Daily Mirror (Northern Ireland)
VIVED SERIAL d with the re Ripper ile, he was ng & I never anger... the w sent me g to my and my eyes ith blood
had walked together for almost a e – for about 30 minutes – and I er once felt intimidated or in danger.” usk had fallen as they reached the ing to Tracy’s home in the hollow of fields; light shone from its windows. he turned to thank the stranger for company, but before she could speak, unged at her.
The first blow sent me crashing down my knees,” she recalled. “I fell into the of the road. I pleaded with him, ase don’t, please don’t’, and screamed help. But he hit me five times and h so much force and energy that each w was accompanied by a brutal nting noise.” Earlier that summer, she watched Jimmy Connors lose his Wimbledon title; the sounds her attacker made reminded her of the tennis player delivering a serve.
Then she thought of the man being hunted for killing heiress Lesley Whittle and shouted, “Black Panther! Black Panther!” while trying to fend off the blows.
She survived because of a passing motorist. At the rumble of car wheels, the assailant put one arm around Tracy’s waist and the other under her legs, dropping her over a barbed wire fence.
She heard him running off, his suede boots making a soft, insistent thud.
Her world turned crimson: “My had gone because I was so stunned from the attack and my eyes had filled with blood.
“I pulled myself up and slowly managed to stand up. I was very shaky and began staggering around the field, disorientated and still unable to see anything.
“I fell several times but forced myself back up. I told myself I had to get home in case he came back to finish me off. That fear drove me on. I knocked on the door of a farmhouse but no one answered. I staggered around for another hundred yards, I was covered from head to waist in blood.” Tracy stumbled to a farmhand’s caravan. It took all her strength to bring her fist down on the door. “Oh, my God ...” Elderly Fred Hargreaves pulled himself together and helped her into his caravan. She was unable to speak coherently and shook unconvision
ON MOMENTS AFTER ATTACK