A shop assistant wrongly identified as Maxine Carr has revealed: "I'm being driven to the brink of suicide."

Karen Meek, 31, originally from Brighton and now living in Ireland, is so terrified of being attacked by vigilantes she refuses to go out and needs tranquilisers to sleep.

Her nightmare began three weeks ago when CID officers warned her someone in Coleraine, Co Londonderry, where she now lives, was claiming she was Carr, the ex-girlfriend of Soham child-killer Ian Huntley.

Carr, 28, a former classroom assistant, has been living in secret since her prison release.

Rumours swept Coleraine she had moved there under a new identity.

Mrs Meek has gone public to show she bears no resemblance to Carr, who lied to protect Huntley after he murdered Holly Wells and Jessica Chapman in Soham, Cambridgeshire in 2002.

She said: "The only thing similar between me and her is our accent - we're both English.

"Other than that there's nothing. I'm blonde, she's dark.

I'm three years older and a much bigger build.

"From what I could see on TV she looked tiny. I'm a size 18 for goodness sake."

Mrs Meek moved from Brighton to Edinburgh before moving her family to Northern Ireland in May last year. Her husband had decided to base his new catering business there.

She got a job with a department store and her colleagues started gossiping that Carr was working at another branch.

She said: "We were laughing and joking about it but then these police officers were telling me someone in Coleraine believed me to be her.

"Three days later my husband's van was damaged.

Whether it was linked or not was irrelevant. I decided I wasn't staying. I moved to a friend's house because Coleraine was unbearable. I only came back a couple of days ago but the doors have been kept locked and blinds all shut. I've not been sleeping or eating, I won't answer the phone or door.

I've not been to work, I'm just walking around in a daze."

Her anxiety was compounded by a strange car she spotted on several occasions outside her home. The registration was passed to police.

She said: "I'm just scared that one night I might be lying in my bed and somebody throws something through the window.

"It's got so bad that I was on the verge of topping myself."

Carr was freed in May 2004 after serving 21 months for conspiring to pervert the course of justice.

A Police Service of Northern Ireland spokesman refused to comment on any security warnings given to Mrs Meek.

He stressed court orders banned the publication of any information relating to Carr's whereabouts.

Mrs Meek's MP Gregory Campbell appealed for her to be allowed to get her life back. He said: "Her life and the lives of her family have been changed utterly.

"Telephone calls and personal callers at her home are now viewed by her as potentially people seeking revenge on the wrong person."