GENERALLY speaking most of us would say we feel safest when we are tucked up at home.

Cosy and warm, relaxed and comfortable, our homes are our sanctuaries – the place we feel the most secure where, after a long day at work or out and about, we can shut the front door and forget our worries in the world.

That is why Kate Sell’s story is all the more shocking. Because her life-changing injuries were caused in her own home.

There was no armed intruder, no ferocious fire or fault with an appliance which caused this terrible accident. The perpetrator of Kate’s horrific injuries was something far less sinister, a simple staircase.

Of course parents protect their young children from the dangers of a staircase with gates top and bottom but in many homes the stairs stand tall, a menacing trip hazard very few people take as a serious threat to their safety.

Indeed, figures from the Royal Society for the Prevention of Accidents show that each year in the UK more than 5,000 people die in accidents in the home and 2.7 million require medical attention.

Kate, who was sleepwalking for only the second time in her life when the accident happened, may have escaped with her life but that life which was once so active and social has been changed forever.

Thankfully she lives in a community where friends and neighbours come together and lend a hand in dark times. So dig deep for their campaign or spare a thought for the difficult times ahead for Kate and her family.