Advertisement

Teenager played dead to escape man who slashed her neck in east London park toilets

Barney Davis
Barney Davis

A teenage woman “played dead” to escape a knifeman who dragged her into a park’s public toilets and slashed her neck.

The 18-year-old hammered on the front door of a nearby house “drenched in blood” and begging for help after the attack next to a children’s playground in Little Ilford Park, Newham.

A family, who had been watching television, took her inside to protect her as she cried: “Help me, I’ve been stabbed, I think I’m going to die.”

A woman, trained in first aid, grabbed two tea towels and kept pressure on the victim’s knife wounds while the father called 999.

When police arrived the teenager, who has not been named, was able to whisper a description of her attacker.

Paramedics say the victim's life was saved by a family at a nearby house (Barney Davies)
Paramedics say the victim's life was saved by a family at a nearby house (Barney Davies)

She remains in a serious but stable condition today at the Royal London Hospital in Whitechapel.

One of the family told the Standard: “The paramedics said if it wasn’t for us, she would be dead.”

The father added: “She told us she lay down on the floor and played dead until he left.

"The knife wound was centimetres from her main artery in her neck.”

A 21-year-old man arrested on suspicion of attempted murder remained in custody today.

Detectives are appealing for witnesses to the attack in Dore Avenue at about 5.55pm on Monday.

Read more

Teen stabbed in neck and stomach in 'needlessly violent attack'