Soon he was threatening self-harm if she left him and his behaviour began to spiral out of control, calling 20 or more times a day and following her in public.

He had begun using Facebook and mobile phone apps to track Jane, and even found a way to tap into a security camera system so he could watch her during the day.

He began following her around supermarkets and to court when she went to apply for a restraining order.

He would drive past her house, going around and around, until one day he came inside and assaulted a friend staying with Jane. He sat in the house, refusing to leave until the police arrived.

Despite a successful court case against the man that saw him imprisoned for 12 months, Jane struggled to get help having his possessions removed from her home, leaving her stressed and anxious and wanting him out of her life.

When she first gathered the courage to head in to the police station to report an alleged breach of the restraining order, Jane was politely told she didn't have enough evidence.

"I came in and I told them he was stalking me and that he breached the order, and they told me to go away and get more evidence. So I had to essentially go out and do the police's job for them," she said.

"He's approached me in public. He was given the benefit of the doubt the first time, but it happened again. This has cost me my job, my health, and soon I'll have to move home.

"It's dehumanising, I feel like I'm being forced to beg for help. It's so obvious that we have problems with domestic violence and no-one's taking the lead on it."

Jane said she would like to see a more co-ordinated approach to tackling domestic violence, perhaps involving a dedicated cross-department team to ensure cases like hers did not slip through the cracks.

*Name has been changed.