Shropshire Star

A Shropshire robbery victim today revealed how she was violently choked and left unconscious by the two South Africans found guilty of murdering Neil Williams.

Tracie Paxton, from Telford, was attacked by Gabriel Bhengu and Jabu Mbowane as she walked home from work along the Silkin Way on March 2 last year.

It was their second attack, which was followed by three more violent robberies, before their escalating violence left Mr Williams dead on April 5 last year and 42-year-old Andrew Owen from Sedgley dead 10 days later.

Both men were killed when Bhengu pulled his arm tight around their necks as they walked home from the pub. They also targeted vulnerable people in a string of robberies.

Mrs Paxton, from St Georges, Telford - one of the five robbery victims - gave evidence from behind a screen during the men’s five week trial but she returned for the verdict to see her attackers’ faces again for the first time.

She never saw Bhengu’s face when he attacked her from behind by pulling her scarf so tight she collapsed. He smirked at her and other family members from the dock.

They rifled through her pockets and robbed her handbag as she lay unconscious, before fleeing - unaware if she was still alive. When she woke on the path near to the Greyhound roundabout she fled home, running in front of cars on busy roads in a desperate bid to get home.

The petite 42-year-old said: “They came towards me and I felt this arm around my neck, it was just so quick.

“It was very, very strong. I thought I was going to die. I was absolutely terrified.”

Mrs Paxton said her attackers never spoke to her or to each other during the robbery.

“I managed to scream but I’d got a dry throat so my scream wasn’t very loud. I said ‘Get off me, leave me alone’.

“I just thought of my husband and my daughter and whether I would get home - that’s all I wanted - to get home.”

“When somebody has got their arm around your neck and pulled your scarf you just feel the air being squeezed out of you. The first thing that went through my mind was that they are going to kill me and that was my last thought when I lost consciousness.”

Mrs Paxton, who works in Telford Shopping Centre, said: “I woke up but it was like being in a deep sleep. I couldn’t believe what had just happened to me.

“I’ve never had anyone grab me like that before or as strong as that. He had unbelievable strength.”

Mrs Paxton, who has come through the robbery with the support of her husband of 16 years, Lee, said her ordeal had changed her. She returned to work just three days later as she feared she would otherwise become “a prisoner in her own home”.

“I was confident and out-going and went out alone at night but I don’t do any of that now and I wouldn’t dream of walking that way ever again. I can’t even look at that route - it makes me feel sick,” she said.

“I’ve started to rebuild my confidence because they have been caught. But I’ve lost weight and wasn’t eating or sleeping. These two men are controlling my life even though they are behind bars.”

She said she could not walk down any pavement with somebody behind her for several months after the attack.

“They’ve wrecked quite a few people’s lives, I know they’ve certainly wrecked mine. I don’t think I’ll ever be the same again because I’ll never be able let my guard down,” she said.

Exclusive by Shropshire Star Crime Correspondent Kirsty Marston