Burns victim becomes a fashion model

A burns victim has overcome her horrific childhood injuries to become a model for High Street giant Next.

Labonya Siddiqui, 21, from Burnley, was permanently scarred when a paraffin lamp exploded when she was just eight in Bangladesh.

But she eventually overcame post-traumatic stress and bullying to land a modeling job with the major high-street chain.

Labonya, who uses minimal makeup to cover her scars, said: "The fact that Next has taken a chance on me and given me this opportunity is incredible.

"I used to look at magazines when I was a teenager, wishing I was pretty enough to appear on the glossy pages."

Labonya's accident happened in May 2000 when she was at home in Dhaka in Bangladesh where she was born.

It left her in a coma for five days and doctors feared for her life. Months of intensive hospital treatment were followed by numerous operations and in 2002 Labonya and her family moved to Burnley.

She covered her scars for 12 years until a friend one day encouraged her to show her true face.

Labonya, now studying chemistry at Bradford University, said she now hoped to become a figurehead for other burns victims.

"I hope when other people like me see my work they will find their own confidence and strength so that they will be just as comfortable being themselves as I am with my scars," she said.