News, Liverpool
David Dixon/Geograph“My son’s crying – I heard his voice and that give me the strength to fight for us, for my husband, for my self, for my son, and fight against him.”
Those were the words of an unsuspecting mother who was ambushed by sexual predator John Whitfield in a popular park in Warrington, Cheshire, in front of her little boy.
The screams of her primary school-aged son did nothing to deter Whitfield, 37, from trying to rape his victim in secluded woodland.
She told the that when she set out for a jog with her little boy riding happily alongside her on his scooter she had no inkling of the terrifying ordeal they were about to endure.
“I had no way out if I didn’t fight back,” she said.
The woman had only moved to the Birchwood area of the town recently with her husband and son.
The family were adjusting to their new surroundings and she said she felt a sense of optimism that early afternoon in July 2024.
“I was a little bit excited because I love going out jogging and exploring the neighbourhood,” she said.
Cheshire Constabulary“Afterwards I was scared to go out alone and I couldn’t go out alone for two or three months.”
Nothing seemed untoward when the pair went into Forest Park, and the mother said she passed a couple and some other joggers as they headed towards a skate-park area.
A short time before the attack she had noticed in passing two men sitting on a park bench, who then walked away.
One of those men was convicted sex offender Whitfield.
He had not left with the other man, and suddenly grabbed his target from behind.
In a few frantic moments, she was desperately fighting for what she believed was her life as he dragged her towards a more secluded overgrown area.
She was sexually assaulted in the struggle, while her son cried and shouted “mama”, over-and-over again.
But then she saw her moment.
PA Media“I felt he wasn’t grabbing my limb, I just kick him, kick him, and kick him and run away,” she said.
“In a lot of places, I just crazily kick him.”
After biting and kicking Whitfield, she was able to get free, grab her son and make a run for it.
In a moment of extraordinary foresight, she also spotted Whitfield had dropped his mobile phone and snatched it.
She said: “When I escape first of all I need to grab my stuff, my phone, because I don’t want him to trace me.
“So that’s very important, to grab my son and my stuff, and then I found his phone just on the ground next to that place he was attacking, his phone had fallen on the floor.
“So at that moment I thought I need to take this one with me because that is quite concrete evidence.”
Bizarrely, having noticed his phone was missing, Whitfield shouted after his victim asking had she seen it.
‘A happy boy’
“I didn’t do any response,” she said.
“I just grabbed my son to run away because when [Whitfield] realised I grabbed his phone he may come after me – so I need to run, run, run, run no matter what.”
She then realised there was no-one around in the immediate vicinity to answer her screams, but after running a short distance she found another woman walking in the park who helped her contact police.
That woman would also prove invaluable to police, having spotted Whitfield, and gave an important witness statement placing him in the park.
For the traumatised mother, the immediate danger had passed but the ordeal was only just beginning.
Both she and her son have had counselling, which she said has helped, but they are still trying to find their way back to normality.
Her husband, who works in the building trade, added: “Our son was a happy boy before the incident and he was quite welcoming to strangers and would say hi.
“After the incident he keeps hiding behind us and he would not say anything to any stranger any more.”
The woman said her son regularly warns her if a man is walking too close, telling her “Mama you have to be alert.”
And she said she still does not feel safe out on her own, and has struggled to sleep especially when the court dates for Whitfield’s case came around.
“My husband can’t stick around me every moment because he needs to go to work,” she said.
But she said it is important for her son to see her get back to normal.
She said: “I just want to get back my normal life in the right track as soon as possible.
“I hope my son will be able to do the same things what we did, together hand in hand.”
Thanks to the evidence provided, Cheshire Police were at Whitfield’s home within an hour of the attack.
He later pleaded guilty to attempted rape, sexual assault and sexual assault by penetration and was handed a life sentence with a minimum term of four years and 137 days.
