Run Over By Son's Girlfriend's Ex-Lover

As told by Lesley............

The loss of my baby,who was born prematurely at 24 weeks,left me feeling bitter and resentful towards my husband John.

He'd not wanted any more children.The rows and the heartache during that pregnancy will stay with me always.

As if things were not tough enough already,when John lost his job a few months later our relationship deteriorated even further.

John,who was 16 years older than me and had been married twice before,said he would get work by taking a lambing contract in the north of England."I'll be staying with my brother in Otley near Leeds" he told me.

But he never came back to our home in Salisbury,Wilts.He met someone else and moved in with her.

We'd been married for 14 years and my emotions were in a turmoil.How could John leave me on my own to bring up our six children Danny,Donna,David,Darren,Dominic and Danielle?

I didn't know how would I cope.I was angry that he could just abandon us like that,especially as I'd helped him bring up his four children from his previous marriage.They'd all grown up and had left home.

As time passed,somehow I managed with the help of my parents and my brother.

Money was tight and it was a struggle,but the kids were happy living at the farm cottage in Winterslow,near Salisbury.

The problem was that we were living in a tied cottage which went with John's job.I had to fight to stay there.Even though the cottages were in the middle of nowhere,the landlord wanted us out.But I had nowhere else to go with the children.

The landlord tried everything she could think of to get us out,but when all else failed,she resorted to spreading malicious lies about me and my kids around the village.

In the end I was forced to leave the home I'd lived in for fourteen years.

At the beginning of February 1997,I was given a council house in Downton,on the other side of Salisbury.

Unfortunately,the landlord's lies had given us such a bad reputation that at first no-one wanted to know us.

But gradually as the months passed I did make friends.When people got to know me they soon realised we weren't as black as we'd been painted.

One day my next-door neighbour gripped my hand and gasped "You know you're not anything like the awful person I'd heard about!"

Debbie Keates was another friend who stood by me.

I tried to hold my head high in spite of the gossip.But anything bad that happened on the estate,such as cars being driven too fast along the road,or noisy car horns going off,it was my family who were always held responsible.

How could people say such things? I'd lie in bed at night worrying.

So I kept myself to myself.The kids made friends and my son David and his girlfriend Shelia became pals with a couple who lived down the road from me.

David enjoyed having a few drinks with Kevin Clubb and his partner Julie was friendly with Shelia.

David and Sheila had been going out for about ten months,and Kevin and Julie had been together for about nine years and they had a son together.

When David broke up with Shelia,he still stayed friendly with Kevin and Julie.He often popped in to see them.

Kevin and Julie had a volatile relationship.They had split up a few times during the years but Julie had always taken Kevin back. (pic shows Kevin)

But now when they hit another rocky patch,Julie confided in David.She could talk to him and he was sympathetic.

Eventually Kevin moved out.David gave her support was a shoulder for her to cry on.

Kevin had only moved across the road to Julie's mum's house.He thought Julie would soon take him back.

But living opposite didn't help because he could see every move she made.It angered him to see David calling round to see Julie.

"There's nothing going on,mum" David reassured him."We're just friends."

To his credit,Kevin even seemed to clean up his act - he stopped drinking.

Then one evening,Kevin knocked on our door."I want to buy David a drink to show there is no hard feelings" he said.

Kevin shook David's hand and they went for a drink.I wasn't happy about Kevin coming to my home - I knew his reputation,and that he'd got a string of convictions as long as your arm.

But Kevin's new leaf didn't last long and as soon as he realised Julie had really meant what she'd said and their relationship was finished,he went back to his old ways.

His behavior to Julie was abusive and violent,especially when he was drunk.During this time,Julie and David had become quite close and about three or four months later in March 1999,David moved in with her.

From that moment,Kevin began to hassle and threaten them.During the summer,events escalated to such a pitch that one night Kevin attacked David outside the local chip shop.The police were called and Kevin was charged with assault.When he appeared before the local magistrates,he was fined £50.

Even the court appearance didn't stop Kevin's campaign of terror and he tried to run David down in the street a couple of times.

Julie told me he'd threatened to kill all the Browns,especially David,but I couldn't believe that he really meant it.

I didn't really know him to stop and speak to.Why would be have a grudge against me? I was worried though,especially because Julie had warned "He means it you know!"

I thought people often say things they don't mean when they are upset or angry.So I suppose I didn't really take it seriously. (pic shows Lesley and David)

Then a couple of weeks later Kevin went to Julie's house.He was drunk.He tried to smash her sitting room window.Billy,her little boy,was asleep underneath and Julie was terrified.She called the police but Kevin drove off.

Julie rang to tell me what had happened and the next thing I knew the police turned up on my doorstep.

"We've had a call to say someone is going to petrol bomb number 37" the officer said calmly.

I froze."Why my house?" I whispered.

Then he said they thought it was Kevin Clubb."Don't worry,we're going to catch him this time!" he reassured me.

But even as the policeman spoke,I saw Kevin zoom past in his car.

Road blocks were set up but they still couldn't catch him.

Two weeks later in November,I was watching TV like any other night when about 10pm my daughter Donna called in on her way back from the local supermarket.Suddenly we could hear a noise like a car engine revving up.

Darren looked out of the window."I think it is Kevin Clubb.I'm going to see what he wants" he said,pulling on his coat.

"Be careful" I pleaded,running after him.

Dominic and Donna,who was holding her year-old baby Ryan,followed behind him.

After that,everything happened in slow motion.

The screech of tyres - someone shouting "He's coming in!"

I tried to run - to jump over the picket fence around our garden.I didn't make it.It was then I saw it - a car coming through the hedge,heading straight at us.

My first thoughts were for my kids."Get out the way!" I screamed.Then I must have blacked out.When I woke up,I was underneath the car.The blood pounded in my ears and all I could hear was the whirr of an engine.

For one terror-filled second I thought he was going to try to reverse over me in his panic to get away.

Luckily it was wet and the car wheels spun on the sloping garden.But the wheel was ripping into my face.

Above the din I could hear voices,shouting.

Kevin Clubb was yelling "All you Brown's are f...ing dead!"

No-one seemed to realise I was trapped underneath the car.I struggled to breathe.I felt as if I had two huge lorry tyres pressing on my stomach.

When the ambulance arrived,I could hear Dominic screaming.I guessed he thought I was dead.

The paramedics couldn't get to me to help me.I'd been dragged down the garden under the car,my face pinned against the driver's side front wheel.

I lapsed in and out of consciousness as the medics reassured me."Don't worry,we'll soon have you out,the fire brigade are on their way!"

Relief swept through me when I heard the wail of sirens followed by the husky voices of the firemen.At first they tried to jack up the vehicle but it was too slippery.They decided the only way was to use two airbags to lift the car off of my mangled body.It seemed so long before I was finally freed.I'd been trapped for nearly two hours.

My legs were wrapped around the fencing posts.They expected me to have all sorts of internal injuries.

With blue lights flashing on the ambulance,I was rushed to Salisbury's Odstock Hospital.My clothes were cut off me.I had received third-degree burns across my stomach.Doctors warned I'd need several several skin grafts.

I couldn't feel my legs as all my nerve ends had been burnt off by the hot engine."You're lucky to be alive" my consultant whispered.

In the intensive care ward,I was given oxygen because I'd suffered from carbon monoxide poisoning.

I was in hospital for a total of nine weeks because my first two skin grafts didn't take and became infected.

The skin for the grafts was taken from my legs and that was really sore too.The burns were a lot deeper than they had first thought.

I never heard anything from Kevin Clubb,no apology or anything like that.Instead,I heard he'd threatened he was going to finish what he had started.

While I was in hospital on December 13,my daughter brought in a letter from the council.It was an eviction order.They said that me being run over was the final straw.I couldn't believe what I was reading.How could anyone be so cruel - but they simply implied that if I hadn't been there,it wouldn't have happened!

I came out of hospital on January 21 and was evicted on the 23rd.The judge said he was very sympathetic but he had to comply with the law.

Apparently on November 6 there had been trouble at Dominic and Sheila's house.Even though I was not involved,because Dominic is my son,I was guilty by association.Dominic is 20 years old,an adult...when do you stop being responsible for your children,I'd like to know? And I'd why I was the only person to get evicted and when I didn't do anything?

Now my 11-year-old daughter Debbie and I are living in bed and breakfast accommodation,which I think is totally unfair.

I am supposed to go into hospital in September for another skin graft.But who would look after Debbie while I'm in hospital for two weeks?

Then when I come out,I would need someone to look after me.Living in B & B,that's going to be impossible,so I have cancelled the operation.

* At his trial Clubb,38,pleaded guilty to dangerous driving and causing grievous bodily harm,but denied intending to injure anyone.The jury at Salisbury Crown Court agreed by a majority of ten to two that Clubb had deliberately reversed his car to point at the Brown family before reviving his engine,accelerating,smashing through a hedge and a fence and hitting the porch of the house.

He was sentenced on July 12,2000.He was given six years for GBH with intent and a further 18 months for dangerous driving,to run concurrently.He was banned for driving for eight years and ordered to take another driving test.

Lesley says now "It has not helped me because he has wrecked my life.Who'd have thought at my age I would be homeless,especially as I have an 11-year-old?

It is Debbie who is suffering the most with no home of her own.If he hadn't done what he did I would still be in my home.