LUCKLESS Maureen Clayton's trail of tragedy was topped when her house was struck by a bolt of lightning.

The surge of volts ripped through the roof and set the building ablaze leaving terrified Maureen fleeing from her home on Wheatfield, Leyland during last Sunday's (May 18) heavy storms.

The freak fire was just one of a long list of disasters to have befallen the unfortunate 54-year-old.

Six months ago her house was flooded by a burst water pipe causing ceilings to come crashing down. Furniture, floors and foundations had to be repaired and replaced at a cost of £10,000.

Maureen has also broken her leg twice in two years leaving her bound up in plaster for weeks at a time.

And three years ago her husband Vincent died from pneumonia.

The latest catastrophe has caused costly damage to her home but resilient Maureen still has an optimistic outlook.

She said: "I can't let things leave me paranoid, otherwise I'd never go out. I've got to get on with things. I just hope it's a phase I'm going through.

"I sometimes think 'why me again?', friends and family can't believe it when I tell them something else has happened.

"It's freaky. When I broke my leg twice I simply stepped off a kerb or was just walking my dog. The second accident meant I started my new job late.

"At times I think the house is jinxed and feel like selling up but I've been here for 18 years and have lots of happy memories.

"Mind you, people say all I need now is a plague of locusts. I hope to goodness they aren't proved right!"

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