'My instinct was to run but he said he'd catch me' - Woman on horror attack by ex |
She was heading to muck out a friend's horses close to her home near Long Stratton on July 6, 2024, when she became aware of a white van following her.
She pulled over on a quiet country lane in the hamlet of Hardwick to let it pass but was stunned when the van also stopped and her former husband, Jonathan Creak - who she had not seen for six years - got out and confronted her.
He slashed her repeatedly with a knife, including across her throat, before leaving her for dead. She survived thanks to the quick actions of a villager, who heard the commotion and went to her aid.
Rhiannon Creak at Iska in the Diss Business Centre (Image: Sonya Duncan)
Eighteen months on, she has described her gradual recovery, the steps she has taken to heal - which include beginning a new career as a clinical hypnotherapist - and her hopes that she may help others facing a similar ordeal at the hands of abusive partner or ex.
“The experience I’ve gone through makes me want to help others who have - or might - go through something similar," she says.
“You don’t always realise how dangerous it can be when you’re in it. But there is life, and hope, beyond it.”
Jonathan Creak, who has been found guilty of attempted murder (Image: Norfolk Constabulary)
Her ex-husband, a former Army major who served in Afghanistan, was jailed for 25 years last year after being found guilty of her attempted murder.
The couple had met in 2006, when she was in the Officers' Training Corps as a student at university and he was an instructor for the Royal Electrical and Mechanical Engineers.
They bonded over their shared loved of motorcycles and married in 2008.
They split up in 2018, while living in married quarters at the Apache helicopter base in Wattisham, Suffolk, and divorced in 2022.
At the time of the attack, they were living 150 miles apart.
Rhiannon had settled in the Norwich area and was rebuilding a new life for herself while Jonathan was living with a new partner in Woodstock, Oxfordshire.
The pair had not seen each other since splitting up in 2018 but the settlement of their finances had dragged on.
Jonathan had seethed over the situation, accusing his ex-wife of stalling.........