A student has won £5,000 to help achieve her dream of opening a unique pet treat business.

Jacquelyn Bond-Vaughan, of Borehamwood, and two other friends won the University of Hertfordshire’s annual business start up competition, Flare.

The trio beat off competition from 100 others to win the title of Most Innovative Idea for their business, Petilicious.

She said: “To have won feels amazing. I’m absolutely speechless, it really hasn’t sunk in yet. We’ve learnt so much from the process of entering the competition and have gained a lot of confidence in ourselves and the business.

“We’re going to use the money to create a website, develop a cat range and test our product.”

Ms Bond-Vaughan, and her team mates Chloe Hackey and Lauren Ash, are all business students at the University of Hertfordshire.

They went head to head with 12 other finalists to impress the judges in a Dragons’ Den style pitch on Thursday night.