Only when she heard that another female colleague had complained of being assaulted by her employer did one woman summon the courage to confront the years of verbal, physical and sexual misconduct that she alleges she endured.

She had told work friends some of what happened but now had to tell her husband and make plans to give up her job and the financial security on which family life depended. She felt “mortified” that she had not taken the action sooner and that not doing so had left other women vulnerable.

The woman said: “I felt so guilty that I had somehow facilitated the abuse of another woman by failing to raise a formal complaint.”

The two women decided to take legal action together and