SEVEN-year-old Katie Ibbetson thought she had found a piece of jewellery when she slipped a metal washer onto her finger.

But there were tears when she found the "ring" would just not come off.

Her mum tried, staff at Burnley General Hospital tried but the washer would not budge.

It even proved a challenge for Burnley firefighters.

Leading firefighter Michael Hargreaves said: "It normally takes about thirty seconds to cut off a ring.

"But this one took us about half an hour. It was made from very tough metal.''

"The little girl was distressed and crying the whole time.

"I don't think it was the pain but just the shock of the whole experience of going to hospital and then us being called.''

Katie was today recovering at her home in John Street, Earby.

Previous news story

Converted for the new archive on 14 July 2000. Some images and formatting may have been lost in the conversion.