The teenage victim of knife maniac Ian Haywood hopes to use her terrifying experience to help victims of similar brutal attacks.

The 18-year-old, who has anonymity as a victim of a sex attack, said she was trying to rebuild her life after the frenzied assault, which has left her scarred for life.

She said: "It feels like a dream and I still haven't woken up. I still get flashbacks. I am trying to find a normal way. It's just so hard to pick up and carry on.

"If I am walking along and I can hear someone behind it still scares me, so I start to walk faster. If someone suddenly walks out in front I just collapse.

"It's really hard because even the trial doesn't seem real. It's like my body works but my head isn't functioning. I call it an attack. I can't believe it was attempted murder. I cried when I was in court and I thought I just can't deal with it.

"Now I want to help other victims so I would like to get involved with the police or support groups."

Haywood, 37, of Willow Way, Hurstpierpoint, was given five life sentences for the horrific attack on the girl and her 19-year-old boyfriend at Ditchling Common in January last year.

She needed 143 stitches after being stabbed in the face, neck and hands 35 times while her boyfriend was locked in the boot of their car.

Haywood was convicted of attempted murder, attempted rape, false imprisonment and two offences of attempted robbery at London's Old Bailey.

Judge Graham Boal said Haywood was such an obvious danger to the public he should never be released.

The victim, who was 17 at the time of the attack, said: "I wanted to say thank you to the Princess Royal Hospital because the staff helped me a lot through the attack, as well as all the police officers involved."

The teenager has given up college since the attack and now works full-time.

She said her colleagues had been fantastic and the ordeal had made her realise who her real friends were.

She said: "The most support I got was from my brother, my mum and my dad. They were with me all the time. They had to cut my food and help me go to the toilet.

"I couldn't make my own drink or hold the kettle. I couldn't hold my knife and fork properly and I used to get so angry."

Her father said: "She was very close to her brother before the attack and now they are inseparable. He has been like a guardian angel.

"She took a lot of comfort in eating for a while. She would curl up in the chair and just watch television. That was her own safe world."

The girl spent weeks with her hands bandaged and had two operations to repair the tendons.

Luckily, when she was taken to hospital a plastic surgeon who was not meant to be on duty had swapped a shift.

He and another surgeon worked on her hands for five hours. She is due to have a third operation, which she hopes will be the last.

The physical injuries have healed but the mental ones are taking a lot longer to erase and the teenager is gradually working through the horror of the attack.

She said she thought Haywood's wife Ann, 37, had been very courageous giving evidence against him and it had helped to talk to Alexandra Johnston, the sister of Karena Bigg-Wither who Haywood hacked to death with a machete in 1984.

The girl, who still suffers from panic attacks and is having counselling, had to give evidence in front of Haywood and said it was difficult to comprehend the man sitting impassively in the dock had tried to kill her.

She said: "Mum said just focus on answering your questions but then it went quiet and I was just staring at him.

"I am glad there was a screen where my legs were because they were just twitching and shaking.

"When he was in court it was like he was human, a real person. It was really weird.

"When it was over, it was a relief and I thought what do I do now?

"Now I do feel a bit ashamed. After the attack I went out and bought roll- neck tops because I look at my hands and I think everyone else is going to see what I see but they don't."

Her mother said: "Our family has been ripped apart. We were watching our daughter struggling to come to terms with it. From the moment we walked into court his face didn't change once. That's not normal."

Her father said: "We were a typical family who kept fairly private and someone just walked in and violated it all because the Government lets that thing back on the street.

"He duped the system. Looking at him as Joe Public at the trial he was smartly dressed. He was believable. But he was cold and callous and we could see that."