Mother stabbed in street

Abigail Witchalls

A young mother is fighting for her life today after being stabbed in front of her two-year-old son.

Abigail Witchalls, 26, was knifed in the neck as she pushed her child in a buggy along a quiet village footpath in Surrey.

With blood pouring from the wound she was found by a neighbour near her home, a £1million farmhouse conversion

Mrs Witchalls is on a life-support machine, with her parents and husband at her hospital bedside. They say her spinal cord is damaged, leaving her paralysed.

The attack, which police called "horrific and unprovoked", came as official figures revealed a nine per cent surge in violent crime in England and Wales.

Mrs Witchalls' mother is a leading psychiatrist who will be inaugurated as president of the Royal College of Psychiatry in June.

Today Abigail's father-in-law James Witchalls told the Evening Standard her family is shattered.

"Abigail is absolutely beautiful," he said. "She is the most wonderful woman you could imagine."

He added: "She was walking along with Joseph, who is 21 months, when someone approached her and asked her for money. He then attacked her by stabbing her in the neck.

"Obviously there was a commotion and Abigail screamed. A neighbour would have heard that scream and found her.

"The assailant has damaged her spinal cord leaving her totally paralysed. She is now

on a life-support machine, very seriously ill. Joseph was unharmed but during the attack his pushchair had turned upside down and he was on the floor."

Mr Witchalls added: "We border onto 300 acres of National Trust common land, which is a very popular walking area.

"She was just on one of the little walkways when the attacker confronted her."

The housewife, who was brought up in Wimbledon, was attacked minutes from her family home in the commuter village of Little Bookham, near Leatherhead.

Neighbour Robert Hall today told how he comforted the mother and child.

"I heard two loud screams. I rushed outside and saw her with her small boy," he said.

"She was on the ground but conscious. My neighbour had wrapped a scarf around her neck. Blood was coming out of her nose and she could not move her head, only her eyes.

"I kept reassuring her the police and ambulance would come soon. Her boy was not hysterical - he looked absolutely numb."

When paramedics arrived Mrs Witchalls was still conscious but barely able to talk.

She was taken to Epsom District Hospital and later transferred to St George's Hospital in Tooting - where her mother is head of psychiatry.

It is believed her attacker was a white man, who drove away in a blue car.

Police have launched a manhunt, deploying dozens of officers, sniffer dogs and a helicopter.

Officers sealed off the road leading to the footpath and forensic experts are searching the area. The knife has not been recovered.

A police chief said the shocking attack happened in the safest corner of the safest county in England.

Chief Superintendent Rob Price, commander of East Surrey, said: "This type of serious incident is very, very rare indeed."

Little Bookham is a suburb between Dorking and Guildfordsurrounded by open farmland-The attack took place on a muddy footpath behind Burnhams Street which leads through an area of woodland to the village common.

The tree-lined streets feature several million-pound detached houses and are surrounded by quiet country lanes.

Another neighbour, who asked not to be named, said: "This has come as a terrible shock to us all.

"This is a most unexpected sort of thing to happen in this area."

Detective Superintendent Adrian Harper, leading the investigation, said: "This is a particularly distressing attack on a young mother. We would appeal to anyone with information to come forward."

Anyone with information should ring Surrey police on 0845 1252222.

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