Kate Sheedy

Click here to see Kate Sheedy's statement outside the Old Bailey.

Bellfield survivor Kate Sheedy says she relives her horrifying ordeal in nightmares and is too frightened to venture out alone at night.

She was just 18 and looking forward to starting university when Levi Bellfield mowed her down, then reversed back over her in a cold-blooded attack on May 28, 2004.

The 39-year-old former bouncer was found guilty of her attempted murder today as well as the murders of Marsha McDonnell and Amelie Delagrange.

An Old Bailey jury were unable to reach a verdict on two other charges, the attempted murder of Irma Dragoshi in Longford and the attempted kidnap and false imprisonment of Anna-Maria Rennie in Whitton in 2001.

Kate spent two weeks in intensive care with life-threatening injuries, including a crushed liver and a collapsed lung.

Her confidence was destroyed and she has suffered since from mild depression and post traumatic stress disorder.

She said: "To this day I still suffer from nightmares.

"This is both reliving the incident itself and also the nightmares I had whilst I was in hospital.

"For a period of several months I suffered really bad panic attacks, flashbacks and nightmares. I couldn't be alone at all even during the day.

"Even now I will not go out alone if it is dark, I'm too frightened to"

The 21-year-old, who was due to take A levels in chemistry, history and drama a few weeks after the attack was awarded her predicted grades of two As and one B without having to sit them.

She started at York University in 2005 - a year later than she had planned.

"I still feel I have lost a year because I'm a year behind my friends," she said. "It was a year of nothing - just recovering."

8:23pm Monday 25th February 2008

Print

Email this