Controlling husband from Tetbury guilty of sexually assaulting wife

An ambulance was called at the man's request after he was helped out of court to the waiting room.

He was cleared of a further charge of raping his wife.

The man, who is aged in his 60s and cannot be named for legal reasons, was already in a state of distress and breathing heavily when the jury delivered its verdicts at the end of a five day trial on Friday, March 24.

When the forewoman declared him not guilty of rape he gasped with relief - but she then went on to say that he had been found guilty of two charges of two sexual assaults.

Howling incoherently, the distraught man, who had been allowed to remain seated to hear the verdicts, slumped in his chair.

Two police officers, a barrister and the court clerk all went to the dock to try to assist him.

After several minutes he was helped from the dock while continually shouting 'God, no, I'm not guilty, I'm not guilty, no, I'm not.'

Recorder Gibney released on the man on bail pending sentencing on either May 2 or 3 and made it clear the man was facing jail.

The man - described in court as 'controlling' - denied one charge of rape between January 1, 2018 and May 25, 2020.

He also denied two charges of sexual assault.

At the start of the trial prosecutor Fiona Elder said the couple had known each other for nearly 30 years and had been married for more than 20.

But the fact that they were husband and wife did not mean that the man could have sexual relations with the woman if she did not want it, she said.

"Whether we are married or not, each of us has a say in what happens to our bodies," she said.

Ms Elder said that for the first 10 years of the marriage everything was 'essentially all right' between them but then the relationship began to deteriorate.

The woman began to realise, she said, that everything was on her husband's terms and he essentially controlled her life.

In 2020 the woman began divorce proceedings and contacted the police.