A FRENCH teacher and mum of two from Farnham will cause a stink running the Great South Run in aid of William Cobbett schoolboy Harry Barnley this October - dressed as a giant poo.

Veronique Haynes, 34, well known to many schoolchildren across the area as ’Frenchtastic Veronique’, asked nine-year-old Harry to choose her costume for the 10-mile run on the south coast in aid of his charity Help4Harry.

Unknown to Veronique, Harry, who is battling the cruel muscle wasting condition Duchenne muscular dystrophy, had just watched summer box office hit The Emoji Movie and instantly thought of his favourite character, ‘Poop’.

Veronique said: “Harry doesn’t have much choice in his life, and I wanted to do something special because the Great South Run is televised, so I said you choose what I’m wearing, whatever you want.

“I was thinking a superhero maybe, but obviously he’s nine and he’s watched The Emoji Movie, and he’s decided that I’m going to run as a poo!

“I hoped he would change his mind at first, but then I thought you know what, it’s exactly what a nine-year-old boy would want and if it’s making him laugh then it’s great, and it’s probably going to get me on TV so that’s all good.”

Veronique added Harry’s cause is particularly close to her heart as she once knew another little boy with muscular dystrophy in her own year group at primary school.

“That was years ago,” she added, “and the treatments haven’t really advanced at all. They’ve got loads of ideas through research, but they just haven’t got the funds to get them to market, so it’s very important that research gets more funds. That’s the reason we wanted to help Harry.”

Veronique has already bought her costume for the run in Portsmouth on Sunday, October 22, - but it won’t be the first time she has dressed up for a run, having celebrated her wedding anniversary earlier this month by running as a bride and groom alongside her husband Oliver in the Farnham Pilgrim Marathon.

“It was brilliant,” she continued. “The support you get when you’re dressing up is amazing, and it was great, really good fun.

“The poo costume will be slightly different, not least because it’s really wide and will catch the wind - no pun intended - so it will definitely be interesting!

“With children you have to take yourself quite lightly, I’m used to making a fool of myself.”

Veronique has already raised £500 for Help4Harry online at www.justgiving.com/fundraising/haynes2017, but wholeheartedly welcomes further donations to help her surpass her £600 target. ­