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Jordan Reynolds & Hannah Mackenzie Wood

Mum struck down in horror hit-and-run saves unborn baby using fingernails

A brave mum used her fingernails to claw herself and her unborn baby to safety after being struck by a hit-and-run driver - leaving her trapped under the car.

Aaliyah Lunn was out with friends when Jack Richardson deliberately ploughed his the silver Volvo into the terrified crowd of pub-goers and knocked her down.

The 23-year-old was left stuck under the vehicle, with the weight of the front axle pressing down on her six-month baby bump and the wheels spinning just inches from her head.

Despite sustaining serious injuries to her foot, Aayliyah managed to wriggle further under the car and relieve the pressure on her bump - saving her unborn child.

Richardson, 25, intentionally crashed into crowd after using a BB gun to shoot a love rival, according to Birmingham Live.

The shocking crash happened as revellers gathered to watch England's Euros clash with Scotland on TV at the Gigmill pub in Stourbridge, on June 18 last year.

Richardson fled the scene but handed himself in two days later and admitted a string of violent offences.

Aaliyah was left bed-bound but despite her injuries, she gave birth to a baby boy just five weeks after the horror crash.

This month she bravely attended Wolverhampton Crown Court on crutches and watched as Richardson was jailed for five years.

Driver Jack Richardson, 25, had smashed into the crowd in a targeted attack after shooting a love rival with a BB gun. (West Midlands Police)

Speaking after the case, Aaliyah, of Stourbridge, said: “We’d gone to the pub to celebrate another of my friend who was pregnant.

“We settled down, there were kids everywhere. At the time England was playing Scotland on TV so it was busy but everyone was having a great time.

“Suddenly I saw Jack who I know through friends of friends. He pulled out a gun – the sound of this gun sounded like an actual gun but it was a BB gun.

“He shot a man I know around three times in the leg. Everyone, including the kids at the pub, was running around screaming.

Aaliyah Lunn and her son Shay. (Leila Coker / SWNS)

“Jack left the pub and I went outside to go home but then this car reversed at high speed towards me. I tried to run up the stairs to get safe but I was too late the car hit me and just went over the top of me.

“At first I didn’t feel any pain – I must have been going in and out of consciousness. When I came to all I could see where the car tyres above me still spinning.

“All I could remember was saying to myself ‘I am going to die and ‘what about my baby’. I had no other option to wriggle myself further under the car to get free.

“Both of my legs were totally numb and my foot was hanging off. I had to use my fingernails to drag myself from underneath the car.

“The car could have come down on me at any moment and I was screaming and shouting. When I was finally out from under the car I just lay on the ground feeling my stomach but I couldn’t feel my baby moving.

“I thought I had lost my baby and had lost my foot. I was drifting in out of consciousness.

“I was just screaming ‘my baby, my baby, it is not moving, somebody please help me.’ Then there were armed police all around me. My foot was in pieces – I had a seven-inch gap on my foot and it was hanging off.”

Aaliyah was rushed to Russell Hall Hospital in Dudley and underwent emergency surgery. Luckily, the impact of the crash did not do lasting damage and five weeks later she gave birth to 7lbs 3oz Shay Bustin.

Police cordon at the car park of the Gigmill pub. (Birmingham Live)

Aaliyah, who also has a five-year-old daughter Sienna Mai, added: “I was put in the emergency trauma unit while my foot was being strapped up. I had snapped every single nerve and tendon in my foot. It will never get back to normal. The main tendon that connects your toe to your knee cap was snapped in half.

“The baby at this point was stable. After the surgery on my foot, I was bed-bound for six weeks and had to have carers four times a day.”

Shay, who is now eight months old, now has a tilted neck and breathing problems as a result of the trauma suffered by his mum following the crash.

Aaliyah added: “Because I was bed-bound, and in so much pain, the baby had stopped growing and I could not have him naturally because my foot was still in a cast. I had to have a caesarean.

“Where he was positioned in my womb, his one muscle on his neck is shorter than the other. His neck and head are tilted to the left.

“He is undergoing physiotherapy to try and straighten up his neck and still has difficulties breathing. There are a lot of ongoing problems. He is constantly poorly. He may have to be transferred to Birmingham Children's Hospital to help straighten his neck.

Aaliyah Lunn's scars. (Leila Coker / SWNS)

“As for my foot, I still have to use crutches and there is not much movement in my foot. My tendons are still tight.”

Richardson, of West Street, Stourbridge, flew into a jealous rage after seeing his ex-partner’s new boyfriend in the pub.

He admitted two counts of grievous bodily harm, two counts of actual bodily harm, possession of an imitation firearm with intent, possession of cannabis, driving without insurance.

Aaliyah added: “Whether he was sentenced to 100 years, nothing is going to make me feel any better. The damage is done. I am going to have to live with that damage for the rest of my life.

“I hate Jack for what he has done. My son suffered for the first few weeks of his life all because of one man and his actions.

“I have been left with total damage in my foot – you could stab a knife through my foot and I would not feel it. I am glad he is behind bars. It is what he deserves.”

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