One midwife in every four in Manchester claims to have at least one client who is experiencing abuse from her partner.

The research was carried out for the Home Office with help from the Royal College of Midwives.

The figures come as a new 24-hour freephone number is launched by the Home Office offering advice and support. The number is 0808 2000 247.

There are large numbers of women experiencing domestic violence when they're pregnant Maureen Burgess, Dias

One woman, who wished to remain anonymous, said: "The violence escalated during the pregnancy until the last attack when he actually tried to kill me.

"You think 'Is it me or is it him?'

"And what I tried to do was to get as much sleep as possible and to sleep my way through the pregnancy just to get to the end."

The Dias (Drop In And Share) centre in Wigan, which helps women experiencing domestic abuse has been training midwives to spot and react to the signs of it.

Spokeswoman Maureen Burgess said: "We do know that there are large numbers of women experiencing domestic violence when they're pregnant.

"In fact 30% of all domestic violence begins in the first pregnancy, so we do know it's there.

"We think people are coming forward more for help now because agencies such as DIAS are there to offer help to those people."