A man and woman have been arrested on suspicion of racially aggravated assault after a British NHS nurse was subject to a vile racist tirade during a shocking attack in a park in West Yorkshire.
A couple, believed to be in their 60s, who were walking their dog demanded to know if the nurse, an NHS worker of 12 years, ‘came here on a rubber boat’ and hurled water and grabbed her hair during the alleged assault at Manor Heath Park in Halifax on Thursday.
Apple Moorhouse, from Huddersfield, was allegedly racially abused alongside her parents and six and 11-year-old daughters, after she asked the couple to control their dog which made her youngest daughter feel ‘unsafe and scared’.
The nurse, who has lived in Britain for 15 years ended up in A&E for a pulled rib and has bruising on her hands after being grabbed by the hair and pushed to the floor by the woman, who also claimed to be a nurse.
She told the Daily Mail she now fears returning to the park with her children.
Police have since made two arrests on suspicion of racially aggravated assault.
In a statement, West Yorkshire Police said: ‘Police have today made two arrests in relation to an incident in Manor Heath Park in Halifax on Thursday which was widely shared on social media.
‘A man and a woman have been arrested on suspicion of racially aggravated assault.
Apple Moorhouse (pictured), from Huddersfield, an NHS nurse of 12 years, was the victim of an alleged racist attack in Halifax on Thursday
Video shows the nurse being told to ‘F*** off’ and she was asked if she came to the UK in a ‘rubber dinghy’ by the man
The woman squared up to Ms Moorhouse, who asked the couple to put their dog on a lead after it scared her six-year-old daughter
‘Both remain in custody at this time and enquiries are continuing.
‘We would like to thank the public for their assistance in this matter.’
Ms Moorhouse, who is of Filipino descent, said the row was sparked after a group of dogwalkers with the couple ‘found it funny that that their dog was making my daughter uncomfortable’.
After she asked the dog owner to put its lead on, a man told her to ‘shut up, f*** off and go back to where you came from on the dinghy boat.’
In shocking footage, recorded by the nurse and her daughter, he can be seen telling his small white dog to ‘kill’ her as it manically barks at her.
Another video shows a woman saying she ‘will kill her’ before aggressively grabbing her hair and snatching her phone, before falling to the floor herself.
The man asks the nurse if she has ‘got off a rubber boat?’ and ‘did you come here across the channel?’
‘Ban the immigrants,’ he adds, while raising his right arm in the air.
!['If you are a healthcare worker you should know I'm an SRN [State Registered Nurse], I could be right above you,' the woman said](https://i.dailymail.co.uk/1s/2025/08/31/09/101687027-15051525-_If_you_are_a_healthcare_worker_you_should_know_I_m_an_SRN_State-a-4_1756627846069.jpg)
‘If you are a healthcare worker you should know I’m an SRN [State Registered Nurse], I could be right above you,’ the woman said
The woman, described as in her 60s, grabbed Ms Moorhouse’s hair and tried to snatch her phone
The man, who is also described as being in his 60s, hurled water at the family after the mother asked him to put his dog on a lead
He then repeats the statement, raising his left arm, before rudely flipping the family off.
‘I look after you,’ Ms Moorhouse responds. ‘I’m a healthcare worker.’
The man then tells her to ‘f*** off’, before his partner squares up to Ms Moorhouse.
‘Give it a rest,’ the woman said. ‘If you are a healthcare worker you should know I’m an SRN [State Registered Nurse], I could be right above you.
‘Just shut up now. I’ll make you so bloody sick, you will wonder what the hell is going on.
She can also be seen approaching Ms Moorhouse’s father, mocking his accent, before saying ‘you can’t even speak English’ and laughing.
‘As for you, do you know what you are, that is what we call slavery,’ she said in reference to the nurse’s job.
‘I’m going to get you’, she added, after her partner hurled water at the family.
Ms Moorhouse said she fears returning to the park after suffering the attack.
The man told her to ‘Shut up, f*** off and go back to where you came from on the dinghy boat’
The woman, who also claimed to be a nurse, tried to snatch Ms Moorhouse’s phone from her
The mother then tried to grab her phone back from the woman during the heated confrontation
She told the Daily Mail: ‘It is very upsetting every time I watch it back.
‘If it was just me it would be a different matter but I was with my parents and two daughters’.
‘I was thinking, “what did I do wrong?”. They made my little girl very scared’
‘The woman pulled my hair, I have bruises on my hands after she grabbed them. I went to A&E after I woke up with pain in my ribs. The GP said I must have pulled something.
She added: ‘My six-year-old daughter was really scared.
‘It started when the dog ran up to my daughter when my dad took her to the play area. She was walking and the dog went and chased them.
‘The owner did nothing but laughed. My daughter felt unsafe, uncomfortable and scared, and was holding my dad’s leg in fear. My 11-year-old daughter went to interfere and to catch the dog and it ran away.
‘I told the couple “If you can’t control your dog it should be on a lead. They said “F*** off, did you come here in a dinghy?”‘
‘When I pushed her and struggled to get up, I felt so bad about it,’ the British resident of 15 years said
The attack eventually ended after the older lady fell to the floor, and a passerby later intervened
The couple, described as both being in their 60s, launched an alleged racist attack against the mother and her family
Her parents, who were visiting on holiday, were allegedly told they were poor by the lady, before a passerby intervened and helped the family.
Mrs Moorhouse said she ‘doesn’t normally confront people, but I felt like I had to’ after her six-year-old daughter was terrified of the dog.
‘But the response that I received was, “Shut up, f*** off and go back to where you came from on the dingy boat.” So that’s when I decided to film the scene.
‘I was raised to respect the elderly, and that’s kept my cool down. I could have fought back, but I didn’t because I still respected her because I saw her just like she’s my mother. When I pushed her and struggled to get up, I felt so bad about it.
‘I didn’t expect that it was going to get out of proportion. I am just thinking now. If I hadn’t said anything to him, this shouldn’t have happened.
‘But maybe this happened for a reason, an eye-opener that racism still does exist, unfortunately.’
West Yorkshire Police had launched an appeal to help find the couple.
Ms Moorhouse has since thanked the public for their support and for sharing the appeal.
