Attacker 'feared the monster inside him.

Byline: By JOHN BINGHAM 

THE man who tried to kill Abigail Witchalls admitted he feared there was "a monster" inside him shortly before he committed suicide.

Drug abuser Richard Cazaly, 23, was named yesterday by police as the man they believe stabbed the young mother in a lane in the village of Little Bookham, Surrey, in April.

Drifter Cazaly never fully confessed to that attack which shocked Britain but police yesterday set out a catalogue of evidence against him as the Crown Prosecution Service gave detectives the green light to close the case.

Cazaly drove to Scotland and killed himself days after the attack which happened just a short walk from his front door in Little Bookham.

Police have no DNA evidence linking Cazaly to the scene of the attack. But tracker dogs, on two occasions, followed his scent from the scene.

Surrey police said yesterday they now know that Cazaly had been a long time abuser of a cocktail of drugs and had drunk a bottle of vodka in the woods where Abigail wasattacked that day. Abigail, who was pregnant at the time of the attack, was found slumped in a lane after being stabbed in the back of the neck with her son Joseph by her side.

Such were the fears for her survival that the last rites were administered to the devout Catholic.

Although severely disabled with a spine injury, Abigail has since recovered some feeling and last week left hospital for the second time - following the birth of her second son Dominic.

While Cazaly was not picked out by Abigail in a bedside photo identity parade, his car was singled out inphotographs. Six weeks after the attack a specially-trained dog picked up his scent near to the scene of the attack and followed it directly to the spot where Cazaly had left his car that afternoon.

Surrey police's assistant chief constable, Mark Rowley, told reporters: "The most likely explanation for this exceptional behaviour is that he became psychotic and violent as a result of this long term abuse of a cocktail of drugs together with the alcohol he was known to have consumed that day

CAPTION(S):

Police have named drug abuser Richard Cazaly as the man they believe stabbed Abigail Witchalls; Abigail Witchalls with husband Benoit and sons Joseph and Dominic