Abigail suspect is a father

A man arrested for the stabbing of Abigail Witchalls is the father of a four-year-old child.

The man, aged 25, is separated from the child's mother, who collapsed on hearing of his arrest. Today magistrates at Staines granted detectives a further 24 hours to question him.

Mrs Witchalls, 26, is expected to try to identify her attacker from a video identity parade shown to her at her hospital bed.

She will be asked to pick out her assailant from video clips showing a suspect and five other men. Mrs Witchalls was stabbed once in the neck and has been left paralysed and unable to speak. She has been communicating by mouthing words and blinking in response to questions.

The identity parade procedure will be videoed and recorded so that it can be used as evidence. If she does not identify anyone, detectives will go ahead with plans to release an efit of her attacker. The suspect, who was held at a police station in Croydon on Wednesday, is now being questioned in Staines.

The man's home on a housing estate in New Addington, Surrey, is about 25 miles from Little Bookham, the village where the part-time teacher was stabbed in front of her 21-month-old son Joseph on Wednesday last week.

Officers emerged with 30 brown bags from the three-bedroom former council house where he is believed to live with his brother.

Forensic experts are still searching the house. He moved there from a travellers' camp about a year ago and had links to Little Bookham.

His former partner, 25, who lives in Leatherhead, told a close friend she was " devastated" by news of his arrest.

A friend said: "She started sobbing and threw herself to the ground.

"Everybody is aware of the tragedy of this case. To think her child's father might be implicated was clearly very distressing."

The man is said to work occasionally as a mechanic. Police are still searching for a blue estate car seen at the scene of the attack.

Forensic tests carried out on Mrs Witchalls's clothing and other items recovered from the crime scene are expected to take a month to complete.

Mrs Witchalls was attacked in a country lane after trying to flee her assailant. She was stabbed after the man held a knife to the throat of her son.

Her husband Benoit, an engineer, has been at her bedside at St George's hospital in Tooting, where she was moved from Epsom General.

Few details of her medical condition have been released but today a casualty nurse said senior consultants were "utterly appalled" by the severity of her injuries.

The nurse, who works on Epsom's A & E ward, said: "It is amazing that she survived. When we first saw her we could not believe what a terrible state she was in.

"Her survival became a priority for everybody. Patients with minor injuries had to wait hours because so many staff were diverted to deal with Abigail."

The attacker thrust the knife into her neck with such force that he crushed three vertebrae, cutting through a network of nerves that co-ordinate movement of the body, the nurse said.

"The injuries were just about as bad as you could imagine. The knife went in just at the point where the spinal nerves connect."

Mrs Witchalls's family have said she is regaining some sensation in her arms and shoulders. Doctors have warned that she may not regain full use of her limbs.