Woman in car theft ordeal

(First Edition)

A WOMAN described yesterday how she was carried along at 30mph on the bonnet of her own car as after she tried to stop a joyrider from stealing it.

taken on a terror ride on the bonnet of her own car - then suffered disfiguring injuries after jumping for her life at 30mph.

Peta Farell, aged 40, years, flung herself on to the car and clung on to the windscreen wipers as the teenager youth joyrider accelerated. up to 30mph when she threw herself off. came face to face with an evil teenage joyriderafter flinging herself on to the bonnet of her Ford Escort in an attempt tostop the car thief driving it away. The joyrider had ignored her pleas for him to stop and she finally as she held on. Finally she whe as However, the cruel joyrider stared right through her as she pleaded with him to stop - and accelerated up to 30mph as she clung for her life to itswindscreen wipers. Finally, Peta flung had to fling herself off the side of the speeding Ford Escort car as she lost her grip.

and felt herself almost sliding under the car wheels.

Police are treating the incident as attempted murder and have launched a hunt for the callous joyrider and his female accomplice, who sat next to him in the stolen car.

Ms Farell Peta suffered a swollen face and , a closed eye and was badly grazed down her left side lost several layers of skin downher entire left side after skidding along on to the ground at of the Pyramids leisure centre car park in Portsmouth, Hampshire,

She said yesterday: 'He drove off with me on the bonnet and we were face-to-face as I grabbed on to the windscreen wipers. I shouted 'stop the car' but he just looked straight ahead like I was not there. He looked straight through me and just stared ahead intently. It was spooky.

"If I had gone under the car my injuries would have been horrific because he

had reached about 30mph, so I swung myself over to the passenger side and

flung myself off when I realised he wasn't going to stop.

"I thought he was not going to stop and I would have to jump off at 50 or 60mph. He could have killed me.

"It was very traumatic. I was very angry because I recently lost my job as a

personnel assistant at St Mary's Hospital, so this was the last straw.

'We had been to an owl and falconry display and as we came back my brother, Mitchell Thomas, saw someone reversing my car out of a parking space,' Ms Farell said.

'As the driver reversed he hit another car and stalled the car . . . Mitchell ran up and tried to smash the driver's window to get to the driver and I stood in front of the car. I told them to get out of my car and the girl went to get out, but then the driver started the car up again and drove at me.'

I was so close I had to fling myself on to the bonnet and grab the windscreen wipers."

Detectives said the youthjoyrider was aged between 16 and 18. years. He had brown hair with in a centre parting and wore a cream shirt. The girl was about the same age and had long fair hair.

The 600 pounds car Ford istered Escort was later found abandoned in Southsea, Portsmouth.