A 67-YEAR-OLD widow sexually attacked by a skinhead as she walked her dogs spoke today for the first time about the night she thought she would die.

The animal lover was walking her two pets off Weavers Row, Tockholes Road, Darwen, when she was indecently assaulted on Tuesday, September 17, at 11pm.

Now the brave victim is trying to come to terms with her ordeal even though her attacker is still at large.

She said: "I was convinced I was going to die and my feeling is it would not have worried him."

The mother of two regularly walked the route which passed by Darwen Leisure Centre. She said: "I never felt threatened and I have always said that no one will attack me, I don't carry money and I never thought that at my age someone would want to attack me in such a way."

She said her attacker, who never spoke, was almost mechanical in his actions, first grabbing the front of her legs as he crouched below her.

After he forced her to the ground the pensioner cried out for help. She said: "He dealt with that by pinching my nostrils and putting the palm of his hand over my mouth so that I could not breathe.

"By the time the attack ended I was running out of breath and I thought I had had it."

Of her attacker she said: "He was very calm. It was like being attacked by a robot. His movements were very measured and he never said a word or made a noise."

The widow is now terrified to go out at night and suffers panic attacks. She said: "I can never walk anywhere near Tockholes Road ever again. "I can go out now during the day, but I don't like people being behind me and young men behind me terrify me."

The victim was full of praise for the detectives and uniform officers who have dealt with her case.

She also said that support from friends and the Victim Support Scheme were invaluable in helping her to come to terms with the attack.

Detective Inspector Terry Richardson, who is leading the hunt for the attacker said detectives are to carry out a second round of house-to-house inquiries.

He said: "If this man is willing to do something like this to a 67-year-old woman he needs to be caught and soon.

"I want to catch this man and stop him doing this again and for this woman's sake."

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