Suzette Marshall spent Mother's Day in shock after a rock was hurled through her car windscreen as she drove home.

The 34-year-old mum, of Durrington Lane, Worthing, had to swerve to the side of the road, unable to see through the shattered screen, and it was only luck that stopped her from crashing. Mrs Marshall, still shaken by the ordeal today, said: "A boy came towards me and threw a stone hard, like a cricket ball. "I thought this is it, I'm dead'. I put my hand up to my face and the windscreen shattered. "I couldn't see a thing through the screen but I somehow managed to get between two parked cars at the side of the road." The mother-of-two was driving home from work at St Barnabas Hospice and a nursing home when she spotted a group of youngsters in The Boulevard, near Durrington High School. She said: "There are always kids around at that time so, luckily, I was driving quite slowly." Then, suddenly, one boy hurled the stone straight at her. Mrs Marshall said: "I ran after the youngsters but they disappeared. "It was really dangerous. I could have had a baby or children with me, and if it had been an elderly person they may not have been able to control the car or get it to the side of the road." Mrs Marshall said excess insurance costs for repairs to her Nissan Micra would have to be paid from two extra shifts she worked last week. She added: "I'm so angry and shaken up. I spent Mother's Day cleaning glass out of my car." Sgt Simon Hills said: "The possible consequences of someone throwing stones at moving traffic are too terrible to contemplate." The group of around five 13-year-olds had left a vital clue - a detention note with a name on it. Police are now investigating. The attack was the latest incident in a string of stone-throwing assaults by children around the county, usually from road bridges.

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