A four-year-old girl is a reminder of how lucky a woman was to escape the crazed clutches of double murderer Levi Bellfield.

Bethany Morris, 26, was walking her dog by the River Thames in Twickenham when she was chased by a man she described as "schizophrenic and matching Bellfield's description," and when the monster's picture was released for the first time last week she said: "There was always this thought that it might not have been him but when I saw his picture I was certain."

Ms Morris, of Twickenham Road, Isleworth, was near Orleans Park early one evening in November 2002 when the incident happened.

She said: "I walked past him and he really freaked me out.

"I turned around to see what he was doing and he started chasing me.

"It felt like he was chasing me forever. I thought he was going to catch up with me.

"I thought in the dark he was carrying something. At the time I guessed it was a small umbrella but when it came out that he was attacking people with a hammer I knew what he was really carrying.

"I have a four-year-old daughter named Jenna. I look at her and think what might have been. She wouldn't exist if I didn't survive. Lucky he didn't catch up with me."

Bethany reported the incident to police who she said failed to follow through with the investigation and each time witness appeals were launched after a woman was attacked she would contact police.

She said: "I felt guilty because police didn't believe me. If they had they would have had him on file and might have stopped the other girls being killed."

A police spokesman could not confirm or deny the attack was logged and admitted the incident may not have been treated with the required level of urgency.