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A dog walker who was knocked out and left with multiple fractures in an unprovoked attack thought she had fallen before a trauma specialist told her the injuries were inflicted by someone else.
Kay Crisp, 68, was ambushed as she walked along a footpath a few minutes away from her home with her two pets.
She has no memory of the assault but believes she must have been hit from behind before being kicked on the ground.
The mother-of-four was treated for fractures to her eye socket, cheek and jaw as well as severe bruising around her neck, but it was only when she saw a consultant that she discovered she must have been the victim of an assault.
She remembers a jogger passing her moments before she lost consciousness but has no other memories of the incident up until she was in hospital.
Concerned that her attacker may be a threat to other members of the public, she told the Mail people must ‘beware of the fact this has happened’.
Mrs Crisp set off from her home in Mendlesham, Suffolk, before 8am on November 18 with her five-year-old American Cocker Spaniel, Yana, and eight-year-old English Cocker Spaniel, Florence.
‘I had a couple of conversations with people and just before I got to a footpath an unusual [looking] jogger was veering across towards where I was,’ she said.
Kay Crisp, 68, (pictured) thought she had fallen when she was left with several fractures after taking her two dogs for a walk
She has no memory of the incident up until she was at the hospital (Pictured: Ms Crisp’s injuries)
‘I gathered my dogs to get them out of the way and let him go first. The chap jogged past me but unusually didn’t even look at me, he just had his head down as he went past.
‘I thought he’d gone up the path but he just vanished. I’m not saying he did it but I don’t know where he went. There’s a gap in the hedge – that’s one place where someone might have been waiting.
‘I remember going forward through the entrance [to the path] and I don’t know anything else until I was in hospital.
‘One person said I was lying there shouting for help but I’m completely unaware of what happened.’
Mrs Crisp, a former dog groomer who now runs a natural products business for dogs with her husband Stuart, 70, said nothing was taken from her.
She was only carrying her mobile phone at the time. She was then found by two schoolgirls who raised the alarm.
She was then put into the recovery position and her husband and son, who drove her to Ipswich Hospital, arrived shortly afterwards.
Doctors took X-rays and then arranged for her to see a head trauma specialist at the Norfolk and Norwich University Hospital.
A trauma specialist at the Norfolk and Norwich Hospital revealed to the her injuries, which included an injury to her eye socket, were inflicted by somebody else
‘The consultant said you don’t get hurt where I was from falling on your face. My eye socket was in a terrible state and my cheek. I may have also been kicked in the face.
‘I didn’t want to believe it because it would have been a lot easier if it was a fall. It would have eased my mind.’
Suffolk Police refused to believe she was the victim of an assault at first, Mrs Crisp said.
‘They were pretty good at first but then they dug in their heels. I had an officer ring me up and say “You’ve just fallen”.
‘That upset me very much. We’ve not got it sorted out and they put someone else on the case.’
She is now scared of going out alone and has been resting since the incident as she is suffering from trauma, headaches and memory issues.
‘I’m finding it difficult sometimes to get my words out and finding them [the right words],’ she said, adding she was due to have further scans.
She was initially found on the path by two schoolgirls, with her husband and son later arriving to drive her to Ipswich hospital
The ‘tall, skinny’ jogger was wearing a white vest top, ‘very short’ white shorts, a black cap and had earbuds, according to Mrs Crisp.
She added: ‘I thought “What’s he running about in the freezing cold like that for?”’
A Suffolk Police spokeswoman said: ‘An investigation into a potential grievous bodily harm assault is underway.
‘The incident took place on November 18 between 6.45am and 8.15am.’
Police are conducting enquiries, including reviewing CCTV footage, and are keeping an open mind as to the circumstances of the incident.
Officers investigating the incident are keen to speak to a man who was jogging in the area at the time and who may have witnessed the incident. He is described as skinny with dark hair or a dark hat and was wearing a white vest top and white shorts.