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Young couple pelted with fireworks while dog walking on New Year's Eve

'It could've blinded or even worse killed one of them,' victim's mother says

Tom Embury-Dennis
Thursday 03 January 2019 12:28 EST
Fireworks launched at couple on New Year's Eve in West Midlands

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A young couple walking their dogs narrowly avoided serious injury after having fireworks launched at them on New Year's Eve, CCTV footage shows.

Luke Priest and Jacob Feltham, both 23, had just left the family home in Gornal, West Midlands, with their pet cockapoos at around 8.30pm when they were targeted.

Video shows the pair diving for cover as two rockets explode inches from them and their dogs.

One of the fireworks is seen bouncing off the windscreen of a parked car while the other lands on the street before they erupt in a flash of sparks.

The perpetrators are believed to have shot the two rockets taped together from a nearby grass verge on Boundary Hill.

Luke's mother Nichola Priest, 49, captured the incident on her home's security cameras and said her son and his partner were lucky not to be killed.

The grandmother-of-two said: "My son and his partner were going out to walk the dogs – they do it all the time.

"You can see that out of nowhere this firework comes flying at them. Luckily, they weren't hit as it bounced off the parked car.

Firework explodes against house during New Year's Eve celebrations

"The boys leapt out the way, they ran back into the house and phoned us to say what had happened.

"When we got home, we saw it all on the CCTV – it was just horrible. When it went off it was so close to Jacob's head.

"The firework came from the bank just down the road. Thankfully no one was injured – it could've blinded or even worse killed one of them.

"The dogs Ziggy and Nico were so frightened – I was worried as the scare could have caused Ziggy to have a heart attack because he is 10-years-old.

"They were shaking that whole night and I tried to take them out the next day but they were too scared to even leave the house.

"They loved going out for walks too.

"I know it is the time of year when people celebrate with fireworks and normally people in the area set them off safely.

"This clearly was an idiot messing around as it was two rockets taped together."

West Midlands Police are appealing for anyone with information about the incident to contact them on 101.

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