A teenage girl required 50 stitches and reconstructive surgery after a horrific attack in which her face was ‘bitten off’ by a stranger on a bus.
Ella Dowling, 19, was boarding her usual bus home when fellow passenger, Darren Taylor, 53, started making inappropriate comments about her and her friends.
As Ella sat down, Taylor grabbed her face and repeatedly bit her nose and mouth during a horrific five-minute ordeal.
The right side of her lip was also split open and she had “visible bite marks” on her nose and mouth.
The teenager was rushed to Cheltenham Hospital before being transferred to Gloucester Hospital for emergency surgery.
Ella Dowling, 19, required 50 stitches and reconstructive surgery after a horrific attack in which her face was ‘bitten off’ by a stranger on a bus
The teenager was rushed to Cheltenham Hospital before being transferred to Gloucester Hospital for emergency surgery
The Cheltenham student has been left with permanent scars after the attack
“The pain I felt when he sunk his teeth into my face will stay with me forever,” says Ella.
“He was like a dog with a toy; moving his head back and forth.’
“I put my hands around the back of his head because I knew if I didn’t he would rip my lip and nose completely off.”
Since the attack, Ella has undergone a two-and-a-half hour reconstructive NHS procedure to repair the damage to her face.
Doctors say she will be physically scarred for life due to the sheer extent of her injuries.
“When I saw my face for the first time after the attack, I didn’t recognize my own reflection and couldn’t look in the mirror for months afterward,” she said.
He added: ‘People say my scar is healing well, but to me it’s more than a scar; it is a disfigurement and a permanent reminder of what happened to me.
‘I smile and speak differently, something I will have to live with for the rest of my life.’
The attack also had long-term effects on her mental health.
“I haven’t used the bus since because of my PTSD,” says Ella.
“When I leave the house, I have to talk to my mother or a friend on the phone because I’m afraid I’ll be attacked again.”
Dowling remembers the attack, saying she couldn’t scream because Taylor had her “lip in his mouth.”
‘I noticed him when we got on the bus, he was strange and kept asking, ‘Are you coming?’ she said.
Despite the trio trying to end the interaction, Taylor didn’t get the hint and continued to harass the girls. “When we told him to leave us alone, he started calling us ‘white trash’ and that he was a ‘gangster,'” she continued.
‘It took my friends a few seconds to realize what he was doing, and then they started shouting at him to get off me.
‘The pain was terrible and I felt his whole body shaking when I looked at my clothes after they were covered in blood.’
Ella is determined to continue her life after the attack.
‘This year I started studying again and I have good hopes that I can continue. “I refuse to be defined by this because I am not a victim, I am a survivor. I want to get back to the bubbly and outgoing person I used to be, but that will take time.’
Doctors say she will be physically scarred for life due to the sheer extent of her injuries
Darren Taylor, 53, was sentenced to nine months in prison for the horrific attack
Attacker Taylor appeared at Gloucester Crown Court in March 2024, where he pleaded guilty to GBH with intent and was sentenced at the same court on July 18.
He was given a prison sentence of six years and nine months and a lifelong restraining order.
Detective Constable Sophie McGough said: ‘The injuries Taylor caused were some of the worst I have ever seen.
“His actions that night were horrific, and I am pleased that he will now spend time behind bars.”