Girl, 15, torched in gruesome attack by love rival who told her 'You won't be pretty anymore'

A 15-year-old girl was set on fire using white spirit in a street ambush by a love rival who was jealous over a kiss.

Schoolfriends have said she turned up to a meet a friend when her attacker allegedly leapt from the bushes and doused her in the highly flammable liquid hidden in a Coca-Cola bottle.

Police say that as she flicked a lighter, the attacker said: 'You won't look pretty anymore.'

Resident Carly Costin rushed to the scene in Eltham, South-East London, with partner Jamie Kelsey after they heard the screams from their garden on Sunday afternoon.

'It wasn't a normal scream. It was a chilling, horrible sound like something from a horror movie,' the mother-of-one said.

She saw the victim writhing in agony as her hair blazed until it was all gone.

'The skin on the left side of her face was peeling off. She looked like she had been burnt under a grill.

Her T-shirt and bra had melted and her skin was bubbling,' Ms Costin told told the Sun newspaper.

Mr Kelsey eventually managed to beat out the flames with a towel from the couple's washing line.

Critical: The teenager is being treated at Broomfield Hospital (above)

The 15-year-old is in a 'critical but stable' condition in a specialist burns unit at Broomfield Hospital, Chelmsford, Essex.

One friend, who asked not to be named, said: 'She was set up. It's disgusting.

'She was with two girls. One of them set her up and the other girl was innocent and had no idea what was about to happen.

'The one who set her up phoned her to come and meet them and go to the shops, but the attacker was waiting.

'She jumped out of the bushes and attacked her, spraying the liquid on her from a plastic bottle.

'It was white spirit that she sprayed on her and then she lit it. She was set on fire.'

She added: 'This is all over nothing. I've been told the girl who attacked her thought she had kissed or even slept with her boyfriend and was getting her back for it.'

Police say the attacker was with a baby in a pram at the time of the attack, and clearly intended to leave her victim permanently disfigured.

They have not yet confirmed the victim's name.

A 19-year-old woman is being held on suspicion of attempted murder.