A BLIND woman braved the fearsome shark-filled depths at the Blue Planet Aquarium.

Sarah Benton, 33, lost her sight more than eight years ago due to poorly controlled insulin dependant diabetes but last year she defied the odds to perform a daring abseil and before that a skydive.

She said: “The shark dive is something I’ve always wanted to do.”

Sarah swam with the creatures for half an hour after travelling up from Surrey.

She received a massive £20,000 donation from one business, taking her current total amount raised for charity to £22,000.

And Virgin Trains stepped in to give Sarah and her mum two first-class tickets from London to Liverpool.

Lex Daniel, fundraising administrator for Surrey Association for Visual Impairment, said: “We are very lucky to have Sarah raising money for our charity.

“She has overcome many hurdles due to her own loss of sight and now finds the time and energy to raise fund to help others in a similar position.”