Horrified mother pulls ‘skeleton’ daughter from £21,000 -a-year Elmhurst Ballet School after teen develops anorexia

A mother has spoken of the horror she felt when she saw her daughter looking “like a skeleton” after she started training at Birmingham’s prestigious Elmhurst Ballet School.

Harriet Royle was 13 when she started at Birmingham's prestigious Elmhurst Ballet School, but after just over a year, she ended up in hospital and was diagnosed with anorexia.

Her mother Michaela told BBC Panorama that 15 months after Harriet enrolled at the prestigious school, her daughter was showing signs of being seriously unwell.

When Michaela saw Harriet during a visit after an Easter break, she said: “I had to leave the building because I was shocked by her appearance.

Elmhurst in a statement said it “promotes good physical and mental health and ‘acts whenever issues are identified”.