A 13-year-old girl whose head was kicked ‘like a football’ during a brutal attack by four girls in Morecambe came close to suffering permanent brain damage, her mother has said.
Police have arrested a 12-year-old girl on suspicion of assault following the attack on Olivia Allan, who sustained chipped teeth and injuries to her back and neck after she was set upon as she walked home from school.
Only the intervention of a stranger who came to her aid saved Olivia from more serious injury, said her mother Keighley Marie, who was told by a doctor that further blows to the head could have caused lasting harm.
The incident occurred on Monday on Old Moss Lane, a sparsely populated road in the Lancashire resort town that connects two residential areas.
Footage of the attack circulated on social media showed one perpetrator ‘raining down blows’ to Olivia’s face after clambering on to her back, said Keighley, who claimed the assault was premeditated.
Olivia, who was also left with bruising and footprints on her legs, spent three nights in hospital in the aftermath of the assault.
‘It’s every parent’s worst nightmare,’ said Keighley, a mental health nurse. ‘I was at work in Lancaster when I got a call about what had happened and it was obviously school time, so there was traffic and I was in an absolute frenzy trying to get to her.
‘It just felt like it went on forever. The consultant in A&E said that if she had taken any more blows to the head, she could have been permanently brain damaged.’
Olivia Allan suffered swelling, scars and chipped teeth after she was attacked by four girls in Morecambe, Lancashire. She also sustained injuries to her back, neck and legs
Olivia was made secure by medics after a passerby intervened and called emergency services. ‘It’s every parent’s worst nightmare,’ said her mother Keighley Marie, a mental health nurse
Olivia, who was also left with bruising and footprints on her legs, spent three nights in hospital in the aftermath of the assault. ‘It could have been fatal,’ said Keighley
She added that the incident, which happened close to Trimpell Sports and Social Club, involved four girls who waited for Olivia and ‘kicked her head like a football, stamped on her face and put a tooth through her lip’.
Keighley said she has thanked the stranger who came to Olivia’s aid while walking her own child home from school. After intervening, the woman restrained the chief perpetrator before contacting the emergency services and waiting with Olivia until the police arrived.
‘It could have been fatal,’ said Keighley. ‘She saved her life.
‘She was walking from Westgate with her daughter and she could see in the distance that there had been an altercation.’
It is understood the girls go to different schools in the town.
‘Olivia’s recovering physically, but what she’s experienced mentally with the trauma is going to be a much longer process,’ Keighley added.
‘She has been referred to child and adolescent mental health services. The trauma Olivia has gone through and the trauma me and her dad have gone through is horrendous.
‘I’ve had to be prescribed sleeping tablets, I’ve been signed off work and I don’t go outside. I’ve also got two other children to try and care for. It just feels like an injustice.’
A spokesperson for Lancashire Police said: ‘We received a report of an assault on Moss Lane, Morecambe, at around 3.40pm on March 24, 2025. A teenage girl suffered injuries and was taken to hospital for treatment. She has since been discharged.
‘Enquiries are ongoing, and a 12-year-old girl was arrested on suspicion of assault. Anyone with information or footage is asked to contact us on 101 quoting log 0928 of March 24.’