A CAR-JACKING victim has told how her life was consumed by fear after her terrifying ordeal.

The mother was held at knifepoint after a stranger got into her car as she drove home from Tesco, in Grove Green, Maidstone.

In a statement read at Maidstone Crown Court she said she was scared to answer her front door for a month and could no longer go out alone without fear.

“I now trust absolutely no one,” she said.

The incident happened as the victim, from West Mall-ing, drove from Tesco petrol station on October 7 last year.

The court heard Shaun Selwood, of The Spinney, Maidstone, stood in front of the car with his hands up in Grovewood Road. The victim stopped, and he jumped into the passenger seat.

Andrew Jones, prosecuting, said Selwood ordered her to “drive down the road, or you will get stabbed with a knife”.

But the victim spotted a police car and was saved after she screamed and repeatedly sounded her car’s horn to get the officers’ attention.

She succeeded, and Selwood fled before police could reach the car.

However, one officer recognised the 35-year-old who had committed 66 previous offences, including robbery, violence and burglary, Mr Jones said.

Selwood admitted kidnapping. Peter Forbes, defending, said it was a serious matter and described it as “a bizarre and unexplained incident against a background of alcohol abuse”.

Mr Forbes requested an eight-week adjournment before a sentence is passed so Selwood could deal with his chronic drink problem and avoid custody.

Judge Michael Lawson, QC, agreed to an adjournment until May 11, and granted conditional bail, after telling Selwood: “I have no doubt if considering this case alone, you would go straight to prison.”