Sunday, February 15, 2015

Hammer attack stalker-rapist: My story by Jill Harrison - victim of evil Anthony Graham


A woman who was stalked and bound by her jealous ex-partner before he raped her, has spoken out about her terrifying ordeal.


Jill Harrison said she thought she was going to die at the hands of evil Anthony Graham.


As well as the terrifying attack on Ms Harrison, Graham also carried out a brutal hammer attack on long-term friend Thomas Elton while he walked his dog.


The savage assault left Mr Elton, 66 brain damaged, confined to a wheelchair and suffering from epilepsy.


Ms Harrison, from Redcar, has bravely waived her right to anonymity to talk about her ordeal.


And the 54-year-old is encouraging other rape victims - who are too scared to talk to police - to come forward.


She told how her former partner stalked her for days before locking her in a house, raping her and telling her he was going to kill her and Mr Elton, also from Redcar, and have them buried on the Moors.


How victim met Anthony Graham


Mum-of-two Ms Harrison first met Graham, who she called Tony, when she was 17.


They lost touch but met again while Ms Harrison was visiting her dad, who had prostate cancer, in hospital and Graham was being treated for a brain tumour.


They became friends and Ms Harrison would see him often in hospital while visiting her dad.


Ms Harrison’s dad died in December 2012 from prostate cancer.


Graham was discharged from hospital and he and Ms Harrison became a couple.


But after about eight months, he started to become violent.


Anthony William Graham


Ms Harrison said: “He stopped taking his medication which gave him terrible mood swings.


"We were having an argument and he slapped me twice.


“They were really hard slaps. I knew then it was going to get worse.”


Graham begins following his ex-partner


The couple split but Graham, 47, became fixated with his ex-partner.


He began following her and on one occasion jumped out at her in the street with some flowers.


She would regularly stay at her friend Thomas Elton’s house in Chestnut Avenue, Redcar.


“Tom and I had been a couple years before but we were friends then," she explains.


Jillian Harrison


"He looked after me and would do anything for me. Two days before my father died, dad asked Tom to look after me.


“But Tony thought we were more than friends and wouldn’t have it.”


Ms Harrison said Graham, from Hemlington, would hide in Mr Elton’s garden at night and in October 2013 he went into the house while Mr Elton was out.


'He kept telling me I was going to die'


“Tom had gone to the shop. Tony must have been watching," Ms Harrison said.


“I heard an awful noise coming from behind me.


"I was in the kitchen and was wearing my pyjamas and a dressing gown.


"It was him - he had come through the front door. He came up behind me and grabbed my hair and lifted me up.


“He said to me: ‘I know he loves you and I know you love him, but he isn’t going to have you’.”


Graham dragged Ms Harrison out the house, down the street and round to corner to a bungalow he was repairing in Laburnum Road.


She said: “I had no shoes on and I was still in my pyjamas and dressing gown, he kept telling me I was going to die and that someone was going to kill Tom.”


Forensics officers at a house in Hemlington


'He was frothing at the mouth spitting words at me'


Ms Harrison said Graham locked her in a bedroom and tied her ankle to her wrist and then tied her to the bed.


“When I was tied up he told me that Tom and I were going to die and that he had paid two men £2,500 to come in a black car at midnight to pick us up and take us to the moors where two holes had been dug," she added.


“I was petrified. The image of his angry face is one I can’t get rid off. He was frothing at the mouth and was spitting his words at me.”



Ms Harrison said she was taken to the house early evening and he didn’t let her leave until 9am the next morning.


In that time he had raped her a number of times, and threatened her with a knife when Mr Elton, a former mechanic, had come round to the house to see if she was there.


'He said he would kill Tom if I said anything'


“Someone knocked at the door. I knew it would be Tom," she said.


"Tony got a knife from the kitchen. Held it to me and said, if you say anything I will kill him.


“Tony went to the door and I could hear Tom asking if I was there but Tony said he hadn’t seen me.


“I had no concept of time when I was in that room - I was petrified that these men were going to come for me at midnight, once it started to get light I started to feel relief that he was lying”


Graham launches hammer attack


Two days after the rape, Graham attacked Mr Elton with a hammer while he was out walked his Jack Russell dog Ziggy.


Ms Harrison said: “I was at the house when Tom staggered through the front door. It was awful, just so awful.


“I will never forget it. He was soaked with blood and had two holes in his head with blood pouring out.


"I called an ambulance but he refused to go in it. He is such a proud man and wouldn’t go. He just wanted to stay with me.


“I kept an eye on him all night. He kept saying he was fine, but I told him I was taking him to hospital in the morning.


“The police were round the next morning and it was while they were there that Tom took a turn. An ambulance was called and he was taken to hospital.”


Hammer victim left in a wheelchair


The attack left Mr Elton brain damaged and confined to a wheelchair.


Ms Harrison continued: “He was in hospital a long time. I went to see him as much as I was allowed to.


"I still see him and we can talk about old times.”


Jillian Harrison


Graham admitted one charge of rape and one of causing grievous bodily harm at Teesside Crown Court in February last year.


He was jailed for life and ordered to serve a minimum sentence of nine years before he can apply for parole.


'Tom is my main priority now'


Ms Harrison added: “The thought of him and what he did still terrifies me.


“It’s more what he did to Tom. Tom is my main priority and motivation now.


"I’m still walking and talking and I can go on, but he can’t.


"What he did to him and his life is just awful.


"But I know Tom will walk again, He is a strong and intelligent man.


“I wish more than anything that I had never met Tony.


"He is where he belongs and if he is ever released, I will not be in the country - that I can be absolutely sure of.”


Read more HERE: 'I tried to take my own life after ordeal at the hands of stalker-rapist'



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