IT was a scene to rival that of any horror movie.
With blood pouring from her head, pregnant Laura Sugden squeezed the hand of her badly wounded partner Shane Gilmer, begging him to survive after they were attacked in their own home by a maniac with a crossbow.
Glen MinikinCrossbow attack victim Laura Sugden pictured with her daughter Ella Gilmer[/caption]
PA:Press AssociationHer partner, Shane Gilmer, was murdered with a crossbow by their maniac neighbour[/caption]
Lying on their bedroom floor, both believed it was only a matter of moments before their crazed next-door neighbour Tony Lawrence would return to fulfil his vow to kill them both.
Shane was unable to move after a crossbow bolt pinned his right forearm to his abdomen, but implored five month pregnant Laura to escape, telling her: “If you don’t keep you and the baby safe, I’ll never forgive you.”
Despite devastating injuries to her head and neck and shaking with shock, Laura managed to fumble with three locks on their back door and burst out into the night, running to a nearby house for help.
Meanwhile, Shane managed to call 999 telling the operator: “Oh my God. I really, really wanted this baby, I really wanted it. I feel like I’m fading. I’ve lost so much blood.”
When armed cops arrived Lawrence – who had got into the couple’s house by smashing a hole in the wall of their shared loft – was nowhere to be found.
Shane was rushed to hospital but tragically died of a cardiac arrest after the bolt damaged his liver and kidney and became embedded in his spine.
That night in January 2018 left Laura to give birth to their daughter, Ella Faith, alone the following June, while the trauma caused untold psychological damage, which she still struggles with today.
Yet she has found the strength to wage a three-year battle to fight for laws around the ownership of crossbows.
Laura this month won a major victory when the Government launched a ‘call for evidence’ on use of the weapons.
The Home Office will seek opinion from ‘any interested parties’ on whether to bring in licensing and registration for crossbows.
Currently, anyone over the age of 18 can buy or own one but it is illegal to carry one in public without reasonable excuse. Those flouting the law can be jailed for up to four years.
Laura, 33, said: “It’s ridiculous that anyone can go on to eBay or similar sites and buy a crossbow for about £150 when there’s no actual use for them.
“You can’t even hunt animals with them anymore, so why would anyone need one?
“They are lethal weapons that can cause as much damage, if not more, than a rifle yet you don’t even need a licence to get one.”
Shane’s Law
Laura said she loved Shane dearly
Ben LackPolice provided a picture of the crossbow that was used to kill Shane in 2018[/caption]
PALaura in 2021 following the inquest into Shane Gilmer’s death[/caption]
Laura is hoping any new regulations will be called Shane’s Law in honour of the “love of her life.”
Laura, who has a 10-year-old daughter Isabelle from a previous relationship, said: “Shane and I were so obsessed with each other it used to make my friends laugh.
“We hated being apart and when Isabelle went to her dad’s for the weekend we’d have our dinner on paper plates so neither of us had to spend time away from the other doing the washing up.
“We had a huge sofa that sat about five people and my best friend used to tease me because Shane and I would be sitting tightly snuggled up at one end.
If I can stop the same thing from happening to another family it will be a lovely tribute to Shane
Laura
“We were so in love that there have been moments I wished Tony had killed me too because at least I’d still be with Shane, but then I think of my lovely daughters.
“The girls have been the ones who have kept me going. Without them…well, I don’t know where I’d be.
“Ella looks so like her dad and has so many of her mannerisms it’s both comforting and painful to look at her, while Isabelle still talks about Shane.
“Ella seems to instinctively know if I’m upset or thinking about Shane and will come over and give me a cuddle. It’s almost like she carries some of my trauma from that night, when she was still growing in my belly.”
Maniac neighbour
MEN MediaKiller Anthony Lawrence was later found dead[/caption]
Ben LackLawrence knocked out bricks in the wall of the joint loft while the couple were away[/caption]
Ben LackForensic officers attend the scene of Shane Gilmer’s death at an East Yorks home[/caption]
The couple, who met in 2015 when they were both working in the housing department of the local authority, lived in the remote hamlet of Southburn, near Driffield, East Yorks, where their neighbour Lawrence, 55, had initially seemed friendly.
The former territorial army squaddie, who was renting the adjoining property, first turned nasty when the couple asked him to turn down music, threatening them with an axe, in autumn 2016.
When Laura and Shane became worried about a continual smell of cannabis from Lawrence’s house and reported him to his landlord they had no idea he knew they were behind the complaint.
Chillingly, he had been listening to their conversations through the living room wall with a bugging device.
I’m lucky to have a new partner who is lovely and supportive but I think he must ask ‘how can I live up to someone who isn’t here?’
Laura
Deranged, in January 2018 he knocked out bricks in the wall of their joint loft while the couple were on a date night and waited for their return.
When they got back, Laura said she had an “eerie feeling” someone was in their house and, when she saw a dark stain on the carpet under the loft hatch, she “just knew” it was Anthony.
Tentatively pushing open the door of an upstairs bedroom, she had a feeling he was lying in wait.
There in the dark, demented Lawrence stood with a torch lamp on his head, holding what Laura first thought was a gun before quickly realising he was armed with a crossbow.
As she turned on her heel in panic she shouted to Shane not to climb the stairs as Lawrence shoved her into the main bedroom.
High-profile cases
Laura’s calls from a crackdown on crossbows come after a number of high-profile cases involving the weapons.
Metropolitan police last month shot dead crossbow-wielding stalker Bryce Hodgson, 30, after he broke into a house in Surrey Quays, south-east London.
In October last year, a man who broke into Windsor Castle with one of the weapons to kill Queen Elizabeth was jailed for nine years.
Jaswant Singh Chail, 21, of Southampton, climbed into the castle grounds on Christmas Day and later declared: “I’m here to kill the Queen.”
Laura said: “Everytime I hear about one of these cases I just fume because it’s totally, utterly needless. There’s no need for such a medieval weapon in this day and age.”
But it was too late.
As Shane rushed to Laura’s rescue, Lawrence delivered a mortal wound before dragging him into the same bedroom on his knees.
The sicko then smirked as he fired a bolt into Laura’s head – despite her begging for the life of her unborn child.
As their attacker left the room for more bolts, Laura courageously pulled the spent one from her head to comfort Shane, who by now was deathly pale.
All my memories of my time with Shane are really special but they are tainted by what happened. I’m haunted by it
Laura
She was squeezing his hand when their neighbour returned and 5ft 2in Laura bravely launched herself at Lawrence but he got the upperhand, wrestling her to the floor and pushing a bolt into her neck.
The wound was so deep that doctors later said they could see her voicebox.
With the couple lying bloodied and barely conscious, Lawrence left but, fully expecting him to return, Shane encouraged Laura to make a run for it.
The frenzied attacker was found dead two days later in a hired motorhome on the North Yorkshire Moors near Scarborough following a nationwide manhunt.
Scarred for life
Glen MinikinLaura said the trauma she suffered made it very difficult to forget the past[/caption]
Glen MinikinAt the time of the attack, she was just 20 weeks pregnant with Ella, pictured[/caption]
Laura has been left so scarred by the attack that she has taken the doors off every bedroom of her home in East Riding so she “can see someone if they break in”.
She leaves her lights on downstairs, says she barely sleeps and, when she does, she has nightmares about Lawrence.
Her doctor gave her pills to help her get some rest but she refuses to take them because it means she “can’t hear every noise in the house.”
Laura said it has been difficult to put the past behind her.
Crossbow crackdown
CROSSBOWS are facing a crackdown with ministers considering the need for licences and background checks to buy the killer weapon.
The Home Office has announced a probe into toughening the rules around the lethal launchers following a spate of cases.
While there were just 10 crossbow killings between 2011 and 2021, there are growing fears of the risk they pose to the public.
It is currently illegal for anyone under 18 to buy or carry a crossbow and anyone who has one without a reasonable excuse faces up to four years in jail.
As part of the eight-week review ministers are looking at bringing regulations in line with firearms to require people to have licences and undergo police checks.
Safeguarding Minister Laura Farris said: “Crossbows are used rarely in violent crime in this country but they can be highly dangerous.
“We’re doing all we can to ensure we have the appropriate measures in place against any risks these potentially dangerous weapons may pose.
“I encourage the public and those in the industry to come forward to share their views so we can have the most accurate picture and take any necessary action to keep our streets safe.”
She added: “All my memories of my time with Shane are really special but they are tainted by what happened. I’m haunted by it.
“It was so surreal and so brutal I sometimes ask myself if it really happened. I sat with Shane in the mortuary for four days so I know he’s not here, but I find myself thinking he must still be here, because everything that happened is so unbelievable.
“I’m lucky to have a new partner who is lovely and supportive but I think he must ask ‘how can I live up to someone who isn’t here?’
“I don’t want anyone else to go through this because it’s just horrendous. I don’t think there will be a day in the future when I won’t’ think about Shane.
“If I can stop the same thing from happening to another family it will be a lovely tribute to Shane.”
If you would like to support Laura in lobbying the Government for tighter controls on crossbows, visit gov.uk/government/calls-for-evidence/controls-on-crossbows
Glen MinikinA picture framed of the loving couple prior to Shane being murdered[/caption]
Shane and Laura met in 2015 and instantly hit it offGlen Minikin
� SWNS.comTributes left for Shane in 2018[/caption]
The body of ‘crossbow killer’ Lawrence was found inside a camper van in East Yorkshire Published: [#item_custom_pubDate]
