A husband has been jailed after his horrified wife discovered he had been repeatedly raping her in her sleep and filming the attacks on his mobile phone.
The victim only realised what had been happening when she grew suspicious of an app on her husband’s phone called ‘Video Locker’ and she opened it up to take a look.
She was disgusted to find footage of her husband carrying out sickening sex acts on her while she was asleep, including close-ups of him raping her.
The woman contacted her husband after discovering the clips, which ranged from 30 seconds to two minutes, telling him: “I’ve just watched videos of you raping me on your phone.”
The husband, who is in his 30s, did not return home but handed himself into place when he realised he had been caught out.
He later pleaded guilty to three counts of rape, one of assault by penetration, one of attempted rape and one of sexual assault.
In a statement, the traumatised victim said she struggled to come to terms with her husband’s actions.
She said: “In March 2017, I discovered my husband had been sexually abusing me.
“Since that day, my life and that of our children has been completely turned upside down in ways I still cannot come to terms with.”
The victim, who is now on medication, added: “I never thought he would be capable of doing what he did.
“He has completely fooled me. I never want to see him again.”
Newcastle Crown Court heard how the couple had been together for more than 10 years when the man started the abuse in September last year.
Mark Giuliani, prosecuting, said: “On March 14 this year, the defendant left for work. As he forgot to take his mobile phone with him, the complainant took the opportunity to look at the phone and noticed something called Video Locker.
“Initially, she couldn’t get access to it, which caused her to become suspicious.”
After finally managing to get in, the woman was horrified at what she saw.
Mr Giuliani added: “It showed video recordings of the defendant participating in sexual activity with his wife while she was asleep.
“The recordings have subsequently been destroyed.”
Richard Herrmann, defending, said: “There’s genuine remorse and awareness of the harm he’s caused and a willingness to make changes that this man has to make so he can live a normal life after the inevitable lengthy custodial sentence he will receive today.”
Sentencing the man, Mr Recorder Baird said: “You did so for your own sexual gratification and treated her as an object for your fantasies, disregarding her wishes or needs.”
The man has been jailed for nine years and ordered to sign the Sex Offenders’ Register for life.
Husband jailed for raping his wife in her sleep and filming the attacks
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