'I want women like me to escape domestic violence before it’s too late'

Its aim is to give a voice to survivors and it is calling for a public inquiry into how the police and other state agencies respond to women and children caught up in abusive relationships.

Amy Beardsley, 22, is a beauty therapy student from Eastbourne, East Sussex

Looking back the signs that my partner Devon Newell, 33, was an abuser were there long before he almost took my life.

We’d only been together a few weeks in May 2012 when he began acting strangely. He would show up unannounced and bombard me with texts and calls.

I thought he was a bit needy but then things took a sinister turn.

Once, when he overheard me call a friend “babe” on the phone, he beat me with a remote control.

I had stitches in my lip and a black eye but I told everyone I’d fallen down the stairs. While I was adamant I’d never take him back, by August he’d moved into the flat I shared with a friend and was soon controlling my life. He told me I couldn’t go to college, took away my mobile phone and even suggested he pay a friend to act as my “bodyguard”.

My friends thought I’d lost interest in them and my family, who live in London, assumed I was having a great time at college and that’s why I rarely called.

When I found I was pregnant in August 2012 I had an overwhelming feeling that I had to get out. In October I took a train to London but in the end I didn’t tell my family anything as I was just too humiliated.

I returned to Eastbourne in the middle of the night on October 13. It was silly but I wanted to get back to college again. Then at 7am Devon showed up at my door.

We talked before I went to have a bath but he suddenly burst in, slammed the door and began punching me. Then he pushed my head under water. I was convinced I was going to drown. He dragged me out of the bath by my hair before kicking me in the stomach.

I don’t know how I found the energy but I ran into the street and was taken in by a neighbour.

I was in hospital for 30 days, treated for broken eye sockets, a fractured jaw and nose and was left blind in one eye.

Thankfully, scans revealed the baby was unharmed. I had a caesarean at 36 weeks as doctors discovered Bow, my little girl, had heart problems, a rare condition called heart block.

We don’t know if it was related to the attack but she has to have heart surgery every four years.

During a police car chase in January 2013, Devon smashed into another car on a residential street, killing a 13-year-old schoolgirl who was a passenger.

He was found guilty of grievous bodily harm and causing death by dangerous driving and got a total of 11 years in jail for the two crimes.

Today I still go to the eye hospital every week for treatment and am still partially blind in my left eye.

While my daughter keeps me going I don’t think I’ll ever trust a man again and sometimes I get scared just walking down the street.

I am supporting this campaign because I want to change that.

I want to make sure women like me know to get away from these men before it is too late.

How you can help

The shocking UK death toll from domestic violence has led to the campaign being launched. Called 2women2many, it is the result of a collaboration between new! magazine and the domestic violence charity Refuge.

On average two women are killed every week by their partner or ex-partner. The campaign has the aim of raising the awareness of domestic abuse. It also wants people to put their names to an online petition calling for a public inquiry into the way the police and other state agencies handle domestic violence cases.

SHOW YOUR SUPPORT BY

1. Signing the petition at refuge.org.uk/publicinquiry

2. Tweeting @new_magazine using #2women2many

3. Visiting newmagazine.co.uk for more on 2women2many

4. Telling your friends and family