‘I am still coping with the shock of what happened to me...’

IN HER victim personal statement, Caroline James said: “The actions of the defendant that day have completely changed my life.”

She said she loved her job as a physiotherapist in the NHS and also loved sport. She was training for a triathlon at the time.

Ms James became a patient on her own ward for three months, after spending three weeks in intensive care. She had worked on the ward for eight years and said it was “devastating” to become a patient.

Although she was grateful for the skill of her colleagues, she found it distressing they had seen her at her worst.

The court heard she had to have operations on her neck, pelvis and leg.

Ms James added: “Waking up to find myself in this state was the most surreal experience of my life. I am still coping with the shock and realisation of what happened to me.

“I have found it incredibly difficult to process the fact that another human being could make such selfish decisions, that would ultimately cause irreparable damage.

“That I could be left on the side of the road with such severe injuries, caused by the actions of another person is unimaginable to me.”

In her statement, Katherine Barnes said: “My sister lying lifeless at the side of the road is an image that I will never forget.

“Restarting the heart of my own sister is something I should never have had to do as a sibling, or as an anaesthetist.”

Said she could not forget the groans her sister made as she stopped breathing and no longer feels safe on the road.

Mrs Barnes added: “My sister and I are very close. We grew up exercising together. Cycling was an activity that brought us all together as a family.”

She said she no longer enjoys running because her sister cannot run.

The anaesthetist added: “The fact that we were left for dead at the roadside is something I will never come to terms with or understand.”