We have our weekly house meeting. This is the women’s time to discuss any concerns they have with the house. The cleaning rota is the biggest bone of contention in the house and we discuss it again. Although everyone agrees to do their fair share, we know it won't last. We always run through a fire and emergency situation scenario. The house is fitted with several panic alarms, which are linked to the police control room and guarantee an immediate response. We cannot afford to become complacent about the women’s security. Refuge workers always carry personal attack alarms in case a violent partner follows us. This may seem extreme but it is necessary.

Last year we had a Scottish woman, Sarah, and her small child staying with us. She had done everything in her power to make herself safe: changed her name, changed her car registration plates, told no one of her whereabouts – not even her mother. She completely reinvented herself because she knew that her husband would be looking for her and she knew that if he found her, he would kill her.

This is a man who dangled her out of a 5th floor window by her ankles while she was holding her child. This is a man that smashed her arm in six places when he went for her head with a baseball bat and she put her arm up to defend herself. She was with us for three months. Her husband hired a private detective who found her – we don't know how. The private detective knew where my colleagues and I lived. He had also taken pictures of us, the other women in the refuge, and of Sarah arriving and leaving the refuge.

One day I saw a man walking up to the front door. Sarah had given us a picture of her husband just in case he found the refuge and, thankfully, our office looks out on to the driveway so we can see who is coming. I recognised the man to be her husband. At the time we did not have the alarm systems – they were installed as a consequence of this incident.

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Diary of a refuge