A woman who survived a brutal sexual assault has waived her right to anonymity to help other victims.
Kimberley Evans has spoken out about the attack ahead of fundraising effort for a rape charity.
Kimberley, who this week completed the Athens marathon as part of her money raising efforts, was brutally attacked while on holiday in Turkey in 2007.
Her attacker a British man is now serving a jail sentence abroad.
The 24-year-old who grew up in Accrington was attacked in the toilets of a bar by a man who had been hiding in a cubicle.
She said: ""Before I knew what was happening, he had dragged me in, shut the door and proceeded to beat me quite badly in the head and face, a number of times.
"It was very violent – every time I screamed he hit me over the head and then assaulted me sexually.
"I had bruises all over.
"You think about rape and then think assault is not as bad but it does not really matter what part of the body – it is so invasive and painful.
"I thought I was not going to get out of there."
Security staff from the bar gave chase and caught the man who, it materialised, was a British man known to the police and on the sex offenders’ register back in the UK.
Following the incident, Kimberley and a detective superintendent from the Avon and Somerset Constabulary went to see the then Secretary of State for Justice, Jack Straw, to talk about stopping sex offenders travelling abroad.
Kimberley, who works for Cummins Mellor in Accrington, flew out with two friends to Greece to take part in the 26.2 mile Athens Marathon on Sunday, November 13.
She completed the race in a time of 4 hours 45 minutes, and hopes to raise £800 for a rape and sexual assault support centre in Surrey, where she lived for a number of years.
Kimberley, now of Blackburn, said: "I really wanted to run, it was something I took up when I was going through counselling after what happened and it has helped me to remain strong – this marathon is a personal thing.
"Running is something I took up specifically after what happened to me.
"From feeling weak emotionally you can try to make yourself strong physically and that can help your emotional level.
"It’s quite cathartic."
Kimberley said: "I’m really happy with how it went.
"It was quite emotional because when you are running you have so much time to mull over things."
Visit Kimberley’s site to make an online donation at www.mycharitypage.com/kimberley or for more information about RASASC go to www.rasasc-guildford.org.
