Woman buried alive tells of escape from shallow grave
A WOMAN who was strangled and buried alive by her fiancé has been on live television to tell how she survived.
Stacey Gwilliam, from Swansea, had to claw her way out of the shallow grave after being left for dead by her partner, Keith Hughes. He throttled her, then buried her on the Swansea Bay coastal path between Bracelet Bay and Langland Bay last July.
She told Piers Morgan and Susanna Reid on yesterday’s Good Morning Britain that she used her fingernails to get out.
The 34-year-old said: “I came round and there were branches and shrubs put on top of me.
“I could hear my heart beating and I could hear the sound of the sea in the background.
“It was like everything was in slow motion. All I could see were blurs of green and brown.
“I couldn’t breathe, I couldn’t move. It was like I was paralysed. It was awful, really. Trying to get your head together to work out what was going on around you.
“I tried to get up, but couldn’t. I had to use my nails to get out of where I was.
“That was all I could do. I tried to push but I didn’t have the upper strength.”
Stacey finally got to the safety of a nearby golf-range car park.
She had to spend 26 days in hospital, 14 of them in an induced coma, and she still has difficulty eating and speaking. The attacks were so serious that they left her walking with a stick.
When police arrested Hughes he told them: “You’ll never find her,” but he was shocked to be told: “She’s alive.”
Bodybuilder Hughes was found guilty of attempted murder and jailed for life at Swansea Crown Court in December last year for the attack. He is eligible to apply for parole in just eight years.