A woman who underwent major surgery after being repeatedly beaten by her former husband and his family has urged service providers to help Asian women break free from their cycle of abuse.

Rukhsana Parveen broke down in tears yesterday as she addressed a conference tackling domestic violence in Bradford's Asian community.

She told how she was beaten up, even while pregnant, treated as a slave, and locked in an attic with no food.

She almost died after suffering a massive blood clot in her back, and suffered a broken leg and beatings which caused permanent scars.

Yesterday's conference was organised by the Northern Circuit Domestic Violence Group with the Lord Chancellor's department, West Yorkshire Police, the Home Office and the Foreign and Commonwealth Office. It was chaired by Keighley MP Anne Cryer. The conference, for services helping domestic violence victims, addressed the challenges to tackling the issue in Asian communities. Speakers included Mrs Cryer; Chief Constable of West Yorkshire Police Colin Cramphorn; Baroness Betty Lockwood, chancellor of Bradford University; and Rosie Winterton MP, from the Lord Chancellor's Department. Ms Parveen received a standing ovation after telling of her experiences.

She said: "It is vitally important that Asian women are informed and aware of support services available."

Mrs Cryer referred Ms Parveen to the Asian Women's Support Service at Keighley Domestic Violence Services (DVS). After receiving legal, financial and housing help, Ms Parveen divorced her husband - but the conference heard that he now has another wife coming over from Pakistan.

Mrs Cryer said: "One of the problems is that girls as young as 15 are coming in as wives. Many have had a very unhappy experience between coming into Britain and arriving at my office.

"We have no power to stop Rukhsana's husband from taking another wife. When women come over from the sub-continent they and their parents have no knowledge of their husband's violent history."

The conference heard that once Ms Parveen left her husband she did not have independent leave to remain in Britain. She was helped by the DVS to get a temporary passport while she waited a year before being granted indefinite leave to stay in the country.

Bana Gora, of Keighley DVS, said the case "is the reality of domestic violence" among Asian women.

She called for Asian women coming over as brides from Pakistan to be given access to public funds.

Mrs Winterton said once women are granted domestic they can access public funds - but she accepted that there was often a time delay.

Mrs Cryer said she had dealt with a concession in just four months and urged service providers to "beat a path to the door of their MPs" to get action taken.

As well as key speakers, yesterday's conference included workshops exploring a range of domestic violence issues, including elder abuse; forced marriage; child abduction; immigration and housing.