A student had to send coded emails and take 'fake' phone calls to expose her abusive boyfriend's campaign of domestic abuse.
Sarah Brunsdon, now 29, planned her escape from builder Thomas Coughlan who subjected her to a campaign of emotional abuse and physical violence.
Coughlan, then 28, pleaded guilty to three assaults at Liverpool Magistrates' Court in September 2018, and was handed a suspended prison sentence and slapped with an indefinite restraining order.
Sarah, from Rainford, is now rebuilding her life and hopes to become a criminal lawyer, using her personal experiences to help others.
She told the ECHO: "We were together for only about 12 months between 2017 and 2018.
"We used to live together and he was really physically violent. At first he began telling me things like I was rubbish at my job, I worked for a housing association at the time, and [he would say] what was the point going to work every day because he earned far more money than me.
"I was studying part time at uni as well and it wore me down to the point I did give up my job, and basically became his glorified taxi driver because he could not drive."
The pair first met after Coughlan messaged Sarah out of the blue on Instagram - although she initially ignored his advances.
When he messaged one day to ask "why are you ignoring me?", Sarah relented and the pair seemed to get on well.
But a year later when Coughlan's abuse pushed her to breaking point, Sarah finally reached out for help.
Sarah had been studying part time at the University of Central Lancashire (UCLAN) for a masters degree in Social Policy.
She said: "I had to be careful with my emails because my account was linked to his phone and he could check what I sent.
"But one day I was emailing uni and I just sort of blurted it all out, that I needed help, that I wanted to leave the situation but I didn't feel like I was in a position to do so.
"A lot of people say 'why didn't you just leave?' but when you're in the situation it's different. I had no job, I have done a lot of work in homelessness and I have seen what happens to women who just leave.
"But I made my mind up to leave him, and it took me around three weeks to make my plan."
Sarah says UCLAN were 'amazing' at offering support, which included providing a taxi to take her to Preston so Coughlan would not know she had travelled there.
Sarah also contacted Merseyside Police, but made it clear she did not want officers to alert Coughlan until she was ready.
Instead, the force arranged welfare check phone calls where an officer would pretend to be from Sarah's university and ask to speak to her - as well as visiting while he was at work to photograph her injuries.
Over the course of those three weeks Sarah was assaulted three times by Coughlan, leaving her bruised and battered.
Sarah said the first attack happened after she tried to refuse to let him into the property, and Coughlan pulled her out of her car, dragged her across the garden and then punched her in the head when she got up.
The second time, when Coughlan became violent Sarah ran to the back door to escape but before she could unlock it he pounced on her, dragging her back by the hair and launching her into the stairs causing extensive bruising.
The final assault happened just as Sarah planned to make her escape.
She said: "The last assault happened when I basically didn't care any more.
"I told him I had been to the police and they had been doing welfare checks on me, asking me if I was okay.
"When I told him that he knocked me to the floor and dragged me around the room by my hair. Then he held me to the floor and said to me 'I could kill you now'.
"After that he sat down on the sofa. He would usually take my phone and my keys after he attacked me, but this time I hid my phone down my bra.
"He had his head in his hands so I quickly put it on record. I knew if he saw me doing it he would kill me. I think at this point I was basically in f*** it mode.
"I started describing what he had done, like 'you have just dragged me to the floor, you have just dragged me by my hair'.
"He basically admitted it on the recording, he said he was sorry and he was saying 'you're going to go to the police now'."
But Sarah's ordeal was not over yet, with court proceedings proving emotionally draining.
Sarah was set to face Coughlan again in court and be cross-examined by his lawyers, but he entered guilty pleas on the day the trial was due to start after a deal was struck.
The experience led her to want to pursue a career in law, working to both prosecute abusers and defend the vulnerable.
She said: "I can honestly say the court experience was more traumatic than any of the multiple assaults and injuries I suffered.
"It was terrifying, humiliating and there was not a single empowering moment, not even the guilty verdict.
"It is because of this personal experience that I am determined to reclaim the justice system, the court room, the process every survivor has to endure.
"I want to make a difference and to do so I need to be in a position of authority and, importantly, empowerment in the courtroom."
Sarah's academic achievements come despite a number of difficult personal circumstances, after she managed to get her degree from the University of Liverpool despite being homeless during her school studies.
She was homeless as a teenager and without stability and or a quiet home environment, she would often sleep at school to get her rest.
Her school noticed that Sarah's living arrangements were not stable and got her help, which saw her placed in the Powerhouse Liverpool for just over 12 months.
Powerhouse helps provide accommodation for young adults aged between 16-21.
She also praised the help of a charity called Response, which helped her up until she began an English course at the University of Liverpool.
Sarah graduated from UCLAN with her masters in 2019, and has also been working full time in homelessness support for local authorities.
But Sarah is determined to follow a career in law, and has been supported by a friend, Ian Stuart, who set up a crowdfunding page to help her pay for a conversion course from the University of Law.
Anyone wishing to donate can do so here.
