Jenkins faced 'terrifying' attack

Katherine Jenkins said she was punched and thrown against a wall

Welsh singing star Katherine Jenkins has spoken about a "terrifying" ordeal when she was attacked as a student.

The 29-year-old mezzo-soprano said she was punched as she struggled to escape the man who police believed wanted to rape her, she said.

The attack was in west London when the singer, who is from Neath, became separated from friends on a night out.

In an interview on ITV1 with Piers Morgan, she said: "I wanted to kill him, I was so angry about it."

Jenkins, whose repertoire features arias, hymns and classical crossover tracks, said she had been walking across a bridge in Paddington when she was attacked.

"As I crossed this sort of gangway which went down to the station I felt suddenly someone too close to me and he, within seconds, was in front of me trying to drag me down this gangway and the police believe that he was trying to rape me," she told Morgan.

I just thought 'Right, he is actually going to try and rape me' so if I can get in a ball on the floor... then he won't be able to do it Katherine Jenkins

"I remember my purse was there, so I knew he wasn't just trying to mug me 'cos he could have just snatched my purse."

She then ran across a road but was punched by the attacker and slammed into a wooden wall.

"I just thought 'Right, he is actually going to try and rape me' so if I can get in a ball on the floor... then he won't be able to do it," she said.

"So I did that and he kicked me a few times and tried to get me to open up, and that didn't work ... and then eventually he just looked at me and I just said 'What do you want?'

"And he said 'Well, just give me your purse then,' so I gave him my purse, which didn't have much money in it because I was a student, and he ran to the end of the road and then stopped and looked back at me and laughed."

Jenkins said he was never caught and she "still looks over my shoulder even now".

She also broke down on the show when talking about the death when she was 15 of her father Selwyn, who had lung cancer.

Her new album Believe will be released on Monday.

The interview is on Piers Morgan's Life Stories: Katherine Jenkins on ITV1 on Saturday at 2200 BST.