A nurse who desperately tried to save the life of a mother who killed herself in a supermarket has told how the tragedy continues to haunt her.

Beata Borejko was shopping in Asda in Shipley when she saw Sobia Yousef take a knife from a shelf and push it into her throat.

Mrs Borejko rushed to help the 36-year-old but, such was the severity of the wound, she was unable to save her life and Mrs Yousef died in her arms.

“I saw everything, absolutely everything, from the time when she took that knife from the package and stabbed herself in the neck,” she said.

“What I saw was the worst hour of my life. When I close my eyes I see this woman. I see her bleeding.”

The mother, who works at The Glen Nursing Home in Baildon, said her instinct was to try to save the woman’s life.

“Like a nurse, or doctor, or anybody who knows about first aid, I acted quickly. I just did what I would do for anybody else,” she said.

Mrs Borejko said staff tried to stem the bleeding using blue tissue and she also went to help. Shoppers were screaming when they saw what had happened and the store was quickly cleared.

“I asked the manager to bring some towels and I tried to push some towels on her neck. But she died in my hands,” said Mrs Borejko.

Initial witness reports suggested Mrs Yousef had entered the store with a Polish woman, possibly a carer, who had left her alone before the tragedy happened at about 8.30am on Tuesday.

But Mrs Borejko did not know her and was not shopping with her.

She had just finished her first shift of a new job and had been given a lift to Shipley where she intended to shop before returning to her Bingley home. “I had just got some bread and then I walked to get food for my cat and I saw this lady from the back. She took the knife from the packaging and she cut her neck,” Mrs Borejko said.

Mrs Yousef collapsed and Mrs Borejko and staff tried to save her.

“Afterwards I was just in shock. Now I know what I did. I just tried to help somebody and now every place I look I see this lady. I see how she was in every room in my house and I can’t sleep,” she said.

Mrs Borejko saw her GP on Wednesday to ask for help dealing with the trauma, but was told she could be waiting several weeks for a referral appointment.

It was suggested that Asda might be able to help with counselling.

A spokesman for the store said: “Mrs Borejko witnessed a terrible incident in our store on Tuesday. We have been in touch over the past couple of days to offer her our support and she has the contact details of one of our senior customer relations specialists to contact if she needs anything further.”

Three years ago Mrs Borejko also tried to save the life of an elderly woman who collapsed and died from a heart attack in the same store.