Like Allison DuBois, the real-life psychic Patricia Arquette’s character is based on in the hit TV show Medium, Britain’s top psychic Sharon Neill has helped out with numerous police investigations (approximately 70 cases to date). But unlike DuBois, Neill’s abilities aren’t a second sight, they’re the only source of vision for the medium who lost her sight shortly after birth. Irish born Neill, who’s been communicating with the other world since she was six, helped with her first police case while at college in Reigate, England in 1983.
While listening to a news broadcast about a 4-year old missing child named Marie Payne, Neill had a vision. “A flash of silver, trees, a feeling of fear. Suddenly, I realized what was happening,” explains Neill in the bio on her website. “Dead relatives of the missing girl, Marie, were telling me she'd been abducted, giving me the information that could save her.”
Worried that she wouldn’t be believed, at the insistence of a friend, Neill called Scotland Yard anyway. “I told the woman on the end of the phone all I'd 'seen'. A silver car, driving into Epping Forest, a small building in the woods, a terrified girl being dragged,” recalls Neill. “A few days later, I was called in to see the head of my year at college. Two detectives wanted to talk to me about my phone call. They took me down the police station because I'd given them information that hadn't been released to the public.”
Sadly, despite giving the police an accurate description of where Marie was being held and the person who was holding her, as well as his initials C.E., the toddler wasn't found in time. A lorry driver called Colin Evans was subsequently convicted of abducting, assaulting and murdering Marie. “Her death disturbed me. I couldn't sleep, couldn't eat,” say Neill. “What was the point of giving me that information if I hadn't been able to help her?”
After that the police started calling Neill for help with their most hopeless of cases, and the psychic, who trained as a counselor, has since had the opportunity to help many victims of crime and their families. “The toughest thing is having to go through the pain murder victims have endured,” says Neill. “Sometimes that's the only way to unlock the truth. I've known what it's like to be abducted, raped, stabbed, shot, killed. It's terrible to experience, but often they come back and thank me for helping them and their families find peace. That's why I use my gift. I want to help people know that their loved ones are still there.”
Second Sight is available to U.S. readers via Amazon.co.uk
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