Trick or treat boy scalded

A woman who threw a bowl of scalding water over an eight-year-old boy playing trick or treat was ordered to pay him pounds 750 compensation yesterday.

Yin Yin Man, 34, from China, was unaware of the Hallowe'en tradition and thought she was seeing a ghost when Daniel Cooper knocked on her front door wearing a spooky mask and fancy dress.

York magistrates were told she did not speak English and acted in panic. Man, of Huntington, admitted assault occasioning actual bodily harm. She was also was given a conditional discharge and ordered to pay pounds 40 costs.