PENSIONER Lucy Davies is fighting for her life today after the second catastrophe to hit her in less than two weeks.First the 76-year-old escaped an arson attack. Then a trip to the shops could have proved fatal, after the car she was travelling in was in collision with a four-wheel drive vehicle.

By Jessica Nicholls

PENSIONER Lucy Davies is fighting for her life today after the second catastrophe to hit her in less than two weeks.

First the 76-year-old escaped an arson attack. Then a trip to the shops could have proved fatal, after the car she was travelling in was in collision with a four-wheel drive vehicle in Belmont Road, Ipswich.

Today she is lying in intensive care at Ipswich Hospital, with her devastated family rallying together through this desperate time.

It is little more than a week ago that the mother of Evening Star cartoonist Jock Davies, had to flee her flat in the early hours of the morning following an arson attack.

Although terrified by the experience, Mr Davies, 51, said his mother is a fighter.

She is conscious in the intensive care ward at the Heath Road site.

He said: "She has tubes all over her and can't speak, but she is trying to write things down for us."

The accident happened at around 1pm on Friday when she was in the car with her friend Jeffrey Woolfe-Emery.

She was a passenger in a Vauxhall Cavalier which was in collision with a Toyota Landcruiser.

The accident closed Belmont Road for four hours while police cleared the scene.

Mr Davies of Heath Lane said: "We are all absolutely devastated. I have two sisters and a brother and we have large families.

"It was my daughter's 16th birthday in Truro on Saturday but I could not tell her until last night. She was so upset."

The weekend has proved to be incredibly traumatic for Mr Davies' family who have been at their mother's bedside.

Mr Davies said: "She even said goodbye to us all which was a bit much."

As a result of the accident Mrs Davies suffered six broken ribs, a punctured lung and internal bleeding.

He said that his mother had also been suffering at the hands of a man who lived in the same block of flats as her in Birkfield Drive who had been causing problems for many of the residents.

He said: "She does not handle it very well at all.

"Me and my brother went round there last week and she was just shaking like a leaf.

"That is no way to have to spend the last years of your life.

"She has not had a lot of luck in her life and to end it like this just does not seem fair."