By Nicole Martin
(Filed: 08/10/2005)
An accountant whose bra saved her life when she was shot in the chest described yesterday how she looked down at the blood on her clothes and thought she was going to die.
Helen Kelly, 24, was outside an exhibition centre in the City of London in the early hours of the morning when a gun battle broke out between rival gangs who had attended the Urban Music Awards ceremony.
One of the 18 bullets fired
She collapsed to the ground after being struck in the crossfire, but escaped serious injury because the bullet hit the underwire of her bra and was deflected away from her chest and through her right breast.
She recalled yesterday how she and a friend, who had also attended the event last November at the Barbican Centre, started to run to safety after hearing gunshots.
"I did not really believe they were gunshots but I suddenly saw my friend running. I started to follow her and it was not until we got to the other side of a wall that I realised I had been hit," said Miss Kelly.
"I didn't think I had been shot. I thought I had been hit by a ricochet, a bit of wood or something. It didn't hurt very much. We carried on running and a girl in front of us was shouting, 'She's been shot'.
"That's when I realised I might have been shot. There was a lot of blood on my stomach, but I didn't know where it was coming from. I could see where the bullet had gone in but not where it came out."
Miss Kelly, in an interview with the London Evening Standard, added: "Then things started going through my mind. I sat down and thought, 'Well, this is it. I have done all my washing so my mum won't have to go through all my dirty clothes when I'm dead.' "
Miss Kelly, who was taken to the Royal London Hospital to have the bullet removed, recalled the incident as the gunman, Linton Ambursley, 29, of Lewisham, south London, was jailed for 12 years. He pleaded guilty to wounding with intent and firearms charges. His accomplice, Tyrone Headley, 28, of New Cross, south London, was jailed for two years after admitting assisting an offender.
The jury heard that Ambursley accidentally shot Miss Kelly as he exchanged fire with a gang he had argued with in the VIP area of the ceremony. Ambursley left the scene, but was stopped by police because Headley had forgotten to turn on the lights of the car he was driving.
Ben Gumpert, prosecuting, told the court that Miss Kelly had been left emotionally scarred by the event.
"She speaks of her fear while she was having hospital treatment and she speaks of her emotional instability," he said. "She is more aware of people in the street and has a feeling of unsafeness. Ordinary things make her feel angry and frustrated."
Sentencing Ambursley, Judge Richard Hone, QC, said: "You did in fact go out with a gun and a magazine with at least four bullets in it to the Barbican Centre, contemplating that there might be trouble which required the use of that gun.
"These were reckless actions which left your victim with a bullet in her chest which required surgery. She was entirely innocent of anything. This was truly terrifying to members of the public. It is only through great good fortune that it didn't result in a murder charge."
Speaking outside court, Det Chief Insp Robert Wishart said: "These two gangs displayed utter disregard for the safety of the public and themselves.
"They came up to the City of London carrying firearms with the obvious intention to cause harm to each other. It is miraculous that no other people were hurt."
© Copyright of Telegraph Group Limited 2005.
