A pregnant mum who survived being shot in the head with a crossbow was in tears as she spoke about her dying partner’s final words to her before she managed to escape their murderous neighbour.
Laura Sugden had been 27 and five months pregnant when her deranged neighbour Anthony Lawrence broke into the semi-detached house that she shared with boyfriend Shane Gilmer.
Lawrence, 55, had managed to get into the property through their shared loft and lay in wait for the couple to return.
He went onto launch a frenzied attack as he shot both Laura and Shane with his crossbow. While Laura and her unborn daughter miraculously survived, Shane tragically did not.
Appearing on This Morning, Laura, now 30, said that there had never really been a feud between themselves and Lawrence, though Shane had asked him to turn his music down.
(Image: ITV)
“I heard a load of commotion outside,” she told Holly Willoughby and Phillip Schofield.
“He had an axe and said he was going to kill us.”
Laura said that the next day she had convinced Shane that they should phone the police – however they said that there was little that they could do.
“They more or less said it was our word against his so they weren’t prepared to do anything at that time,” she said.
As well as music, Laura explained that cannabis could be smelt wafting from his house and into her daughter’s room, resulting in her moving her little girl to another room as she suffered from asthma.
A year later, Lawrence had been served an eviction notice, which Laura believes may have been the catalyst for his murderous rampage.
(Image: Andy Commins / Daily Mirror)
(Image: Ken McKay/ITV/REX/Shutterstock)
The couple had been dining out that evening, with Laura’s daughter thankfully out of the house and staying with her father.
All throughout that week, Laura said that she had noticed Lawrence’s “strange behaviour” and said that she had felt “really unsettled”.
When she opened the door on that fateful evening, Laura said: “I noticed a mark on my carpet and it was a feeling he was in my house.
“I pushed open my daughter’s bedroom door and he was stood there with a crossbow and a head torch on and I asked what he was doing in my house.”
Shane had heard Laura and rushed to the landing. As Laura dialled 999, Shane had been shot, which she hadn’t been aware of until she came back into the bedroom.
Laura had tried pleading with Lawrence, saying that she was pregnant. However, Lawrence had already known as he had been listening to the couple with a listening device, which Laura said made her “feel sick”
(Image: PA)
Despite her pleas, Lawrence shot Laura in the head and she pulled the bolt out. However, Lawrence grabbed it again and stuck it in her throat.
However, Laura was able to overpower Lawrence and race out of the house to get help.
Phil said: “You had to run and you had to get out. Shane couldn’t move – it transpires that the bolt had gone in through his arm, through his liver into his kidney but also into his spine. And these were critical injuries – he died of cardiac arrest when he got into hospital, which we’re so sorry about.
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“But you had to get out – what were the last words that he said to you?”
She replied emotionally: “Be strong, I love you.”
“And get out to save the baby,” Phil supplied.
Laura replied tearfully: “Yeah.”
The only thing that has helped with Laura’s grief over Shane’s death is the birth of their daughter.
Laura is now campaigning for there to be regulations in place for owning crossbows.
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“There’s no regulations to have a crossbow,” she said. “They’re just as fatal and they’ve caused a number of injuries.”
Laura previously told The Mirror that Shane would have wanted her to be happy and has been dating someone else on and off for a year.
But she said: “It’s hard for him because I’m still in love with Shane.
“We were madly in love and worked at the same place and were hardly ever apart. The honeymoon period never went away.”
“I don’t believe you ever get over something like this. I can’t imagine the grieving ever comes to an end.”
*This Morning airs weekdays at 10am on ITV
Originally from https://www.mirror.co.uk/tv/tv-news/pregnant-mum-who-shot-head-23989799