for South Holland District Council said: “We are aware of the incident at Ayscoughfee Gardens and are in contact with the family involved. We take the health and safety of visitors extremely seriously and will be investigating the matter further.”

A man who broke a statue on the Lincoln Imp Trail during drunken high jinks has picked up a court bill of £4,680 – after causing an estimated £20,000 of damage.

Stewart Tomlinson, 45, will also carry out ten rehabilitation activity requirement days with the Probation Service and undergo 90 days of alcohol abstinence monitoring.

Tomlinson, of Hainton Avenue in Grimsby, pleaded guilty on Thursday to criminal damage. Sentencing was then adjourned for preparation of a pre-sentence report.

Prosecutor Emma Lant said on Friday (September 17) that the damage happened at about half past midnight on August 29.

She described how the defendant, another male and a female were seen on CCTV walking up High Street.

When they reached the Lincoln City Football Club imp statue outside The Treaty of Commerce pub, the group posed with it before Tomlinson jumped on it.

“He was holding on to its head, which amused the group. The defendant therefore jumped on to it a second time, holding on to it with his arms and legs which caused the fibreglass to break, with the head falling off,” said Miss Lant.

“The male with the group threw the head towards the defendant and the defendant kicked it into the street.”

The Lincoln Footie Imp before the damage.

The court heard that they then left the scene but soon returned to take a photograph of the broken statue. The group then went to the Anchor pub, where Tomlinson was arrested.

Miss Lant said: “The defendant said several times that it was an accident. He jumped on it and its head fell off.

“In custody he made further comments that they were just messing around. He [said he] was ‘skull f***ing it and it just came off – it was an accident’.”

The court was shown CCTV footage of the incident. The imps trail of 30 statues was a £400,000 project by Lincoln Business Improvement Group, which helps provide business and tourism support in the city centre.

A statement by Lincoln BIG corporate manager Sharon Stone said the damage was ‘irreparable’.

She added: “This is made all the more pertinent when the reality of the work that goes into each one of these artistic structures is delved into. Each imp has its own identity and is an expression of an idea, location or piece of history.”

Mrs Stone put the overall costs of the damage at £20,000 – including a possible £5,000 to St Barnabas Hospice when the imp would have been auctioned off when the trail closed.

“This is particularly upsetting when you think the perpetrator of this mindless act has potentially just deprived St Barnabas of £5,000 for no justifiable reason,” she added.

Tomlinson, who had previous convictions for bring drunk and disorderly, damage and assault, apologised to the court for the damage to the imp and said it had not been intentional.

“I didn’t mean for it to break, it just literally happened,” he added.

He was ordered to pay £4,500 compensation, £95 victim surcharge and £85 costs.