AUNT OF TWINS ATTACKED BY FOX SPEAKS OF SUPPORT

Joanne Welsh said total strangers had stopped her in the street to offer their thoughts and prayers for her nine month-old nieces, Lola and Isabella Koupparis, attacked by a fox 10 days ago as they slept at their home in Hackney.

The crying girls were found covered in blood after the fox went into their upstairs bedroom and attacked them in their cots; both underwent surgery, Lola having sustained injuries to her face and arm and Isabella also having suffered arm injuries.

Their brother, Max (4), also sleeping upstairs, was unhurt.

The fox is believed to have entered through a ground-floor door left open in the hot weather, while the youngsters' parents watched TV.

Dromore woman Joanne, whose sister Pauline is the twins' mum, said the fox attack was "the stuff of nightmares" and family members in Northern Ireland, including Pauline's two brothers and another sister, were hanging on the end of the phone for news of "two beautiful wee girls".

"There's this feeling of complete helplessness," she said. "There's absolutely nothing you can do; you can't even go to the hospital to visit. The whole thing is just absolutely terrible."

Joanne said their mother was now with Pauline, who was staying at one twin's bedside, while her husband Nick stayed by the other, Isabella having been transferred from the Royal London Hospital to Great Ormond Street, where she was showing some small signs of improvement.

"Pauline's only able to manage the odd quick phone call, with her being at one hospital and her husband at another, so basically we're just sort of hanging on the end of the phone.

"Isabella's on a ventilator and she's not great, but there is a wee improvement and she couldn't be in a better place. Everyone at Great Ormond Street and the Royal London has been great; they really are good."

Joanne said Lola, who by the middle of last week was said to be a lot better, was continuing to improve. "We're delighted about that," she said, "but we're still worried about Isabella."

The attack on the twins has sent shockwaves through their wider family circle, including, said Joanne, her own four year-old daughter.

"It has affected everyone," she said, "but our family are so grateful for people's prayers and thoughts and kindness; the people here have excelled themselves; they really have been fantastic.

"There's days you just get a wee message and it's lovely to think people are thinking about you and about the girls.

"I just want to say thanks to everybody, because people are being just so good and kind."