Police ask Abigail to pinpoint car

Detectives investigating the attempted murder of Abigail Witchalls will this week ask her to identify the exact make and colour of her attacker’s car in a bid to narrow down their search.

Police are understood to be focusing their hunt on six key suspects after being given at least 32 names by members of the public, some of whom have now been ruled out.

Detectives will ask Mrs Witchalls to help them put together a “CD-fit” image of the attacker and will show her pictures of various cars in the hope of identifying the knifeman’s vehicle.

Mrs Witchalls was attacked 13 days ago in a country lane in Little Bookham, Surrey, as she returned from a mother and toddler group with 21-month-old son Joseph.

It has emerged that Mrs Witchalls’s injuries were so severe that doctors who first examined her concluded she was “clinically dead”. But the 26-year-old has stunned medical staff with her strength and determination.

Though paralysed from the neck down by the stab wound, she is now regaining some sensation in her arms and is able to communicate by blinking and mouthing words.

Officers said the arrest of a 25-year-old mechanic on suspicion of attempted murder remains a “significant development”.

The man, from New Addington, is no longer being held in relation to the attack, though he remains in custody over other matters.