A young mother has told of her terror when a man barged his way into her home in Bath and attacked her.
The 28-year-old, who was living alone with her three-and-a-half year old daughter at the time, now fears that her assailant had been watching the house and timed his assault for when she was most vulnerable.
Chillingly, when she called for help during the attack, he told her: "We both know it is just you here."
The woman, who has asked not to be named, was getting ready to go to bed at her home in Frankland Close, in Weston, last Tuesday, when she went out to lock her porch door.
It was just before 10pm and she switched the porch light on as she opened the front door.
She said: "As I went out the porch door came flying open, cracking me on the head.
"I don't know if the man hit me, or if I was hit by the door, but I ended up on the floor.
"I tried to hit him and kick him, but I was just flailing around, and then he kicked me in the chest and I ended up with a broken rib.
"I kept kicking him and managed to get him in the privates, so I managed to get in the front door and put the deadlock on."
She added: "The whole thing happened really quickly, but the really frightening part was that I started calling for somebody to help, trying to give the impression that there was somebody in the house, and he said: "We both know it is just you here."
Police investigating the incident have told the victim it appears to have been a targeted attack, with the man trying to hurt her, rather than burgle the property.
They said the fact that he was waiting for her porch light to come on and that the light acted as his cue to enter the house, rather than run away, implies something more sinister than a break-in.
The woman is no longer living in the house and security at the property has been stepped up, but she said she remained scared by what had happened.
"It is so frustrating because I am such a safety-conscious person", she said. "But I am now so paranoid.
"It has been such lovely weather, but I haven't let my daughter play out in the garden because I don't want any windows or doors open."
She added: "I think the trouble is that I am in so much pain, with my ribs, that it is a constant reminder of what happened.
"I am just hoping that in time I will calm down."
After the attack, one of her neighbours told her she had recently seen someone lurking near the back of her house with a torch, and police are looking into whether that is linked.
The offender is described as 5ft 10ins tall, in his mid 20s, with mousy brown hair, and was wearing a black hoodie and tracksuit bottoms, with black trainers, possibly Puma Ducati.
The victim said she had no idea why somebody would want to harm her and believes she may have been targeted simply because she was a woman living on her own.
She added that she wanted the man caught before he moved on to his next victim.
"Even if this raises peoples' awareness to be a little bit more safety conscious, then this will have done some good, because you don't know who is going to be answering the door to this man next time."
A spokesman for Avon and Somerset Police confirmed they were investigating and urged anyone with information to come forward.
They should contact Bath CID on the non-emergency number 101.
