A woman who was repeatedly punched as she jogged through a park has faced her fears by continuing to exercise near the scene of the attack.

Sharon Nunn, 56, suffered a black eye and bruises on her head and neck after she was pushed to the floor in the brutal attack in Northlands Park, Basildon, last month.

While she was running at 5am with her headphones on, listening to music, she sensed someone was behind her and turned to see a man in a hoody, dressed all in grey.

He pushed her to the ground and she hit her head on the pavement, before he punched her in the back of her head at least six or seven times.

Since the assault, Mrs Nunn was determined her attacker will not get the better of her and has carried on jogging, choosing different routes.

She has now taken the big step of returning to the park for her first run there since the attack, by joining in with the organised Basildon park run.

The civil servant, who lives off Tenterfields, in Basildon, said: “I must admit that my tummy started flipping as I walked through the gates, but I just had to get over that mental barrier.

“The park run organisers even arranged for me to get a taxi to the park, so I knew I had to do it.

“It was a really big milestone for me to get back there.

“Because I have got a bad knee, I only did two laps, which is about 3k. Everybody was really supportive and lots of people have offered to buddy up with me.

“I spoke to chief constable Stephen Kavanagh and I told him I couldn’t praise the police enough, they have been really helpful. The community police officers were there at the run giving a talk and they even came running with me.”

PCSO Julie Joyce, based at Pitsea police station, added: “We want people to understand that you can go running in the park but you have just got to be aware of your personal safety.

“We have been to the run and given out alarms to people and we had a safety briefing beforehand.”

Mrs Nunn’s attacker is still at large. Anyone with information can contact police on 101.