A Scottish mum says she was willing to die defending her beloved children after three men broke into her home and slashed her with a machete.
Ashley Reilly, 35, screamed at her son Benji, 14, and daughter Vogue, six, to hide as she tried to scare off the gang who invaded her house in Lanark at 4am on May 2.
The terrified mum was awoken by the noise of her front window being smashed in and begged her children to run up the stairs.
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Her three male assailants then hacked their way through a wardrobe Ashely had pulled in front of herself to use as a shield, severing the tendons in her wrist and ankle and leaving six-inch-long lacerations along her leg as her horrified children looked on.
Ashley told the Record: "They were swinging the machete about, up and down at me," she recalled.
"I didn't even realise I'd been hurt - I was shouting at them the police were coming and they ran off.
"I was just thinking of the kids. I would die defending them, so I didn't feel a thing.
"Then I looked down and I could actually see my leg bone sticking out. Then I thought 'I need to shut that.'
"I tried to pull my leg together so the kids didn't see."
Ashely credits her survival to son Benji, who phoned for help as she tried to close the gaping wound in her limb, and a police officer who kept her awake and talking while waiting for an ambulance.
Police arrived minutes later and gave her first aid while waiting for the ambulance to arrive.
The mum told how one local officer kept her conscious and speaking: "He saved my life. He needs a medal and I want to get him a bottle of whisky.
"He wrapped up my wounds, held my hand, and told me I wasn't going to die.
"He was telling me how he remembered me growing up. He said I was a wee bugger and had a little laugh.
"He kept me talking and kept me calm by was asking me about the kids and what I'd been up to.
"But in the ambulance, I saw him crying. I think he wasn't sure I would pull through. He was trying to give me the chance to speak to my kids - to say goodbye.
"I thought 'That's it - I'm going to die here'."
It was only after she had been treated in hospital that Ashley was able to take stock of her injuries - a 15cm (5.9in) bone-deep gash in her thigh, a 13cm (5.1in) cut to her shin and deep cuts to her left foot and right hand.
Surgeons aren't sure if she will be able to keep her middle toe, which was also gruesomely hacked at during the attack.
However, she turned to the Record to speak out about her ordeal - to show her aggressors that she's not afraid.
She said: "I don't want vengeance. I want to get justice and to see these people locked up.
"They don't deserve to be free for what they did to me - especially in front of my kids.
"I don't want them hurt or in any pain. They've got mums, daughters, kids, and that would make me as bad as them.
"No, I want them to go to jail and look themselves in the mirror and think about what they've done to me and my family.
"Vogue has been talking about it at night, asking if I saved her life, telling me what she saw.
"Benji's told me he was scared they would go through me and then do him in. But I keep telling him he saved my life."
Ashley believes she was attacked by the three men after her boyfriend Jamie's Range Rover was set alight week earlier.
She thinks local thugs had taken a dislike to her partner because he is English and says the violent attack on her was their revenge after she confronted them.
She also believes they watched her home from a white car in the days before the assault.
She has since fled Lanark for her and her children's safety, she has vowed that she won't be frightened into silence.
She added: "My whole life has been changed and I'm petrified at the thought of ever going home.
"But my revenge will be to be happy. I used to be quite vain, but now that I have these scars, I'm over that.
"I'll still go about in my shorts, with my scars on show. They're part of me and my story now.
"And if anyone asks how I got them, I can say I got them saving my kids' lives."
Police are continuing to hunt for her attackers, who are believed to have gone to ground and fled Scotland.
In the days after the attack, Detective Sergeant Derrick Lunan, of Wishaw CID, said: “The motive for this assault has still to be established, however, we believe that the suspects, for whatever reason, targeted this particular address.
“Officers have been carrying out enquiries since the attack and are keen to trace a white car seen in the area between 3.50 am and 4.10am on Monday morning.
“If you have any information that will assist officers with their enquiries, or may be have dash cam or doorbell footage from Monday morning, then please contact officers at Wishaw CID via 101.
"Quote reference number 0511 of Monday, 2 May, 2022 when calling."
A Police Scotland spokesperson confirmed to the Record today that enquiries into the incident remain ongoing.
