A young doctor who was stabbed 11 times and doused in petrol by an ex-boyfriend she met on Tinder is now married after finding love again.
Angela Jay’s former partner Paul Lambert left her for dead after breaking into her Port Macquarie home in November 2016 and hiding in a cupboard until she returned from work.
The pair had met three months earlier, but Lambert flew into a jealous rage after the then-28-year-old tried to end the relationship after six weeks.
Dr Angela Jay pictured with her husband Dr Ben Hardy (right and left together). The pair tied the knot earlier this month, five years after she was nearly killed by her ex-Tinder date Paul Lambert
Lambert, 36, was later shot dead by police on the Pacific Highway, about 140km north at Bonville, following a high speed chase and stand-off.
Dr Jay has since found love again with another doctor.
The obstetrician-gynecologist is now married to Dr Ben Hardy, 32, after tying the knot in an idyllic ceremony in Newcastle earlier this month.
The domestic violence survivor said she never properly got back into dating after her near-death experience and ended up meeting Dr Hardy by chance at work.
‘You find love when you don’t look for it,’ she told 7Lifestyle.
‘[My husband] is so supportive of me achieving any of my wildest dreams… he just makes me feel really safe.
‘Having that person who is always cheering you on has really helped with my recovery and also continuing on with my career goals.’
Dr Angela Jay has started rebuilding her life, five years after she was left for dead by a former boyfriend
Dr Jay is an advocate for domestic violence victims and has called on dating apps to check their users’ history for violent offences. Pictured is a photo she shared online of the scars she bears from the attack
She said she had opened up to her husband about her harrowing experience and told him about the small things that trigger her post-traumatic stress disorder.
Dr Jay has also become an outspoken advocate for domestic violence victims and campaigns for dating apps to check their users’ history for violent offences before allowing them to open an account.
She has previously told how she had no idea her attacker was the subject of 10 apprehended violence order from five different women until she tried to end the relationship.
Dr Jay is on a mission calling on dating apps to check its users’ history for violent offences
Paul Lambert (pictured) stabbed Dr Angela Jay 11 times and doused her in petrol in a horrific attack
He had been kicked out of the US 18 months prior to the attack for stalking another woman.
Lambert – then going by his birth name Paul Michael Scales – was arrested in Orlando, Florida, on May 11, 2015, for breaching a restraining order against another woman he was obsessed with.
He was also on parole for assaulting a woman in Queensland at the time.
Dr Jay has found love with a fellow doctor (pictured) and they married earlier this month in an idyllic ceremony
After the attack that almost claimed her life, Dr Jay became the target of victim blame for going onto Tinder to find love.
‘Most women are raised to be fearful- that they have a big role in maintaining their own personal safety,’ she told the magazine.
‘But when talking about preventing violence, we need to shift the focus from the victim to the perpetrator.’
Dr Jay still carries the physical scars from the horrifying attack that almost claimed her life
In September 2017, Dr Jay told Daily Mail Australia she can’t look at photos of the man who hurt her, and is left shaken if she comes into contact with men who look like him.
All it takes is a man to walk past her on the street wearing her attacker’s cologne to bring on a crippling attack of PTSD.
‘Even though my attacker is no longer here, the memory of him and what he did terrifies me every day,’ Dr Jay said.
‘I think the recovery of any major trauma takes time – I am coming to terms with the fact that I will never be the same person I was before.
‘I think about the attack every day – sometimes it is brief, sometimes it’s not.’
‘And of course I have the scars – every time I see them it brings me back. One of the scars on my arm is very painful and uncomfortable when touched, which also brings me back.’