An English teenager has been charged with attempted murder after a 14-year-old girl was stabbed in repeatedly outside her West Midlands high school on Friday.

Sam Tomlinson, 18, and Chloe West were reportedly in a secret relationship after meeting at a stable where Chloe kept her horse.

Tomlinson allegedly attacked Chloe at 8.40am Friday (local time) after driving up to the front of her Ridgewood High School in Stourbridge and shouting abuse at her, the Daily Mail reports.

He then lunged at her, slashing her upper body, neck and face nine times. She was released from hospital last night after having plastic surgery on her face and neck.

Police have praised the 16-year-old student who tackled the attacker to the ground, and the teacher and parent who subdued him while waiting for police.

Superintendant Stuart Johnson said their "incredibly brave" intervention may have saved the teen's life.

Ella Hill, a friend of Chloe West who was waiting to school with her when the attack happened, has spoken publicly of the incident, saying friends had warned Chloe of the dangers of dating an older boy.

"She first spoke about him in October," Ella said.

"She just mentioned that someone had started working at the stable where she kept her horse.

"We warned her about getting too close with an older guy. It was quite an age gap."

The attacker was said by students to have been angry with Chloe after she did not respond to his text messages.

Ella said the teenage boy stopped his car, got out and yelled: "Why haven't you been talking to me?"

"Chloe replied to him, 'What are you doing here? Why are you here?' Then he grabbed Chloe in a headlock and started hitting her in the face."

Ella said she jumped on his back in an attempt to stop him but he threw her off, pushed Chloe to the floor and started to stab her.

"He was stabbing her in the face and neck. There was blood all over her. I couldn't recognise her face."

Police confirmed Tomlinson and Chloe knew each other but were still trying to determine the nature of their relationship.

Students were ordered to get into classrooms and stay there after the attack. They have been offered counseling.

Three girls have been approached by men who tried to entice them into their cars in separate incidents in Sydney's outer west.

A man approached a 13-year-old girl at a bus stop on Cobham Street, Kings Park, shortly before 8am (AEST) on Thursday.

Police say the man opened the car door of his olive coloured sedan, and offered the girl a lift.

She refused and later alerted teachers at her school.

The man has been described as being aged in his 40s, with grey hair, a moustache, and fair skin.

Seven hours later, a man in a white Hilux ute offered a lift to two 10-year-old girls standing at the corner of Mimosa and Prairiewood Roads, Prairiewood.

The girls walked away and the grey haired man drove from the scene.

He's described as being Caucasian, about 60 years old, with a solid to fat build and using a walking stick.

Police don't believe either incident is linked and they are urging parents to warn their children not to accept lifts from strangers.

Please take a minute to read this. This is very scary and could happen to any of us.. Seems like every nice thing people do for one another can be perverted.

A new twist on kidnapping from a very smart survivor:

About a month ago there was a woman standing by the mall entrance passing out flyers to all the women going in. The woman had written the flyer herself to tell about an experience she had, so that she might warn other women.

The previous day, this woman had finished shopping, went out to her car and discovered that she had a flat.

She got the jack out of the trunk and began to change the flat. A nice man dressed in a business suit and carrying a briefcase walked up to her and said, 'I noticed you're changing a flat tire. Would you like me to take care of it for you?'

The woman was grateful for his offer and accepted his help. They chatted amiably while the man changed the flat, and then put the flat tire and the jack in the trunk, shut it and dusted his hands off.

The woman thanked him profusely, and as she was about to get in her car, the man told her that he left his car around on the other side of the mall, and asked if she would mind giving him a lift to his car.

She was a little surprised and she asked him why his car was on other side.

He explained that he had seen an old friend in the mall that he hadn't seen for some time and they had a bite to eat, visited for a while, and he got turned around in the mall and left through the wrong exit, and now he was running late.

The woman hated to tell him 'no' because he had just rescued her from having to change her flat tire all by herself, but she! felt un easy . (Trust that gut feeling!)

Then she remembered seeing the man put his briefcase in her trunk before shutting it and before he asked her for a ride to his car.

She told him that she'd be happy to drive him around to his car, But she just remembered one last thing she needed to buy (Smart woman!!)

She said she would only be a few minutes; he could sit down in her car and wait for her; she would be as quick as she could be

She hurried into the mall, and told a security guard what had happened, the guard came out to her car with her, but the man had left. They opened the trunk, took out his locked briefcase and took it down to the police station.

The police opened it (ostensibly to look for ID so they could return it to the man). What they found was rope, duct tape, and knives. When the police checked her 'flat' tire, there was nothing wrong with it; the air had simply been let out. It was obvious what the man's intention was, and obvious that he had carefully thought it out i n advance. The woman was blessed to have escaped harm.

How much worse it would have been if she had children with her and had them wait in the car while the man fixed the tire, or if she had a baby strapped into a car seat ? Or if she'd gone against her judgment and given him a lift?

A woman has avoided being set on fire by fleeing from a man who repeatedly stabbed her and then poured petrol over her, police say.

The man allegedly stabbed the 40-year-old woman during a domestic argument in Yerrick Road, Lakemba, in Sydney's west, about 4.30pm (AEST) on Wednesday.

He then poured petrol over her.

The woman managed to escape being set alight by running to a premises further up the road, police say.

Police were called and took the woman to Bankstown Hospital for treatment, where she remains in a stable condition.

Police have since arrested a 62-year-old man over the incident.

He was taken to Campsie Police Station for questioning.

Prime Minister Bruce Golding called the violence "a calculated assault on the authority of the state"
Jamaican security forces hunting for alleged drugs lord Christopher "Dudus" Coke have stormed his Kingston stronghold.

Gunfire erupted and explosions could be heard as they moved into the Tivoli Gardens area, backed by helicopters.

Supporters of Mr Coke are fighting to stop his extradition to the US on drug and gun-running charges.

A soldier was killed in the latest fighting, following two police deaths on Sunday.

At least one other soldier was wounded and six police officers received injuries on Sunday.

There are reports of bodies lying in the streets in the latest operation, the BBC's Nick Davis in Kingston says.

There are also reports of violence in other parts of Kingston, raising fears that the unrest is spreading.

A state of emergency was declared in parts of Kingston on Friday after several police stations were attacked.

US officials warned that access roads to the airport could be blocked by the unrest.

Huge support

Our correspondent says the operation started around noon on Monday, when large numbers of soldiers were seen heading to the poor Tivoli Gardens in west Kingston.

Plumes of smoke could be seen coming from the area as helicopters buzzed overhead.

Security Minister Dwight Nelson said the soldiers, in a joint operation with police, had broken down the barricades around Tivoli Gardens and were doing a house-to-house search for Mr Coke.

"The purpose of the operation is to execute the warrant for extradition and to detain [Coke] so he can appear in court," he told the BBC.

He insisted the police were "doing everything in their power to ensure the city remains safe".

But some reports said police had met heavy resistance from gunmen as they tried to enter Tivoli Gardens.

Residents in the area were advised to remain indoors but the streets were already quiet as Jamaica observed its Labour Day holiday.

Tivoli Gardens, the constituency represented in parliament by Prime Minister Bruce Golding, is the stronghold of Mr Coke, 41, who describes himself as a community leader.

His supporters see him as a man who is fulfilling a role that the government does not, such as giving them money to support their children.

Before the fighting, they staged protests and barricaded streets to stop his arrest and extradition.

One resident of Kingston, Suzanne, rang the BBC to say Mr Coke provided a valuable service to the community - unlike the politicians.

"If your grandmother dies, you go to him and he buries her," she said.

"Okay, that's a fact. If you're a politician you're not going to find him, especially Bruce [Golding], you're not going to find him anywhere in the constituency, so you go to him [Dudus].

"You need your child to go to school - you go to him, and this is how it's been, this kind of patronage."

Life sentence

The US justice department accuses Mr Coke of being one of the world's most dangerous drug barons.

He is said to lead a gang called the Shower Posse - owing to the volume of bullets used in shootings - and operate an international smuggling network.

He faces a life sentence if convicted on charges filed against him in New York.

The gang has also been blamed for numerous murders in Jamaica and the US.

The trouble started last week when Mr Golding said he was prepared to send Mr Coke to the US on drugs and weapons trafficking charges.

The decision reversed nine months of opposition to his extradition.

Mr Golding had argued that the evidence against Mr Coke was obtained illegally by intercepting mobile telephone calls.

But he changed his mind in the face of growing public discontent, and questions about his possible ties to Mr Coke.

He has denounced the unrest as a "calculated assault on the authority of the state that cannot be tolerated".