Edward McArthur is behind bars after admitting dousing his girlfriend in petrol, setting fire to her, and leaving her trapped inside a burning flat. Hannah Bryan spoke to Rebecca Major about the attack and how it has changed her life forever

THE stench of petrol filled her nostrils. With her eyes stinging and skin burning, Rebecca Major pleaded with her boyfriend to stop pouring the caustic liquid over her body.

But as his petrified partner bent over the bath in a desperate attempt to wash away the fuel, Edward McArthur continued to pour.

“It’s burning my eyes, Eddie,” she cried as it dripped down her back, also scalding her arms, legs and sides.

Then it hit her – the heat. Scorching and suffocating, the roaring flames quickly engulfed the first floor flat she shared with her boyfriend, blocking the staircase and her only escape route.

“Eddie, I’m burning, I’m on fire, let me out,” she screamed, but he ignored her cries.

Terrified and fearing she was about to be burned alive, she soaked a towel in water to shield her eyes, before finding her way through the thick smoke to the living room where she smashed the upstairs window with a coffee table.

Without thinking, she flung herself to safety through the window and onto a ledge, fracturing her skull and breaking her sternum as she rolled onto the concrete below.

Still conscious, Rebecca was carried to safety by a caring neighbour, who cradled her burned and battered body until ambulance crews arrived.

“He has done this to me - my partner,” she told the crew, before being slipped into an induced coma.

Rebecca met McArthur in the spring of 2013. Having recently moved to Darlington, the 32-year-old knew nobody in the town, and he quickly picked up on her vulnerable and trusting nature.

The couple struck up a relationship and 40-year-old McArthur found them somewhere to live.

“He was brilliant at first. He looked after me, he would go to the shops for me and he always made sure I had enough of everything,” said Rebecca.

But their romance soon turned sour, and McArthur became more controlling, telling her she would never have another man.

“He knew I was vulnerable. He went from doing everything for me to leaving me at home with no money and staying out at night,” she said.

“He was always chatting other women up. He always left me in the house on summer days promising to be back in an hour or so, but then not coming back.

“We were arguing quite frequently before, normally every night.”

Although he had never previously laid a finger on her, Rebecca said her boyfriend began to intimidate her and "rough her about".

About four days before the fateful day, the intimidation took a sinister turn when McArthur returned to the flat in Darlington’s Geneva Road with an axe and some petrol.

He said he had found them in the street, and that the petrol could be used for a bonfire.

“But it wasn’t,” said Rebecca. “I was going to be the bonfire.”

Reliving the day of the fire, which took place on August 4 last year, Rebecca said it was a normal summer’s day. She had spent the afternoon drinking with friends by the river in Darlington before returning to the flat later on.

For reasons unknown to Rebecca, the couple began arguing, with McArthur calling her a "silly little bitch" and telling her he was going to teach her a lesson.

The fire gutted the flat and shop below, leaving Rebecca with 40 per cent burns on her arms, legs, back and sides.

She spent three weeks in intensive care at the Royal Victoria Infirmary (RVI), in Newcastle, before being transferred to the burns unit where she underwent excruciating skin grafts.

Recalling the first time she saw her daughter in hospital, her mother, Lorraine McClaren, said: “Just walking in that room I could smell the burnt skin.

“The nurses said that is normal, but it isn’t normal for any mum to see that.”

Despite having been released from hospital, Rebecca is still suffering from serious health issues – both physically and mentally – and will continue to do so for the next few years.

“He has ruined my life forever. I was always very thin and wore nice clothes. Now I just feel horrible,” she said.

“I don’t think I will trust a man ever again. It is all because of that idiot. He might do his seven-and-a-half years but I have got it for the rest of my life. It isn’t very fair, is it?”

“The amount of medication I am on is unreal. I have anxiety, I do not like going out on my own - I have just been a recluse," she added.

“It took four months to walk properly. I scuttle now – I like to be in and out.

“I am on tablets, I have flashbacks and I am on sleeping tablets. I have Post Traumatic Stress Disorder and my memory is bad. I forget where I live now.”

Rebecca watched from the public gallery at Teesside Crown Court as McArthur was jailed for 15 years and nine months after pleading guilty to grievous bodily harm with intent and arson with intent to endanger life.

His barrister, Tom Mitchell, said McArthur was immediately “seized by the horror of what he had done,” and would do no harm to anyone upon his release.

With support from her mother, police officers and nurses at the RVI, Rebecca has begun piecing her life back together, despite having her personal injury claim rejected, and hopes to raise awareness of domestic violence.

“I do not want anybody or any other family to go through this," she said.

“The police and [Detective Constable] Mick Trodden have done an amazing job. He has become part of the family. The doctors and nurses at the RVI have been so supportive. My mum has also been a massive support.

“I didn’t know what I had done, I hadn’t done anything to deserve that.

“I will never know why he did it.”