Lorry runs down four sisters

A mother whose four daughters were mown down by a road-sweeper as they prepared to go Christmas shopping spoke last night spoke of her anguish. Stephanie Popat, 10, was killed on a pedestrian crossing near their home in Wolverhampton.

Their mother, Anita Ward, said: "All I could see was my daughter Natalie. She was just lying on the floor in a pool of blood.

"Steffi was lying in the road, and she had just regained consciousness. I just had to come in, and it was then that someone approached me and told me my daughter had died."

Natalie Popat, 13, suffered a suspected fractured skull and facial injuries in the accident. Half sister Selina Shaw, three, was treated for minor grazes and facial injuries and oldest sister Marie McCormack, 19, suffered head injuries, a broken shoulder and grazes to her face.