Sarah offered the man a place to stay for a week, then he attacked her in her sleep
A woman has told of the terrifying moment boiling sugar water was poured over her as she lay in bed after she tried to help a man in distress. Sarah Tragner, 49, was also hit around the head with a hammer.
Sarah had taken Christopher Gillham into her home in Whitstable, Kent, as h e had nowhere to stay. But he turned on her just before 5.30am on Sunday, July 27 – throwing the kettle full of sugar water on her. The dangerous blend is commonly used by prison inmates, with the mixture creating a paste that sticks to the skin, causing deep, severe and long-lasting injuries.
She believes he attacked her because he realised she wanted him to move out. Bleeding, burnt, and dazed, Sarah went outside and managed to call the emergency services.
The ordeal has left her with scars from her knee to her bottom. She also had to have her head “glued back together”.
Mum-of-one Sarah said: “I’m lucky. I’m lucky to be alive. It burned so much. I can’t explain it. I just jumped up and was thinking, what’s this? Then he threw the kettle itself at me as well. I went downstairs and was in shock. I reached for my bag and turned around, and then I felt a whack on the back of my head from a hammer.”
She added: “All I kept saying to the paramedics was that I didn’t know what had happened. I didn’t realise how much my blood was down the back of my T-shirt.”
Gillham had already left the scene when armed police and ambulance crews arrived at the house. W hile Sarah was being treated at the QEQM Hospital in Margate, her doorbell camera alerted her that he’d returned to the property. He then attacked the police officer, who had been left at the scene.
She was also taken to hospital with serious injuries. It is understood she subsequently left the force. Appearing at Woolwich Crown Court, Gillham, of Willow Road, Dartford, was sentenced to 10 years’ imprisonment for grievous bodily harm with intent. Other charges, including assault causing actual bodily harm and criminal damage, were dealt with at the same hearing but did not increase the overall sentence.
Two criminal damage charges and an allegation of escaping from lawful custody attracted no additional penalty. The court also imposed a 15-year restraining order. Sarah explained how she’d initially met Gillham on Facebook, where he claimed he was struggling and in need of a place to stay.
She had just lost her mum and split from her partner, and said she wanted to be able to help someone. “We’ve all been struggling before, and I’ve got a spare room in my house,” she said. “There was nothing sexual in it. I thought he looked and seemed okay. It was for just a week, but I wasn’t thinking right. I’m embarrassed to admit it; he played me and he saw my vulnerability.”
What was supposed to be one week then became three. Sarah says she discovered that Gillham had gone through her personal belongings, selling her watches and taking money without her knowing. She added: “He had kept himself to himself. I was at a stage where any company was good company, regardless. I didn’t think anything of it until my sister came around and told me that he was really odd. He was very manipulative.”
Sarah says that she has struggled with mental health issues since the attack and her life has been on hold. “It’s awful when you have to sit and listen to it in court,” she said. “It just plays on my mind every single day. I’ve had to wait so long. No daughter should have to watch her mum be bandaged up from burns. If he comes out, he will kill someone. He’s just got that mentality.”