A woman has told how she feared she would be killed by a silent attacker who repeatedly smashed her head against a pavement.

The 29-year-old sales administrator from Keighley agreed to re-live her terrifying ordeal as the third victim of the Lund Park attacker, so long as she could keep her identity secret.

She was pounced on as she walked home from a friend's house at about 8.30pm along Kensington Street, Keighley, a week ago today.

As the masked attacker struck, all she could see was his dark eyes as he knocked her over, grabbed her long hair and started to smash her head against the pavement.

And in the split second before he struck, she said it flashed through her mind that it could be the man who had attacked a 25-year-old pregnant woman with a baseball bat-like club in her home before Christmas.

"When I first heard his footsteps running behind I hoped it wasn't the nutter with the baseball bat," she said. She described how she turned and saw him coming towards her and threw down her bag in case he was a mugger. But he pushed her to the ground and started cracking her head against the pavement.

"It ran through my mind that if he carried on hitting my head like that, he would kill me," she said.

"I screamed louder and louder every time he hit my head. I was very frightened. I thought he was going to drag me off somewhere and it was going to be a lot worse."

She believes her screams scared him off and she was able to pick herself up and tearfully go for help.

"I think I got away lightly in comparison with the other two women," she said.

"It has brought it home to me how much worse it could have been. If he is not caught he will kill somebody.

"It's very important that somebody turns him in because if he gains in confidence it will get to a level where he will kill someone."

She said the attack had changed her from an outgoing person to someone who was nervous of going out and was wary of people, especially of anyone walking behind.

She is suffering double vision and still has severe headaches and bruises on her head.

Police are linking her attack with that of a 25-year-old Keighley hairdresser assaulted in her Hardwick Street home on December 11 and that of a 32-year-old mother of four, who was attacked in Lund Park on December 16.

All three assaults have been in the wider Lund Park area of Keighley.

The attacker in the third incident was described as white or having a light-skinned Asian appearance, in his early 20s, of medium build and about 5ft 10ins tall. He was wearing a black padded jacket, with the hood up, and black jeans.

Detective Chief Superintendent Brian Taylor is leading the hunt and is appealing for anyone who was in the Lund Park area on those dates and who can help in the inquiry to telephone the Keighley incident room on (01535) 617106.

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