Fury at cops over attack ordeal in Spain
Lauren LaurenCrooks Crooks A former Miss Scotland finalist has accused her partner of stabbing her in the back in a Spanish holiday home and leaving her for dead.
Mhairi Campbell says she needed lifesaving surgery and was critically ill for two weeks after William McDonald left her in a pool of blood.
And she can’t believe he is still at large almost a month after the a l leged assault , which police in Spain are treating as attempted murder.
“I’ve lost all faith in the system,” said Mhairi, 57. “I’m led to believe he’s back in Scotland.
“When they told me that, I said he’d be laughing. Their reply was ‘not for long’ – yet he’s still free.
“I feel so let down by the police. I’m in a lot of pain and I’m afraid.”
Mhairi, from East Ki lbride, says builder McDonald, 58, stabbed her in Alicante last month. He is wanted for questioning in Spain.
He had recently bought the flat and she was vi s i t ing him while he did it up. But she says her trip ended in horror after she refused to help him run away from a domestic violence charge.
Mhairi said McDonald had a previous conviction for domestic abuse and was due in court in Spain to be charged over another incident.
She said he asked her to get him a flight to Scotland, but she refused and got up to leave.
Mhairi said: “I was right at the door when I felt something very cold hit my back. I fell to the floor.
“Then he stabbed me again, in the arm. That was when I realised the cold sharpness I felt was the knife.
“I crawled through to my bed to get away. He came after me, still holding the knife, and said, ‘ You do know I’m going to have to kill you and then I’ll have to kill myself.’
“He told me he’d written a note for his son and asked if I wanted to leave a note to my daughter. He started bleaching the apartment, trying to clean up my blood.
“This seemed to go on for hours. I knew if I screamed, he’d stab me again. I was moaning in pain, so he pulled the shutters down so nobody would hear me.
“I was scared but I accepted I wasn’t going to make it. I thought it was the end.
“I kept begging him to get me help. I told him I’d tell the pol ice it wa s an a ccident , but he still said no. So I asked him to go, told him to run – anything to get him out of the apartment. “Eventually, that’s what he did. As soon as he was gone, I started screaming for help. “He said he’d cal l an ambulance from a pay phone, but he never did. “My neighbour saved my life. She heard me and called for help.” Mhairi says the knife but I’m not the same person. I’m jumpy and I don’t feel like going out unless it’s absolutely essential. But I’ll try to get on with my life.
“I’ve had my problems and I pulled myself out of the gutter. I was trying to do the same for him.”
Mhairi made the Miss Scotland finals in 1978 and later moved to Hollywood to work as a nanny for a movie producer.
But she suffered drink problems in the US, and she was fined in Glasgow in 2001 after hitting a child minder in Glasgow and kicking a buggy with a baby in it.
A spokeswoman for the Guardia Civil in Spain said detectives had launched an attempted murder inquiry over the alleged assault on Mhairi and were waiting for a European arrest warrant.
She added: “As soon as the warrant is obtained, we wi l l be in immediate contact with the Scottish police.”
McDonald declined to comment.