Murderer Christa Pike issues first statement since surviving two botched execution attempts and says she has been in constant, severe pain ever since

Murderer Christa Pike, who survived a botched execution attempt, has spoken out for the first time, saying she has been in constant pain ever since.

Pike, 50, was sentenced to death on first-degree murder charges and was hospitalized after state officials in Tennessee botched a lethal injection. 

Her September 30 execution failed when she woke up after being administered two failed doses of pentobarbital. 

In a statement, Pike said: ‘There hasn’t been a moment since that night when I haven’t been in pain.

‘My body hurts. My arms hurt. My hands hurt. My throat hurts. I still struggle to speak.

‘I had not contemplated life beyond that night, and I’m deeply hurt by the incompetence that has put so many people in this terrible position.

‘I continue to think about my victim’s family and the terrible pain and loss they have endured.

‘I am recovering, and I know that I am getting stronger.  But healing is not the same as being okay.

‘Since that night, I have been largely isolated in the prison’s medical ward, away from other people and the human connections that mean so much to me. That isolation brings its own kind of pain.’

During last month’s shocking procedure, Pike reportedly cried out: ‘My arm feels like it’s about to burst open,’ before asking at another point: ‘Does this happen like that?’

When she was later taken to hospital, both arms were swollen, burned and blistered from the drug. 

Her attorneys likened the damage to exposure to bleach or Drano, the chemical used to clear clogged household drains and pipes.

Her lawyers said they believed faulty IV lines had caused the pentobarbital to flow into the tissue of her arms rather than directly into her bloodstream. 

Pike was later discharged from hospital earlier this month and returned to the women’s prison where she spent the last 30 years.

She has been behind bars since 1995 for the beating and stabbing death of her classmate, Colleen Slemmer. 

This is a breaking news story.