Street star accepts digger for elephant sanctuary

Actress Helen Worth, who plays the wife of Coronation Street serial killer Richard Hillman, was today taking delivery of a JCB digger on behalf of an elephant sanctuary.

The soap star, a patron of the Born Free Foundation, was visiting the excavator giant’s headquarters in Rocester, Staffordshire, to accept the eight-tonne machine on behalf of the charity.

JCB chairman Sir Anthony Bamford agreed to donate JCB 3CX Backhoe Loader for use by the Foundation in Sri Lanka, where it supports a sanctuary caring for orphan elephants.

The 3CX – the most famous of JCB’s product range – will be used for a variety of tasks including the removal of invasive exotic plants, which take a stranglehold on large areas of the sanctuary.

It will also be used for digging waterholes and trenches and for on-going construction projects.

Helen, who plays Gail in the long-running ITV1 series, said: “We are really grateful to JCB and Anthony Bamford for the kind donation.

“The removal of these plants is a war of attrition and is very expensive to do by hand because it takes lots of people lots of time to do.

“The JCB will allow us to remove the plants on a more regular basis at less cost.”