'I would be dead if I had not learned about little-known law'

Warning: This article contains distressing details.

After being beaten and abused by her partner for 10 years, Eleanor had no self-esteem or strength left.

During this time, she experienced years of abuse, including a fractured jaw six weeks into the relationship.

But she said one thing helped her break the painful cycle, and that was when charity workers told her about a law which allows people to request information about their partner's violent offending history.

Eleanor, which is not her real name, said: "It was like removing the rose-tinted glasses.

"It saved my life because I would have stayed with him. I was so trauma-bonded to him that I could see no wrong in him.

"I truly believe I would be dead if I was still with him, either by suicide or by him."

Eleanor is sharing her story along with other domestic abuse victims and the family who fought for Clare's Law, as, more than a decade after it was introduced still too many women do not know it exists.

Officially known as the Domestic Violence Disclosure Scheme (DVDS), the law was named after 36-year-old Clare Wood, killed by a man with a history of violence in Salford, Greater Manchester.

It allows people to ask police whether a current or former partner has a history of abusive or violent behaviour.

Clare's daughter Maddy said increasing awareness of the scheme remains one of her biggest concerns.

Despite more than 22,000 applications being made across police forces in the West of England since the scheme was introduced, support services and survivors say a significant awareness gap remains.

For Eleanor leaving took more than a decade.

She said the red flags started almost straight away. He fractured her jaw after just six weeks, but attempted to persuade her it was an accident.

It was her daughters who ultimately persuaded her to escape in the middle of the night.

"They forced me to leave the house. I left with nothing but my pyjamas and my kids," she said.

While receiving support from a charity in Gloucestershire, Eleanor wastold about Clare's Law and encouraged to submit a request, which transformed the way she viewed him.

She described receiving "two sides of A4 paper" which included shocking details of his offending history that she had never known.

"If I hadn't done the Clare's Law request, I would have gone back to him. My self-worth was on the floor and he was saying sorry," she added.

Another domestic abuse survivor the BBC is calling Juliette to protect her identity said the beginning of her relationship seemed very normal.

"It was a lovely relationship at first, but after two months that is when the red flags began," she said.

Initially, she said her partner would punch himself during arguments.

"I would just laugh it off, thinking at least he is not hitting me," Juliette added.

But the behaviour escalated and a year later, he started attacking her.

"He pushed me into a wall and I passed out," she said.

Rather than blaming her partner, she blamed herself.

"I thought it was my fault because I was nagging. He never said sorry," Juliette said.

The violence continued and by the second year, she suffered serious injuries.

"I had a broken scapula, a deep cut to my head, a large haematoma and a concussion," she said.

Despite the severity of the attack, she feels justice was never achieved because he was never convicted of a crime.

It was only later, after making a Clare's Law request, that she learned more about her former partner's past.

Juliette said it confirmed his history of violence and animal cruelty

A spokesperson from the Crown Prosecution Service (CPS) said a "review of the evidence concluded there was not a realistic prospect of conviction".

Juliette put in an appeal through the Victims' Right to Review Scheme and the decision was reviewed independently by a new prosecutor, who reached the same conclusion.

Domestic abuse specialists say Juliette's experience is not unusual.

Clare, from Gloucestershire Domestic Abuse Support Service (GDASS), said too few people know Clare's Law exists.

"There is still a big gap in terms of information and awareness," she said.

She explained that disclosures can reveal information linked to domestic abuse, even when there have been no convictions.

One of the most common warning signs is what professionals often describe as a "whirlwind relationship," Clare added.

"When it is very intense and very quick at the start, you need to be cautious," she said.

"The abuser wants to reel you in as quicklyas possible and make your lives so intertwined that it becomes very difficult to leave."

Clare added that leaving can make the abusers violent and angry and "it can have a heightened risk of domestic homicide".

She said that leaving can be the most dangerous time in an abusive relationship: "Abusers see their power and control slipping away and often escalate their abusive behaviour as a result."

• If you have been affected by any of the issues raised in this story, information and support can be found at the BBC's Action Line.

Maddy Wood, Clare's daughter, has continued to raise awareness: "We've come a long way, but there are still too many people who have never heard of Clare's Law or don't know how to use it."

She urges people to put trust in the request.

"If your gut is telling you this isn't right, and they're doing things that are red flags, you should listen to that," she added.

"Just please stay safe...things can escalate so quickly like they did with my mum."

The lack of public awareness surrounding Clare's Law is something filmmaker Phoebe Brooks hopes to address.

She first learned about the scheme after contacting police about a former partner - no proceedings were taken against him.

After speaking to her friends and family she said "no-one had heard about it and that was shocking to me considering how much this can save lives and how important this law is."

Years later, while studying at the University of Gloucestershire, she began making a documentary about the scheme to raise awareness.

During her research, she discovered many other people were just as unaware.

That discovery became the driving force behind the film, which explores how the scheme works and why survivors believe it can save lives.

The documentary has since been adopted by Avon and Somerset Police as a training resource for officers working in the disclosure department.

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