When Sarah’s husband put his hands around her neck during a row, she would simply close her eyes and wait until it was over.

“It happened so many times, I wasn’t scared,” she says. “It was just what he did. We had a set of Global kitchen knives we’d bought together in John Lewis and he’d hold them to my throat. How could a strong, gregarious woman like me put up with it?” She sighs, casting about for the right words. “It’s really important that people understand this. I held this man in such high esteem, that even when I started to see the chinks, I continued to love him, and I still do.”

The most recent attacks took place on May 12 and 13