Pictured: Pregnant mother, 28, who was forced to flee her home when her house was blasted by thug armed with shotgun – as man 29 is quizzed on suspicion of attempted murder
- Sophie Holmes, saw her door battered with a sledgehammer on January 11
- The woman, believed to be 28, is now recovering from the attack
- Video shows man bashing a door with the sledgehammer and another with a gun
- A man, 29, from Bradford has been arrested on suspicion of attempted murder
A pregnant young mum is recovering after an alleged murder attempt which forced her to flee her home.
Sophie Holmes, believed to be aged 28, has now returned to the house where neighbours said she had been targeted in a hate campaign.
She had not been seen for some time by neighbours in Cristopher Court, Idle, Bradford, since January 11 when her upstairs window was blasted with a shotgun.
The house had been sealed off for a painstaking forensic examination following which a man has been arrested on suspicion of attempted murder.
Ring doorbell footage showed a man in a motor cycle element battering Sophie’s front door with a sledgehammer while his masked accomplice loaded and brandished the shotgun.
Sophie Holmes, believed to be aged 28, is recovering after an alleged murder attempt
When Sophie started yelling from her bedroom window for the men to leave her alone, the gunman opened fire.
It is understood the young single woman is expecting a baby in July. The pellets were said to have struck the window but Sophie escaped injury and according to neighbours is still pregnant.
Eye witnesses also said that following the blast the man trying to break down the door suddenly starting remonstrating with the gunman for shooting.
But residents revealed the cul-de-sac is living in fear because of mysterious vendetta against the mum to be, who is understood to live alone.
In a previous incident on June 2, Sophie’s car was parked in the driveway when it was rammed by another vehicle.
It was catapulted off the drive an ploughed into the front room of the adjoining terraced house where the neighbour was preparing to hang up decorations for her daughter’s birthday.
Ring doorbell footage showed a man in a motor cycle element battering Sophie’s front door with a sledgehammer while his masked accomplice loaded and brandished the shotgun
When Sophie started yelling from her bedroom window for the men to leave her alone, the gunman opened fire
The living room was demolished and the owner was homeless for weeks. Yesterday the woman, who declined to be named, said:
‘There have been three incidents here. I got a car through my bay window and I was homeless for six weeks.
‘I was just settling back in when this happened. I am still up in the air. It is not often you get a car through your bay window let alone a man waving a gun outside your house.
‘It was my daughter’s birthday and I was sat in the living room at midnight waiting to put the celebration banners up for her when she had gone to bed.
‘Who ever rammed her car pushed it right through the bay window and it had to be pulled out. It was her they were targeting. Her car was just parked up at the time.
‘It brought all my living room wall down so i had to move out that night in my pyjamas.
‘I had only recently moved back in when I just looked out the windows and saw the man with the gun. She was shouting at him and then – ‘bang’.
‘My first thought was – ‘Have they hit her?’
Two thugs were captured on footage from a doorbell while terrorising a street – full of families and young children – in Bradford, West Yorkshire
‘But I don’t think they wanted to hurt her because other man said to the gun man ‘God you haven’t hit her have you?’
In another incident shortly afterwards, another neighbour’s car was rammed and ended up smashing through the fence at the bottom of the street.
Locals believe this was also part of the series of strange attacks on Sophie but no one knows why she is being targeted.
Another resident said: ‘It is scary. We have to live around here. Someone comes to your house with a gun you don’t know what is going to happen.’
Another neighbour added: ‘The whole street is dead. People are lying low. They don’t dare come out. They are just watching what is going on and trying to stay safe.’
‘You can understand why people don’t want to go out. Sophie is in the early stages of pregnancy but the baby does not seem to have been affected thank God.’
West Yorkshire Police said: ‘A 29-year-old man from Bradford has been arrested on suspicion of attempted murder and remains in police custody at this time.’
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