A WOMAN cleared of trying to kill her teenage boyfriend by running him over has spoken of the strain of the court case.

Lesley O’Rourke, 31, of Grain, near Rochester, says the past seven months had been a nightmare and only the support of close friends and family had saved her.

Last Friday an Old Bailey jury cleared O’Rourke of the attempted murder of 19-year-old Tim Taylor. She was also cleared of two counts of attempting to inflict either grievous or actual bodily harm.

She could still be jailed after being convicted of two counts of dangerous driving.

Speaking to the Medway Today newspaper, O’Rourke, who has a degree in archaeology, said: “I always knew I would be done for dangerous driving and I accept that, but not attempted murder or grievous bodily harm."

Although Mr Taylor claims he ended the volatile relationship, O’Rourke, is adamant it was her doing. She said that throughout her ordeal she had had the backing of her employers, colleagues and family. She stressed: “If it wasn’t for them, I wouldn’t have survived.”

O’Rourke said she never dreamed she would be acquitted of the more serious charges and the day before the verdict, she spent hours writing letters to loved ones and packing her belongings.

She revealed: "That day, I thought I was going down. I wrote some letters to friends and family saying how sorry I was because I honestly thought I wasn’t going home.

“First the verdicts for the driving offences were read out and I expected the guilty verdicts, but then when I heard ‘not guilty’ for the attempted murder and GBH, every part of me went into shock.”

O’Rourke is due to be sentenced in September.