Snowball-throwing youths smashed a woman’s living-room window, triggering her to have an epileptic fit.

Housewife Kathleen Rogers said she was at home in Park Lane, Hornchurch, when an errant clump of ice thrown by a group of “kids” shattered the pane.

The 51-year-old added the noise had “frightened the life out of” her and triggered the fit.

“The windows are like paper – they’re not safety windows,” she explained, “and they were throwing so hard the ice just went through. There was such a bang.

“I suffer with epilepsy and the shock of it caused me to have a fit.

“But they ran so quickly that by the time my husband and I got outside they’d gone.”

Mrs Rogers added she would have to fork out nearly £500 to board up and then replace the window – as well as paying to clean and repair the curtains and sofa by the window, which were damaged by the shower of wet, icy glass.

“This isn’t the first time it’s happened,” she said. “We’ve had apples through the windows, too.”

Meanwhile, a teenager was arrested after a snowball smashed a window at the new Myplace Centre.

Police were called to the incident in Dagnam Park Drive, Harold Hill on Friday, January 18, at 5.30pm.

The window has now been replaced.

Later that evening, a motorist was left with a cut cheek and a smashed car window after four or five youths, also in Harold Hill, started pelting him with snowballs.

The 31-year-old man shouted at the group – one of whom picked up a piece of wood from the floor and smashed the passenger window. The broken glass injured the man’s cheek.

The incident took place in Chippenham Road at about 10.30.

Police are also hunting the driver of a black Volkswagen who smashed a bus windscreen with a snowball on Monday afternoon.

The suspect was described as white and about 18 years old. The snowball was thrown in Upper Rainham Road, Hornchurch, at about 2pm.

And at about 4.45pm on Friday, a 14-year-old threw a snowball at a toddler in St Edward’s Way, Romford.

The father of the two-year-old gave chase and caught the teenager on a 365 bus, where police were called.

The youth was arrested but police have asked the father – who made off before leaving his details – to come forward.

If you have information about any of the incidents, call Havering police on 101 or contact Crimestoppers anonymously on 0800 555 111.