A TEENAGER who attempted suicide two years ago after a childhood of traumas and abuse has spoken about why she is now tackling her fears head on to raise money for the NSPCC to help other abused children. Reporter Andy Woolfoot met her to find out more.

A long history of bullying, sexual abuse, drugs, and rape gradually left Hayley Clements feeling life was not worth living.

Discovering her boyfriend had been cheating on her was the final straw and the distraught 16-year-old threw herself from the roof of the Brunel Car Park in Swindon after taking handfuls of paracetomol.

Against the odds Hayley, now 18, survived. She is now determined to use her experience to help others.

Her fall left her with a fear of heights but last week she completed a charity skydive with the Silver Stars team at South Cerney in aid of the NSPCC.

Originally born in Cardiff, Hayley moved to Cricklade aged 11 with her father and step-mother and attended Bradon Forest School in Purton.

She often visited family in Spain where she was regularly exposed to violence and drug dealing and taking.

She explained: "I often felt obliged to socialise with an immediate family member, who was heavily involved in illegal drugs, regularly took part in large scale fights and thought nothing of abusing women."

Two years ago during a visit she was raped by the individual, who cannot be named for legal reasons, as she slept in her bed.

On returning to Cricklade she recovered from the ordeal thanks to the help of her boyfriend who she had been seeing for eight months.

However, she began to suspect that he was cheating on her and was horrified when she went to his house one morning to find him in bed with another woman.

She said it was the straw that broke the camels back.

"It was all too much. It wasn't that I couldn't fight it but all I could see was a life of crap like this and everything just fell apart.

"I caught a bus to Swindon, bought some paracetomol and stormed through the town centre to the car park.

"I climbed to the top, crying and eating handfuls of pills. I thought 'I've got to do this because it's never going to stop'.

"When you feel like that the future becomes so irrelevant it no longer exists.

"I changed my mind mid-fall and decided I didn't want to die."

Hayley spent six weeks in hospital recovering. She broke both collarbones and her hip, had ten breaks in her arm and suffered a collapsed lung.

She had counselling to help deal with the trauma and since then has managed to piece her life back together.

She has been working at Le Spa in Cirencester for six months and is looking forward to starting a nursing course at Bristol University in September.

"I am now at a very strong place in my life," she said. "I suffered an enormous amount of guilt in regards to my family and that will always be there to some extent. However, I am not ashamed.

"The NSPCC relies for 85 percent of its funding from fundraising to make a difference and put a stop to cruelty to children. I would hate for anyone to have suffered as I have.

She has so far raised just under £1,000. Anyone who would like to help raise Hayley's total can do so at www.justgiving.com/hayleyclements or donate directly to the NSPCC at www.nspcc.org.uk