Brit tourist Hannah Almond pictured with Good Samaritan who saved her after violent attack in Peru

A British tourist is pictured with a Good Samaritan who has told how he saved her

Hannah Almond, 32, was on a yoga retreat to the but after being attacked is understood to have found slumped on a pavement by well-wisher friend Piero Villanueva who she had met briefly in Lima earlier in her trip. Piero, who flew to Cusco last week from his home in Lima to help in the search for Hannah, posted selfie photos of the pair together as he confirmed she was “safe and well.”

He told a local TV station late yesterday: “I have just found her. She is safe and well. I’d like to thank the authorities and the people who contacted me to so I could help her.”

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He added: “A friend of Hannah is arriving in Cusco today and I’m talking with him to be able to assist her. Hannah and her mum haven’t spoken yet. I’m talking with her mum but she’s an elderly lady and we don’t want to worry her anymore.

“Hannah recognised me and approached me crying and I asked her to leave with me. Thanks God she’s safe. We have to see now what’s going to happen, talk with Hannah’s mum and see what she wants to do.,

In an update on a GoFundMe page set up over the weekend to help bring Hannah back to the UK, a friend said: “Due the help of everyone sharing the story, Hannah has thankfully been found and one of her friends is on the way to Cusco to persuade her to accept support and come home.

"We know she has been refusing help due to the complexity of her mental health so it is most likely that she will need to placed into psychiatric care before getting a flight back. This is an ongoing process but we are doing all we can to bring her back safely.”

Pal Sophie Wallace had revealed on the GoFundMe page, which has now raised more than 90 per cent of its £9,000 target: “Hannah travelled to Peru in March hoping for an adventure but instead she has found herself in a terrifying and heartbreaking situation.

“She was robbed and assaulted, losing her passport, phone, and all of her money. Since then Hannah’s mental health, something she has long struggled with, has severely declined. She is now in the midst of a mental health crisis, living under a bridge with a homeless man she befriended, the only person she currently trusts.

“Despite attempts to help her through official channels, Hannah is deeply fearful and unable to accept support from the embassy or local authorities. She is extremely vulnerable, isolated, and not safe living on the streets of Peru.”

Fears for Hannah’s safety increased following the post when she vanished after being evicted from the spot where she had been sleeping rough by locals who burned her belongings. The traders were filmed pushing and threatening the former Leeds Beckett University fine arts student from Grimsby before she disappeared.

Mark Atkinson, the British Consul in Peru, told local media Hannah arrived in Cusco in early March as a tourist and did not plan to overstay her visa as he revealed her immigration status was now in limbo. He said before she sparked fears for her safety by vanishing that the embassy had coordinated help with local police and offered direct support including hotel accommodation and food, but she kept returning to the same bridge she had been sleeping under before her forced eviction.

Her exact whereabouts this morning is not yet clear but local reports point to the British Consulate initiating repatriation procedures and say she is “being cared for and accompanied.” Piero emerged as Hannah’s saviour hours after speaking about his decision to lead the search for her on the ground while it was continuing.

He said shortly before discovering her: “I met Hannah in Lima where I come from. I decided to travel to Cusco at the request of her friends and family. I saw the situation she was experiencing on the Internet on social media and in the papers, that she was sleeping rough under a bridge.

“I wanted to come and help find her and assist her because she didn’t have money or her passport and other documents because she had been robbed. She was a victim of the insecurity in Cusco.

“Hannah has a mental illness which is schizophrenia and can make her aggressive with people. She hasn’t got problems with addictions and she’s not a bad person. During the time I spent with her she behaved like a normal person.

“What she needs now is her medication and to be able to travel to Lima with the help of the British Embassy before heading back to her country.”

He added: “I’m in a group with her friend and family as well as the British Consul. One of her friends is arriving in Cusco today to try to help find her. Hannah was last seen around 1pm local time on Saturday near to the San Pedro market.

“I searched for her on Saturday on my own at first from around 7pm and then with another person until 3am the following morning. On Sunday we also looked for her.”

Explaining how they had met Piero told national broadcaster RPP: “We got to know each other around Easter. Hannah had been travelling in other countries before reaching Peru. She told me she wanted to go to the jungle and I didn’t have any news about her after that until I saw a TikTok video clarifying the situation she was living in.

“I was able to contact her friends and relatives through and we created the WhatsApp group to be able to coordinate the information we had about her. I’m worried about the situation Hannah is in in Cusco.

“The Hannah I met in Lima was a normal very nice person, someone who loved animals. We ate together and went out together and I had no idea she had mental health problems.”