X FACTOR turned to dream factory when Ray Quinn super-fan Jessica Swift found herself whisked up on stage at Lighthouse in Poole to sing alongside her favourite pop star.

The 11-year-old Bournemouth schoolgirl has pictures of Ray on her bedroom wall, voted for him in last year's X Factor finals and reckons he's the best singer ever.

When she heard he was playing the final date of his UK tour in Poole, tickets for the show were right at the top of her wish list.

She knew that her gran, Kathy Nicol, had known Ray's family back in Liverpool. What she didn't realise was that Kathy was best mates with Ray's gran Peggy and, behind the scenes, negotiations were going on to make the Poole show a night to remember.

Sure enough, when she got to the venue with Kathy and her mum and dad, Lesley and Mike Swift, Jessica found the whole family had been invited backstage to meet the singer in person.

But the best treat was yet to come and midway through his concert performance Ray suddenly invited an astonished Jessica to join him on stage and sing the song Smile.

Speaking from the family home in Hengistbury Head, Jessica's dad Mike, an IT man at JP Morgan, said he knew there were plans for the St Peter's School pupil to meet Ray, which the family had kept secret, but they had no inkling that he might ask her up on stage.

"It was incredible. Jessica had absolutely no idea about any of it. It was the most brilliant surprise," he said.

"She was just beaming from ear to ear. Ray is such a nice lad and as far as she's concerned he's the best pop star of them all.

"Of course now I'm completely stuffed as far as buying her a Christmas present is concerned. How on earth am I going to top that?"