Lyndi Brown traces the dent in her neck with her finger.

The mark is a permanent reminder of her ex-partner and the torture he put her through.

The mark is a result of having a knife pressed to her throat and a five year relationship she is fortunate to have left alive.

Lyndi, now 30, keeps her personal alarm with her at all times. Her abuser is in an open prison and she lives in constant fear of his release.

Like so many abusive men, when she met Graham Lang he was full of charm. He would offer to help out with odd jobs, such as changing lightbulbs for her mum.

But, slowly, his true colours began to show until Lyndi was trapped in a relationship that she says saw her regularly subjected to physical and mental abuse.

"I was 21 when we met in a nightclub where he worked as a doorman and he was 15 years older than me," Lyndi said.

"We met in the July and in the October he had me move in with him. He didn't want me staying away as he wanted to keep an eye on me.

"He said that if I told anyone what was happening he would bury my dad. He threatened to slit my younger sisters' throats. And I believed him."

Around two years into the relationship, Lyndi discovered she was pregnant. She went into labour six weeks early, she believes due to the stress she was under.

Throughout her relationship, Lyndi's mum had told her that one day she would "click" and want to leave. That day was October 11, 2012.

She told her mum that she was planning to end the relationship and asked her to call the police if she hadn't arrived by a certain time.

Lyndi said: "My wee boy was only two. He'd never seen any violence but kids pick up on atmosphere and I was walking about on egg shells.

"I said to him: "There's nothing you can do to me. There's nothing I have not already felt the pain of."

Lyndi and Peter moved in with her mum and Lyndi was determined to get her life on track for his sake.

On October 28, Lyndi's colleagues persuaded her to join them on a night out. Her dad offered to come and pick her up, as did Lang.

Lyndi said: "He was being really calm and reasonable and saying he just wanted to help. He was nice as you like, making normal small talk."

Lyndi agreed that Lang should pick her up. He then suggested she stay at his house so as not to wake her little boy up if she returned to her mum's.

Throughout our interview, Lyndi keeps her panic alarm squarely in front of her. She speaks calmly about what happened next, having become used to repeating it for police and lawyers.

But what she describes is horrifying.

"I woke up with him punching me in the face. He punched me so hard I flew off the bed into the wardrobe," she said.

"I was trying to grab my phone. I was starry eyed and dazed so I couldn't quite reach it. He grabbed it and said, 'Is this what you want?' then threw it in my face, splitting my nose and forehead open. There was blood everywhere, on the walls and on the carpet.

"I had that horrible feeling in my stomach. No one else was in the house, he'd managed to get me on my own for the first time. I thought, 'I'm not getting out of here.'

"I was trying to think of what I could do to see my son or hear his voice so that I had that memory before I died.

"He stood behind me and put his arms around my neck until I passed out. I woke up on the bathroom floor and thought, 'Maybe this was a dream, maybe I'm ok'. And then his face appeared above me.

"He took me downstairs and told me to sit up on the counter and put my legs across the gas cooker so he could burn me. He said, 'If I can't have you, no one can have you and if I burn you then no one will want you.'

"He was so calm and collected as if there was nothing wrong. He told me he had dug my grave."

Trying to think of some way to get out, Lyndi begged to go to the toilet, asking Lang to give her some privacy.

She said: "I could hear his footsteps on the laminate and I counted them so I would know when he was coming back. I locked the door but it felt like it took ages because I was shaking so badly and my hands wouldn't work properly.

"Afterwards, when I saw the crime scene photos, he had ripped the doorframe off trying to get in to the bathroom.

"I opened the bathroom window and was trying to shout for help but I was opening my mouth and nothing was coming out and I was thinking, 'Come on, get it together'."

Lang had made Lyndi strip naked from the waist down so she wouldn't try to escape.

Lyndi managed to get outside by climbing through the bathroom window - but her ordeal was far from over. Neighbours turned a blind eye to her distress before Lang dragged her back into the house.

She said: "I was covered in blood and screaming for help.

"The neighbours at the side of us came out but he told them I was just drunk and they went back inside.

"He grabbed me by my hair and dragged me back into the hallway. I was begging and pleading for my life.

"I knew if the front door shut I was dead."

Two neighbours, however, managed to persuade Lang to come to their house where their son, who lived away, was home visiting and had called the police.

Lang was arrested and initially charged with attempted murder, though this was reduced to assault to severe injury, permanent disfigurement and danger of life, for which a jury found him guilty.

Judge Lord Pentland jailed Lang to five years in prison in February 2014.

It took 18 months for the trial to come to court but Lyndi says she was well supported by Domestic Abuse Police and Victim Information & Advice.

She said: "In court, I was five hours on the stand but five hours was nothing compared to being in that relationship for five years.

"I would say to any woman to leave. It will not be as bad as you think it will and it will get better slowly. But my advice would be to choose very carefully the first person you tell. It needs to be someone you know will believe you and who will do and say the right things."

Lyndi says she checks for escape routes constantly and can't handle crowds. She has PTSD and is hyper-vigilant, staying awake for days at a time.

She describes coping after the attack by going into "mum mode", being determined to set up a home for she and Peter while making sure her family were ok.

Lang, who was in HMP Barlinnie before being moved to HMP Low Moss and is currently in open prison HMP Castle Huntly, is now suing for custody of Peter.

On Wednesdays Lang can be taken from Castle Huntly to Buchanan Bus Station where he can have up to seven days home leave to re-enter his community.

She said: "He has, I believe, no real interest in his son but he’s using the court system to control me.

“He knows that he can ask for a hearing and I have to be in this place at this time on this date.

“I have to run around doing what he wants and he can lie back in his prison cell.

"In criminal court I was behind a screen so I didn't have to see him but days later I would be in family court facing him. That's wrong. Vulnerable witnesses should have the same protections no matter where they are.

"It's one thing after another. It never stops. I've never had a break from it. He'll be released and return to where he committed the crime. I would move away but my family is here and I feel why should I be the one to move?

"There will only be an end to this when one of us dies."

But Lyndi is determined to take some control back. She had watched boxing with her dad, Archie, who she calls her "hero", since she was little and had always wanted to give the sport a try.

After turning 30 in June, Lyndi decided it was time to get in the ring. And now she will take part in an exhibition on Saturday, September 24, at Cumbernauld's Westerwood Hotel and Golf Resort after just 12 weeks of intensive training, with ex-professional boxer and father-in-law Hugh Smith, that she says has been therapeutic.

She said: “I feel more awake, calm and motivated.

"It’s given me fitness and confidence but it’s also taught me how to calm myself.

“If you get angry during a fight, you’ve lost it. You have to stay calm and in control.

"You find yourself shadow boxing all the time.

“I’ll be putting the washing out and practicing my footwork before I catch people looking. The neighbours must wonder what’s going on.

"This is something I never thought I would be able to do - and now I am."

Lyndi will be asking for donations on the night for Glasgow Women's Aid and the Glasgow CEDAR project, which works with children from homes where there has been domestic abuse.

She added: “I know there will be people thinking, ‘What is she doing going to raise money for domestic abuse by going in to a ring?’

“But I want to show women that we can do whatever we want to do. I can fight back now. Not just physically but emotionally.

“Four years ago I would never have been able to lift my head when it came to someone shouting at me and now I'm going in to a ring in front of 500 people."

Tickets are still available for the evening event, which includes a three course meal and entertainment.

Or to donate see www.justgiving.com/crowdfunding/abusesurvivorfightsbackatboxingbout