The fear she would never see her daughter again was the worst Jittya could ever imagine.

Worse than the feeling of being imprisoned in her own home.

Worse than the nights when her husband would come home drunk and beat her with his fists.

Jittya escaped from her violent husband, Jim, and fled to a refuge after she began to fear for her daughter, Maisie's, safety.

But Jim tracked them down and applied for a contact order to see his daughter.

He was granted supervised contact at a centre in Hove.

After a couple of months, the county court allowed Jim to have unsupervised two-hour visits with Maisie every two weeks.

One day last summer, he turned up in a fancy car and within minutes was speeding up the motorway with Maisie strapped in beside him.

He was probably hundreds of miles away by the time Jittya realised her daughter had been abducted.

She alerted police and a national search was launched.

The nightmare was a world away from the happiness and hope Jittya felt when she first met Jim.

Back home in Asia, Jittya had fallen for this Englishman who was handsome, intelligent and charming.

But as soon as they were married, he turned into a drunken brute who took her money and beat her.

She said: "There were so many promises before we got married. He said we would have a good life.

"He said he drank because it was hot on the island we lived on but over time he drank more and more."

The couple moved to Europe where Jim had business interests.

Jittya said: "I got a job and worked hard but most of our money went on drink. I paid all the bills and bought all the food. When I told him I needed to keep some of the money for bills he swore at me.

"He was always violent to me when he had too much to drink. He stopped me using the phone. He would always hit me in my back, below my neck.

"I thought he might change after we had a child but it didn't get any better. There was one time I thought I was going to die. He pressed my head down on a pillow and I couldn't breathe. Maisie was on the bed too. I was scared for her."

A sympathetic health visitor helped Jittya leave her husband and escape to a refuge.

She moved to the Brighton area but Jim caught up with her and gained visiting rights.

Jittya said: "He is very good at making people believe him. In the supervised visits, he was always showing concern for Maisie. He had never changed her nappy or given her a bottle but he acted like he was a real dad to her.

"When someone was watching he was very good at knowing what to do."

On the day Jim abducted Maisie, she clung to her mummy and screamed when he came to take her.

Jittya said: "She was shouting 'I don't want to go to daddy'. She was really clinging to my shirt.

"She wouldn't let go but I had to let her go or I would be violating the care order and could get into trouble."

For five long days, Jittya tortured herself with worry about her daughter.

She was terrified Jim would take her abroad and police discovered he had managed to get a second passport for Maisie.

Finally, Jim and Maisie were discovered at a bed and breakfast in Wales and Jim voluntarily gave himself up at a police station.

Maisie was taken into foster care after a 5in gash was discovered on her neck - the same place Jim had frequently attacked her mother.

Now Maisie and Jittya have been reunited and are trying to rebuild their lives.

But Jim is once more applying for contact through the courts and Jittya worries every day she may not be able to keep Maisie safe.

All names and identifying details have been changed.