A 13-year-old girl who was badly injured in a holiday moped accident on the Greek isle of Kos has been flown back home.

Ashleigh Stephens, from Brinsley Court, Coundon, County Durham, will spend three weeks in Darlington Memorial Hospital, where she was taken from Manchester Airport.

Her parents, Darren, 37, and Lorraine, 35, faced having to pay thousands of pounds in medical costs because the accident was outside the terms of a travel insurance policy.

But, following the intervention of their MP, Derek Foster, and the Foreign Office, their insurance firm agreed to meet the costs.

Thanks to friends in Coundon who raised £3,700, Mr Stephens was able to fly to Athens to support his wife at Ashleigh's bedside in the Athens Medical Centre.

He said yesterday: "Ashleigh and Lorraine are both pleased to be back and grateful for everything that has been done for us. It meant a lot that I was able to go out to Athens."