WHEN her boyfriend headbutted her in the face, Wendy Irwin knew she had to escape.

The 47-year-old Colchester mum of two was left with a broken jaw, cheek and nose and still carries the scars today, six years after the horrific attack.

Despite being beaten by a boyfriend she believed loved her, leaving her with physical and mental scars, Wendy has triumphed, by establishing a successful, growing business. She is now a national finalist in the 2009 Barclays Trading Places awards. This award honours men and women who turn their lives around by starting a business.

Listening to her story, it is easy to see why she is national finalist.

It has been a struggle for Wendy. Remembering the first shocking attack in 2002, she said: “I thought he was going to kill me.

“The relationship was very short- lived. I met him in the October and the attack happened the following January when we were on holiday in Thailand.

“We were sitting on the beach and he asked me to go back to our room. I was happy sitting and chilling on the beach with people we had been on a boat trip with and he went off.

“But he came back, tipped over the table on the beach and dragged me along the seafront, pulling my hair. Then he ripped my clothes off and headbutted me.

“I had a broken jaw, cheek and my nose was hanging off.”

It is clear the attack still haunts Wendy, but her inner strength and knowledge she did not deserve it, drove her to action.

She said: “At first I just froze because I was so frightened. He had fallen on to the floor, yelping like a puppy because he had seen the damage he had done to me. But I escaped out of a side door and took pictures of my injuries on a disposable camera and put the camera down the back of my trousers. He destroyed all the other cameras and said he knew he would get away with it because we were on a remote island in Thailand where I didn’t know anyone.

“He told me to tell everyone I had fallen off a motorbike.”

Thankfully, Wendy, of Avon Way, sought sanctuary with a Thai family she had befriended over the 18 years she had been visiting the country, where she had helped out at an orphanage.

After treatment at a couple of hospitals, including plastic surgery, Wendy came home and began court proceedings, ignoring his threats to kill her and her young son. She was glad she did, as she discovered he had a 12-year history of beating other women. he was jailed for 18 months.

She said: “He couldn’t get away with it, because after the attack he went round to each resort, looking through their visitors books to see if I had signed in, and telling people he had beaten me.

“He was finally caught on a ferry and he now has a lifetime ban from entering Thailand.”

By the time he was released from prison Wendy was already setting up her own business, Girls on Doors Security, which trains women to work as door security.

Having already worked as a door lady for 12 years, Wendy worked hard to set up her own business with help from various agencies, including the Leonard Cheshire Trust, Opportunities for Technology at Colchester Institute, Sue Greenwood at Destiny. She also had help from charity Mind and the domestic violence unit at Essex Police.

She explained: “I had to rebuild my soul and myself physically and get my confidence back. I started going back to the gym, having complimentary therapy and eating properly. I am getting counselling again now, but I have always refused to take medication. I do get bad days, but they pass.”

Although she may need to move house and change her name to protect her and her two children Crawford, now seven and Ruby, three, in the future, Wendy is determined her business will keep going and she will succeed. If recent contracts for jobs is anything to go by, the business will only get bigger.

Wendy recently won a contract to provide security at an event attended by the Queen.

She said: “There are moments when I am really proud of myself and my door team and now the Trading Places awards night is keeping me going. If I don’t win I still know I have done well.”

Wendy also has some strong words of advice for other women being abused by their partners.

“I am a strong person and I never deserved to be injured like that. He is a nasty character and deserves to be locked up. Women need to remind themselves their bodies and minds are precious and they must not let anyone damage them. No woman deserves to be hit by a man and they have to get rid of the man if he does, because once they start they won’t stop.”