Bingham residents have spoken out about an "absolutely terrifying" rat attack on a disabled pensioner while she slept. Diana Kirk, 79, was hospitalised after being discovered by her husband John Kirk at 5.45am on Monday, May 9 at their home in Ringwood Road in the town.
Diana sleeps in the living room of their home, has brain damage and is cared for by her husband, along with a care team who come to their home - John had heard the rat moving around overnight, before coming downstairs and realising his wife had been attacked by the rodent, which was later caught and killed. Pictures of Diana showed the shocking injuries she received as a result of the attack.
Mr Kirk said: "I've never seen anything like the injuries she had - you can see how bad they were from the pictures. It was absolutely savage. I went and knocked on the door of the young girl over the road as she is also always up early and so she helped. They took Diana to the Queen's Medical Centre and she came back on Thursday night.
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"There were scratches on her face, her neck, her hands - it had tried to gnaw right through to the bone from the looks of it. There was blood everywhere."
In Bingham, some people had read the news about what happened to Diana - with one person even saying they think there may be a rat staying near their home. The care company which goes into the Kirks' home told Nottinghamshire Live another rat had been found in a client's dustbin in Bingham.
Joy Stenhart, 68, who was out walking in the town centre, said: "I had heard about it from my friend, actually. I think I might have heard one rustling around in my bins, but I've never caught a glimpse of it. I'm really hoping it's not a rat.
"You don't expect to see them over here. I don't even like watching them on 'I'm A Celeb' so I'm really hoping I don't come face to face with one. I think I would scream and run away straight away."
Another woman, who wished to remain anonymous, said: "Yes I did read about what happened - it sounded absolutely terrifying. It's definitely made me more wary. The poor woman's injuries looked absolutely horrific.
"To think that it happened in Bingham is pretty unbelievable. Hopefully, it was just a one-off, you know?"
Meanwhile Alf Kirk, 85, told Nottinghamshire Live : "I've lived here for the past five or six years, I've never had any problems with rats - hopefully that will stay the case."
Mr Kirk says he has since read that rats only ever go for young babies and people who are immobile in bed, like his wife. She has since returned home from hospital and is being cared for by her husband and carers.
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