Jessica Parkinson is celebrating becoming one of the youngest ever winners at the world famous Crufts dog show after picking up first prize - aged just ten.

The schoolgirl, from Eccleshill, Bradford, beat off competition from dog owners more than twice her age to win the junior grooming title at the NEC in Birmingham.

And what makes her achievement more remarkable is that she has been grooming her pet dog Chewie for less than a year. Chewie, a one-year-old Bichon Frise, was younger than all his competitors at the prestigious dog show.

Twelve months ago, Jessica was among the spectators at Crufts and did not even own a dog. Her family bought Chewie from a breeder in Suffolk after Jessica decided she wanted to look after a Bichon Frise.

She has received lessons from groomer Zoe Duffy, in Keighley, and in less than a year she gone from being a beginner to a Crufts winner.

Jessica was performing in front of hundreds of people in the NEC for the first time. Her grandmother Judy Sunder-land said: "We are so proud of her. She was ready to do the competition and she just took it all in her stride. She is a very shy girl but she knows her stuff when it comes to grooming. Chewie was just one-year-old whereas a lot of the other dogs were six or seven-years-old and a lot more placid but as long as Jessica is grooming him he is happy.

"She was in the arena for two hours and she had to groom Chewie so he would look different from how he appeared to start with. Then they bring them back into the arena to announce the winners. When they said she had won I was astonished."

Jessica, a pupil at Thackley Primary School, was congratulated by her teachers in assembly. She said: "I have been grooming Chewie since he was a puppy so he is used to it. I feel really great that I've won, I didn't expect it."

The junior section of Crufts is for dog owners between the ages of eight and 24 and it has been running for two years. Jessica is a member of the Young Kennel Club and decided to enter the competition after reading about it in the club's newsletter. She received a trophy, a rosette and a £50 prize.=