THE wife of John Monckton, the City financier murdered in his Chelsea home, was stabbed with such force during the attack that she suffered broken ribs and a punctured lung.

Police have described last week’s attack on Homeyra Monckton and her husband as ferocious but have not disclosed the full extent of the injuries suffered by the couple.

The Monckton family has told The Times that Mrs Monckton, 45, was so seriously wounded that only the swift action of her daughter Isobel, 9, who dialled 999 to summon an ambulance, saved her life.

Viscountess Monckton of Brenchley said: “She has very badly cracked, very painful ribs. But for her daughter she would be dead too.”

Isobel and her sister Sabrina, 12, who are being cared for by their godparents, have been to St Thomas’ Hospital, London, daily to visit their mother.

Mrs Monckton has also had family visitors and visits from Roman Catholic clergy including Bishop Alan Hopes, an auxiliary bishop of Westminster and a friend of Mr Monckton.

She is also trying to help detectives to build descriptions of the two men who attacked her and her husband in their home in Upper Cheyne Row last week. Mrs Monckton has told officers that one of the attackers was dressed as a postman and his disguise helped to persuade her to remove the chain after answering a knock on the front door of the family home last Monday night.

When Mr Monckton, 49, director of bond dealing at Legal & General, challenged the intruders in the hallway a fight broke out in which he and his wife were stabbed.

The attackers, one of whom is described as black and the other light-skinned, fled along Glebe Place in the direction of King’s Road.

Police suspect one of the two men may have been injured in the confrontation because a trail of blood was left along their escape route.

Mr Monckton died of his injuries at the Chelsea and Westminster hospital within an hour of the attack. Mrs Monckton had emergency surgery and wanted to see her daughters when she regained consciousness. Lady Monckton, who has visited her cousin’s wife in hospital, said: “Homeyra was absolutely brilliant. She insisted on telling the children herself about John’s death, even though she had just come round from a very big operation.”It is understood that doctors have ordered Mrs Monckton to receive fewer visitors and to rest. Lady Monckton, whose daughter Rosa was the best friend of the late Diana, Princess of Wales, said her family was very close and was rallying to support Mrs Monckton and her daughters.

She added: “We were all absolutley stunned by John’s death. He is a great loss to us, to the whole family and he will be enormously missed by myself and Lord Monckton.

A man in his 30s who was released on bail after being arrested in connection with Mr Monckton’s murder is no longer thought to be a suspect.

Scotland Yard has appealed for witnesses who may have seen two men running away — one dressed in a postman’s uniform and one possibly concealing a wound.

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