A schoolgirl was beaten up and dragged unconscious by a group of teenage thugs in a park after she was targeted at a bus stop and led to a field. Hope Lyden, 13, was filmed being punched and kicked by several girls, who used “her head as a football” in Erskine, Scotland. She was later found with “clumps of her hair pulled from her skull.”
Hope was pounced on as she stood chatting to her pal at a bus stop on Friday night. Her mother Katrina explained that she was approached by a random girl who began to pick a fight. The girl accused her of speaking about her before another girl approached her and said she would help her “get away”. But as they reached a nearby field, Hope suffered a sudden blow to the back of her head – leaving her unconscious.
Sickening footage, which has since gone viral online, showed three girls beating her after she was knocked to the ground. Dozens of onlookers could be heard laughing as they stood filming the incident on their phones.
Katrina, 37, from Clydebank, told the Daily Record: “Hope phoned me and all I could hear was her screaming. She was frantic. It was horrific. I could hear the kicks and thuds.
“She screamed again, but then there was nothing else from her. I could hear loads of girls’ voices but couldn’t make out what they were saying. I eventually managed to get to speak to one of Hope’s friends who told me there was a group of girls laying into her and that she looked unconscious.
“Thinking about it now makes me feel physically sick.” Katrina got in her car and drove to the beauty spot straight away. When she arrived, she found Hope lying in a heap on the ground with her clothes ripped and clumps of her hair pulled from her skull.
The mum-of-two said: “She had her eyes open but mentally, she was somewhere else. She looked traumatised and just absolutely stunned.
“At first, after seeing her like that, I was furious but now I am utterly devastated that somebody could do this to her and just leave her like that. It is every mother’s worst nightmare.”
Hope was taken to the Queen Elizabeth University Hospital in Glasgow where she was treated for concussion, a suspected broken nose and a burst mouth. The horrifying incident has since been reported to Police Scotland, who confirmed an investigation has been launched.
Katrina said: “This attack was completely senseless. In the video, you can see that Hope was already unconscious when they were dragging her body through the field.
“They were using her head as a football and for all they know, she could have been dead. They laid into her and she was absolutely helpless.
“This level of violence is terrifying and the fact nobody jumped in to stop it is sickening.”
On Monday evening, Police Scotland confirmed that two young girls have now been charged in connection with the incident.
A statement from them said: “Officers were made aware of the assault of a 13-year-old girl which happened around 6pm on Friday, 11 April, 2025, in the Boden Boo area of Erskine.
“She was taken to hospital for treatment. Two girls, aged 12 and 13, have been charged in connection with the incident and will be reported to the relevant authority.”
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