A YOUNG girl was being hunted last night after she left bus passenger Brenda Lauderdale nursing a gashed face in a brick attack.

Mrs Lauderdale, 59, saw the girl an instant before she was hit on the cheek as the youngster threw the brick through a window, showering her with glass.

She was sitting talking to her husband Thomas, 77, when the attack happened on Tuesday evening.

Mrs Lauderdale, of Kenton, Newcastle, said: "I just did not know what had hit me. I could not believe it.

"I thought that I had been blinded because I could not see. I thought that my jaw had broken or I had lost my eye. The pain was horrendous.

"I have got stitches across my cheekbone and I can hardly move my jaw. I am on painkillers because it hurts so much."

The attack was on a Stagecoach number 8 bus as it was driven on Newbiggin Hall Estate.

Mrs Lauderdale said: "It was just a young girl that did it. Hopefully someone will talk some sense into her and put her on the straight and level."

A police spokesman said: "Witnesses were spoken to at the scene and inquiries are being made."

It is believed the girl was aged about 11.