Did I Wake You, Pet?

Her back hurt, her head hurt, her legs ached, her lips were split and bleeding, her nose felt numb and she could feel her cheek swelling up under her eye. He still had his arm around her shoulders. She was sobbing quietly, and as she took each step, she wished that the police would come running up the stairs behind them and that she would be safe. But there was silence. No one was standing in the stairs, just the silence after the chaos.After this last, worst beating, she managed to seek help from her employers, who transferred her to another branch of the bank 400 miles away. Changing her name, she moved her address to step away from the horror of ten years of abuse and find a chance to start again"”a chance to change her life without going back. This is a story of hope for victims of abuse everywhere.

Fiona Bowman, a successful businesswoman, MD of Facilities Management Consultancy, Dysart 57 Ltd and an International Domestic Abuse Campaigner.

From her roots in the small Scottish village of Dysart in Fife, aged 17, she left home and went to Edinburgh to take up a place on a nursing course. Here she met Derek and subsequently endured ten years in a violent and abusive relationship with him. In 1985, with the help of her employers, she escaped and started a new life in London.