Judge Bernadette Baxter (above) said the defendant had treated his wife as a possesion
A rapist husband with a ‘raging sexual appetite’ who repeatedly raped and beat his wife has been jailed for 12 years after a judge ruled he treated his spouse as a ‘possession’.
The 44-year-old used his wife as a sex slave during their 24-year marriage, waking her in the early hours of the morning demanding intercourse.
On one occasion, the father-of-three also beat his wife while she was pregnant with their fourth child, with her subsequently miscarrying the baby.
The brute who cannot be named to protect the identity of his spouse was said to have a ‘raging sexual appetite’ and demanded intercourse from her up to three times a day.
In another incident, the victim was thrashed with a leather belt as their son listened in horror from his bedroom. When he was arrested the husband, from Greater Manchester said: ‘I have only slapped her a couple of times.’
He was convicted at Minshull Crown Court of three specimen charges of rape, engaging in controlling and coercive behaviour and causing grievous bodily harm.
He denied the charges but admitted a further charge of assault occasioning actual bodily harm.
The court heard the couple were childhood sweethearts having met in 1993. They married in 1995 but the incidents occurred between 2015 and 2018.
Prosecutor Darren Preston said that it was towards the end of the relationship that the husband became increasingly abusive, controlling and violent.
Speaking of how the defendant reacted to her husband’s behaviour, Mr Preston said: ‘She feels she was unable to react to him or protect herself against him or leave the relationship or resist his demands to have sex, often two to three times a day.
‘As well as his demands there was control over her in the form of constant phone calls and texts demanding her to tell him where she was and clamouring for her attention when she was not at home.
The man was convicted at Minshull Crown Court (pictured above) of three specimen charges of rape, engaging in controlling and coercive behaviour and causing grievous bodily harm
‘He had to know precisely where she was when she was not at home. He would often wake her up in the middle of the night and demand that she prepare him food. On one occasion when she had been at work and she knew she had to be in at 4am, when she arrived home he began throwing items around the house, calling her unpleasant names including ‘s***’ and ‘bitch’ and he destroyed two phones.’
On the rare occasion that she would argue back, her husband would physically and verbally assault her and hit her around the arms and legs.
‘She would be left covered in bruising to her arms and legs. Apart from the cuts to her face there were no other lasting injuries.
‘Their son stated during trial he was too frightened to intervene and stop him and he was scared to stand up to him. The victim described him having a raging sexual appetite and he would require sex two to three times a day.
‘If she carried on resisting against him he would react with physical violence. She described that he would call her constantly and demand to know where she was.’
Mr Preston highlighted that the defendant would telephone is wife constantly, often setting time limits as to how long it would take her to get home from work.
‘He would text her to tell her how much time she had remaining. She had anxiety.
‘One on occasion when the couple were arguing, he threw her keys into the garden and told her to ‘f*** off’. She went to work and the defendant told her to return home straight from work. She resisted and went shopping after work.
‘When she got back she went to bed and she was woken up when he demanded she make him a cup of tea in the early hours, so she got up and made him one. She got back in bed and fell asleep and said she was woken up when he removed her pyjama bottoms and had his hand between her thighs, so she clenched them together but then apologised to him.’
On this particular occasion she had fallen back to sleep, but was then awoken again by the defendant stuffing the duvet into her mouth. He then removed his belt which he lashed her with repeatedly – causing serious bruising.
‘Their son heard the incident and called the police as he was too frightened to stop his father.’
In mitigation, defence lawyer Mark Fireman said: ‘Your Honour has heard evidence that he raped her whilst she was pregnant and just after she had a miscarriage. The course of conduct was over a relatively short period of time, less than three years.’
But Judge Bernadette Baxter told the defendant: ‘Sadly you treated your wife as a possession and you did with her as you wanted. You were a violent bully. You didn’t listen to her protests when she didn’t want to have sex and you quelled her protests with violence. You raped her repeatedly, sometimes more than once a day.
‘It was the physical violence which finally brought this catalogue of offending to the attention of the police. When you demanded your wife come home from work that day and later when she refused to have sex with you.
‘You sexually assaulted her then savagely beat her with a belt causing terrible bruising. Your son who was in the house during the commission of the offences couldn’t stand it no more and rang the police. He was too terrified of you to intervene himself.
‘Your pleas reflect no insight or remorse and you still claim you have no recollection of what you did. I don’t accept that, you knew quite clearly what you did and what you have been doing for many years.
‘You did it because you felt you were entitled to do it. This has led me to believe that you think any man is entitled to rape their wife or beat then when they refuse to have sex with you.’
The man was also required to sign the Sex Offenders register for an indefinite period.