In December 2017, Gracheva’s husband led her into a forest where he chopped off her hands with an ax — a final, horrific act after months of abuse.

On the morning of 11 December 2017 Margarita's husband, Dmitri, offered to give her a lift to work, but instead he drove in the opposite direction, towards the forest. He parked the car, dragged her from her seat, took an axe from the boot and chopped off both her hands.

Then he dumped her in the emergency department of their local hospital in Serpukhov, south of Moscow, before driving to the police station and confessing to his crime.

The couple had met at school and began dating after college. Initially they were happy, though he flared up easily over trivial things - and swore he would kill her if she was ever unfaithful to him.

 Now, the 27-year-old mother of two boys has become a media sensation across Russia, winning a book deal with a pro-Kremlin publisher and turning into a regular fixture on state-run television.