A TEENAGE girl whose head was "kicked like a football" in a horrifying late-night attack in Exeter said she feels safer now the offender has been jailed.
Gabrielle Clarke spoke out after her attacker – a former work colleague she considered a friend – was sentenced to nine months in prison.
Miss Clarke had been for drinks with friends from South West Water in October last year and had to deter the unwelcome advances of former colleague Alexander Vernon throughout the evening.
And as she waited for a train home on the platform at Digby and Sowton he continued to pursue her and launched the vicious attack that the judge said could have killed her.
Miss Clarke, 18, of St Thomas, told the Echo she lay dazed and confused on the floor while he bounced her head up and down with his foot.
The brutal attack was only stopped by the presence of a passer-by. Miss Clarke, who has lived her whole life in Exeter, needed hospital treatment for concussion and whiplash and is still feeling the effects several months later.
Vernon, 28, of Fore Street, Exeter, admitted ABH. But after the sentencing Miss Clarke told the Echo he was lucky it was not a more serious charge.
She said: "I am happy he is jailed but if it was my choice it would have been a lot more.
"Maybe I am lucky. Even though it hurt and my injuries changed things for me at least there is nothing that has changed for the rest of my life.
"He was not showing any signs of stopping and I wonder what would have happened if he had not been disturbed. He would have carried on."
Recalling the incident Miss Clarke, who had left South West Water a few days previously, said she met Vernon and some other former colleagues for a few drinks and then at about 10.30pm left to catch a train home.
"He had been weird all night and I did not want to be around him. He was very drunk and followed me to the station. I told him to leave me alone.
"I moved into the seated area. He came over and started to cry – telling me how much he loved me. I laughed at him and then put my headphones in.
"I was looking away and then felt something hit the left side of my head. I fell onto my side and he started stamping on me.
"He kept kicking me in the face and was leaning against the railings to get a better grip. He was driving his foot down with his whole body weight.
"He was bouncing my head like a ball onto the ground. I just remember feeling dizzy and thinking what is going on – he is supposed to be my friend. All he said was 'you are not laughing now.' It was so unexpected. When the woman turned up to disturb him he said I deserved everything I got. But then, like the coward he was, he ran off."
Miss Clarke said she could not stop crying after the incident.
"I felt nauseous, dizzy and disorientated," she added.
"I was confused and not sure what was going on. At the time I was in such shock that I did not register the pain but I could not move my neck or head."
Friends turned up to help escort her home and the following day she went to hospital where she was told she had suffered whiplash and concussion.
Miss Clarke said it took her around a month to get over the physical effects of the attack but she will often still lose focus and has trouble with her eyesight.
"After it happened I could not go out. Even to this day when I am walking alone I panic thinking something could happen. If someone I thought was a friend could do this to me then what could a stranger be capable of.
"I still don't feel safe in the town where I have lived my whole life but feel more comfortable now he is in prison."
Sentencing Vernon, Judge Francis Gilbert said: "It was a violent and unprovoked attack. Stamping on someone's head is extremely dangerous and can and does often lead to serious injury or even death."
The court heard Vernon, who lost his job at South West Water, was unable to explain the attack and has started therapy to control his drinking. He had never been in trouble before and acted totally out of character, his defence team said.