Originally published 23 April 2013;**
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They look like identical twins – but Kerrie Brown and Georgia McNulty were complete strangers until four months ago.
What brought them together was the devastating abuse they’d both endured at the hands of the same man – Thomas O’Leary.
O’Leary began dating Georgia, 21, in 2011, but soon revealed a violent side. Last August, he beat her so badly during a savage nine-hour ordeal, she spent two days in intensive care.
When she woke up, she found the courage to give a police statement – and discovered she wasn’t the 30-year-old thug’s first victim.
Kerrie, 30, had also endured a violent relationship with O’Leary – a body builder – between 2005 and 2008. But there wasn’t enough evidence to convict him, leaving him free to target his next victim when they split.
Kerrie, from Glasgow, says: “When I first saw Georgia, I couldn’t believe how much she looked like me. It freaked me out that Thomas had deliberately chosen her for that reason.”