IT WAS the harrowing night he could have died.

Olympic hero Pete Waterfield has recalled the terrifying moment he was hit by a car and thrown 20 yards along the road after being violently pushed into its path.

The former diver revealed how the incident, which left him with head injuries and a permanent scar, continues to haunt him to this day.

“I constantly think how much worse it could have been and I may have been killed and how my wife would have had to tell my kids the news – and how they would have taken it,” he told the Daily Echo.

Today Jamie Campbell is behind bars for the unprovoked attack outside a Southampton takeaway. He was jailed for a year after admitting assault occasioning actual bodily harm.

Pete, an Olympic silver-medallist and father-of-two, revealed he is still suffering the after-effects eight months on and had not gone for an evening out in the city centre since.

“I just relive it all the time,” he said. “I should be dead at the end of the day, I don’t know how I have lived.”

Southampton Crown Court heard how Pete was in a kebab shop called Zorbas in Bedford Place, Southampton, with his wife, his sister-in-law and her partner when Campbell and his friends arrived in the early hours of May 31.

The court was told Campbell made a comment to Pete’s sister-in-law so he tried to calm the situation and said to Campbell: “You have got your food, don’t worry about her, just go outside.”

“He [Pete] didn’t have any intention to fight anyone, but it would seem seem Mr Campbell took this as an offer to fight,” said Jodie Mittell, prosecuting.

Campbell followed Pete outside and the former diver described how he was then pushed in the back “with much force”.

He glanced off a parked car and was hit on his head and body and “hurled into the air” by another vehicle, shattering its windscreen.

Campbell, 22, of Cranbury Place, Southampton, left the scene.

Ms Mittell said there was no suggestion Campbell had intended to push Pete into the car’s path.

Pete sustained cuts and bruising to his side, hip and arm and head injuries and was taken by ambulance to Southampton General Hospital.

Daily Echo:

PICTURED: The scene of the attack on Bedford Place, Southampton

He returned later suffering with pain and headaches, sparking concern he could have bleeding in his skull, but this proved not to be the case.

The 34-year-old, of Millbrook, who now visits schools to inspire youngsters, had to take two weeks off work.

He had physiotherapy but was still suffering with headaches and memory loss a month later and has three permanent scars on his head, the court heard.

In a statement read out the court, Pete said: “This incident has changed me and my outlook on life.

“I constantly think how much worse it could have been and I may have been killed and how my wife would have had to tell my kids the news and how they would have taken it.”

The statement added that he felt uncomfortable standing in queues and had to keep checking who was behind him in crowds.

Daily Echo:

Campbell, pictured above, who had been drinking, initially told police he acted in self-defence, but later admitted causing actual bodily harm.

The court heard Campbell had been out on licence at the time following a prison sentence in 2013 for attempted robbery, wounding with intent and possession of a bladed article.

Chris Gaiger, defending, said Campbell regretted what had happened and was glad it not been more serious.

Pete, who won a silver medal in the men’s synchronised 10-metre platform at 2004 Olympics in Athens, told the Daily Echo: “As I fell into the road the car hit me instantly there was nothing I could do. It obviously has affected me quite badly.”

“It could have been a whole lot worse, that’s what I think about. I had a friend who was in the road and got hit by a car in the same way and he died.

“I have got two kids and a wife and family. I was almost gone from them. My two kids are 15 and seven – having them have to go through something like that would be devastating for them.”

He said now the case was over he hoped he could move on with his life.