The latest schoolyard craze led to a boy suffering these horrendous facial injuries.

Jacob James, 11, had to go to A&E after he held his breath for more than a minute in the playground at Greenfields Community Primary School in Shepway, Maidstone.

He was participating in a fad, believed to have started in America, in which children attempt to make themselves faint.

Jacob’s mother, Karen James, of Dorset Way, Shepway, said it was a "dangerous game".

"Jacob fell flat on his face and had some quite nasty cuts because obviously he couldn’t put out his arms to break his fall," she said.

The school said it was an "unusual incident" and that it had shown pictures of Jacob's injuries to other pupils to dissuade them from taking part in the fad.

See this week's Kent Messenger for the full story.