When Karen Wallis left her abusive partner, she thought she was starting a brand new life.
Nearly two decades ago the mum-of-two was living with her partner alongside her children in Southport. As the abuse spiralled so did Karen's life.
From living in a women's refuge to drug addiction Karen has battled it all and said that abuse was an "everyday occurrence" until she reached out to a homeless charity and finally put that part of her life behind her Lancs Live reports.
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She said: "I had a black eye as normal. That was an everyday occurrence. People thought it was odd if I didn't have a black eye, but then it started getting worse and worse, to the point where he tried to stab me in the face with a screwdriver, he tried to slit my throat.
"He tied me to a chair, he put my feet into a bowl of water, plugged a car battery charger in, and threatened to electrocute me."
While walking her children to nursery one day Karen found a post on the wall for Sefton Women and Children's Aid. After going to the centre, an "escape plan" was made to help them to get away.
Karen says she was "on eggshells" for the whole night before she was due to leave her partner and was taken to a safe house in Liverpool where she was allowed to stay for 12 weeks, before finding her accommodation.
One year later after Karen's dad died she reconnected with her abusive partner who forced her to become addicted to heroin as he had recently taken up the Class A drug. Things spiralled and her children were taken into care and she ended up living on the streets in Southport.
She said: "I gave up so things spiralled even more from that point. I continued to commit crimes to fund my habit. I was sleeping wherever I could find, it wasn't a life, it was an existence. Then obviously, because I was quite well known to the police, I was constantly in and out of prison, it was like a revolving door at prison, but prison was my safe place.
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"So, it'd be a little respite for a little time. While I'd go in there - no fixed abode - I'd always be released with no fixed abode as well. They never, no matter if I was doing a short sentence or a long one, they never ever found me a place to live, apart from the last time that I went to prison."
During her last sentence in prison Karen was given a bedsit by the authorities. During this time she learned that her abusive partner had died in hospital.
Karen said she was "determined" to use the opportunity to finally kick heroin. However, withdrawal from the heroin and the side effects from her methadone script turned Karen to alcohol.
She said: "My local shop, he used to give me alcohol on tick, which is on credit. So, I'd go in every morning, get my beer off him for the day, and then, come to the end of the fortnight or whatever, I just gave him my whole giro [state benefits] and that paid and then I'd do the same for the next two weeks.
"But he'd open at six o'clock in the morning and I'd be out there at ten to six, waiting for him to come and I'd help him in with his newspapers, so he could serve me a lot quicker - probably only about five minutes quicker but in my head, it meant a lot."
Karen then was forced to sleep wherever she could find and said her main "home" was a disabled toilet in Southport for "many years". Karen's criminal involvement worsened, with her caught by an undercover police officer and arrested for supplying Class A drugs.
However, the judge was "lenient" with her and gave her two years for submitting an early guilty plea. Karen was brought to a bail hostel in Preston, an opportunity for a fresh start for her.
After her time was served Karen suggested she contact Emmaus - a homeless charity in Preston. She currently works as the organisation's Head of Support and has spoken about her story in the Houses of Parliament. Karen now sees her children and met her now husband Dave.
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