Charity tribute

“I thought a tree had fallen on the car, I just couldn’t work out what had happened.”

The frantic mum screamed at her son to get out of the car, but when she tried to move she realised she was paralysed with no feeling from the waist down – and there were flames licking up around her lap.

Bizarrely, it was the man who had tried to kill Mrs Fabian who came to her rescue, dragging her from the car and putting out the flames.

Vicky, who now lives in Sevenoaks with her new husband and four sons, lost the back of her leg in the explosion outside her home in Vigo, near Meopham, in 2010 and still struggles to walk long distances.

Ex-husband Nicholas Fabian, a former Army bomb disposal expert who had been having an affair but had never been violent towards her, was jailed for life for attempted murder.

Vicky’s eldest son suffered no serious physical injuries, but the trauma had a huge impact upon him psychologically, leaving him with low self-esteem and an inability to trust others, particularly men.

The boy refused to engage with any form of therapy until a teacher at the pupil referral unit, where he was taught after being unable to cope with mainstream school, suggested Dandelion Time.

He spent 14 weeks there and his self-confidence “grew and grew”.

Vicky said: “At first my son was stand-offish, but five minutes after meeting the animals he thought it was the best place ever.

“I remember the first time I saw him smile in a year. He looked like a boy should look.”

For more information, visit dandeliontime.org.uk