Pinning a purple flower into her bleach blonde hair, pretty Ava admired herself in the mirror. She had every reason to be proud. In the space of a year, she had lost an incredible 17 stone. Her weight dropped from 37st 1lbs to 19st 7lbs, and she slipped into a dress before gazing at her newly svelte figure. With her smokey eye makeup and black skater dress, she could have been glamming up for a night on the tiles with her girlfriends. Instead, it was Halloween, 2013, and Ava was hiding a huge secret. Born a boy named William, it was the first time she had ever dressed as a girl – and everything fell into place.
THIS UNUSUAL collaboration between a mother and her two-year-old daughter makes for some stunning works of art .
A prolific drug dealer was caught red-handed in a car filled with amphetamines after he decided to park in a top copper's parking space - as a joke .
A photographer from the United Arab Emirates travelled to Pakistan where he captured the lives of local people in a series of expressive portraits .
A baby sperm whale assumed the role of a friendly giant when faced with two awestruck divers .
STAR-TI-LING: 40,000 STARLINGS MIMIC HITCHCOCK'S THE BIRDS- This could be the fearsome scene from Alfred Hitchcock's The Birds as a flock of 40,000 starlings bask in the heat of a wonderful British sunset .
A cheeky gorilla sticks her tongue out and plays up for the camera at Bronx Zoo .
A weightlifter has lost a whopping 12st after swapping biscuits for biceps .
A woman who suffered from an allergic reaction to hair dye that made her face swell to twice its size has been left too scared to leave the house .
A professional dancer has embraced her individuality after refusing plastic surgery to remove a giant birthmark on her face .
A teenager bullied for having birthmarks all over her body now hopes to become a Hollywood actress to show girls that beauty comes from being unique .
THE THOUGHT OF BECOMING shipwrecked on a remote destination would fill most holidaymakers with dread .
A proud stag attempts to impress the females by donning an enormous fern headdress in London's Bushy Park .