Jade Goody confronted in hospital by hammer-wielding woman

Terminally-ill reality TV star Jade Goody was confronted yesterday by a woman armed with a hammer.

Her spokesman Max Clifford said the star's husband Jack Tweed had left her for a few moments when the intruder walked into her room at the Royal Marsden Hospital in London.

He said: "Jack had been with her for a few hours and had gone to get a cup of tea in the canteen when this happened.

"She woke up to find this woman leaning over her.

"She was not hurt but was very shaken up as you can imagine."

A spokesman for the Metropolitan Police said: "We can confirm that police were called to the Royal Marsden Hospital Sunday afternoon by security to reports of an unknown woman being in a patient's room.

"Officers attended and a 41-year-old woman was searched and found in possession of a hammer and was arrested for possession of an offensive weapon and taken into custody at a west London police station where she remains in custody."

The woman was later released from custody and police said there would be no further action.

Mr Clifford said security had been stepped up around Jade's room.

A spokesman for the Royal Marsden NHS Foundation Trust declined to comment.

Mr Tweed spent several hours with Goody today.

Max Clifford said: "She has spent most of the day asleep.

"Jack has been to see her and stayed for a few hours but no-one else visited today."

Goody was resting today after Saturday's emotional christening ceremony at the hospital.

Her two sons Bobby, five, and Freddy, four, were also christened with their mother during what Mr Clifford described as a "very short and emotional service".

He said completing the ceremony and getting married to Tweed meant the 27-year-old had done all she wanted to before she dies.

He said: "What she said to me was 'everything is in place now'."

Goody, who has been told she has only weeks to live, was diagnosed with cervical cancer in August last year.

Today, a charity campaigner said her struggle with the disease has highlighted the importance of lowering the cancer smear test age.

Robert Music, director of Jo's Trust, said a petition calling for the test age to be reduced from 25 to 18 would be handed in to Downing Street this month.

He said: "Jade's case has highlighted the issue quite significantly both in terms of her age and the importance of being tested."

The petition, which has been signed by 15,000 people, was organised by the family of Claire Walker who died of cervical cancer aged 23.

Bob and Lynn Walker believe their daughter, from Washington in Tyne and Wear, could have been saved by early access to a test.

The family, backed by Jo's Trust, will hand over their petition at 4pm on Wednesday 18 March.

At the moment cervical cancer screening starts at 25 in England, compared to 20 in Scotland and Wales.

Cervical cancer is the second most common cancer in women under 35 after breast cancer, but the vast majority of cases still occur in older women.

Around 3,000 women are diagnosed with the disease each year in the UK and the prognosis is good if it is caught early.

In addition, around 24,000 women receive smear test results each year showing severely abnormal changes to the cells of their cervix, indicating the likelihood of cancer in the future unless treatment is given.

According to reports, demand for smears is up by a fifth in some areas since Goody was diagnosed.

Goody has been determined to raise as much money as possible for her young sons through media deals in her final months.

Mr Clifford said photographs taken of the service would be published in OK! magazine at a later date.

"Obviously the money from this will go to her boys and that is what she's always wanted," he said.

He added he thought it unlikely she would leave the hospital.

"Speaking for myself, I'm no medical expert but I doubt she will leave," he said outside the hospital.

"This is the best place for her; last week she was in a great deal of pain and nobody wants her to be like that again."

He said it was unclear how long Goody would survive.

"It's not something you can predict. Everyone is different."

This article is from The Belfast Telegraph