A feisty businesswoman fed up with the state of her village has taken matters into her own hands - by hiring her very own handywoman to patrol and clean up her beloved hometown.
Ling Valentine - who once turned down a £50,000 offer of help on TV's Dragons Den - was so sick of cuts to council and police services in Grange Villa, County Durham, that she ignored government red tape and placed an advert in a job centre pleading for a handyman to revamp the community.
Former carer Clare Honey who responded to the unique advert asking for someone do "absolutely anything that needs doing" in the village, and she has now taken up a full time position on a salary of £16,000.
She goes on daily patrol in the former pit village, and carried out odd jobs while armed with her very own JCB work truck, company issue clothing and tools.