A mother-of-two has told how she is scared to go out at night.

But Victoria Jones, 28, is not scared of the dark, nor of unsavoury characters. She is in fact terrified of dinosaurs.

The mother of Herstmonceux has been left with the crippling fear after watching Jurassic Park as a child.

She first watched the blockbuster at age seven and has been constantly on the lookout for velociraptors ever since after seeing the harrowing kitchen scene.

She now has to plan her escape in case of an attack and refuses to leave the house alone at night.

She said: “My fear started the first time I watched the film.

“I’m seriously afraid of velociraptors and the scenes with them freaked me out so much as a kid it sparked a lifelong fear.

“I know it’s ridiculous because dinosaurs don’t exist now but I’ve tried so hard to get over it and I can’t just turn it off.”

Victoria, mum to Owain, five, and Cerys, 19 months, claims her heartbeat increases and her breathing becomes erratic at the thought of dinosaurs.

She said: “When I’m out I’m constantly planning an escape route and hiding place just in case a velociraptor rocks up.”

Despite this, she still went on to watch the other two films, which “made her worse”.

“I’m dreading the new film coming out because it’s set in a city. I’ll be worrying,” she said.

She also struggles to play with her son’s dinosaur toys and after visiting a dinosaur trail at Paradise Park in Newhaven, she got so scared of the life-like moving structures that she cried.

She added: “My friends and family think my dinosaur phobia is hilarious. No-one takes it seriously and it does make me feel really silly.

“It literally rules my life. I often wake up in the middle of the night sweating because I’ve had a nightmare about being chased by a velociraptor and having to rescue my friends and family.

“It usually ends with us all hiding in the loft.”