Horrific ordeal of bride in forced marriage who was knocked out with chloroform and raped by husband she had just met

• Rapist regarded wife as a 'chattel' says judge
• Husband is jailed for eight years

By Graham Smith

 

 

A husband who knocked out his virgin wife with chloroform and raped her has been jailed for eight years.

The 35-year-old man tied the woman to a bed and knocked her out using the 'obsolete Victorian anaesthetic' on at least two occasions during their six weeks of marriage.

 The woman, a Bangladeshi immigrant who was 21 at the time, had repeatedly refused to have sex with her new husband because she was too nervous.

 The husband, who cannot be named for legal reasons, poured the chloroform onto a towel, pressed it over her face, then tied her up before raping her at his home in Poplar, east London.

 Judge Timothy King said the rapist had regarded his wife as a 'chattel' he could use as he wanted.

 He said: 'The victim was a vulnerable young woman, she had made her unwillingness abundantly clear and you would not take no for an answer.

 'Her views were of no consequence as far as you were concerned.

 'Given that you used chloroform to rape her, this was very much a contrived and premeditated act in which you subdued her capacity to resist.'

 

The husband had denied administering chloroform and two counts of rape but was convicted by a jury at the Old Bailey with an 11-to-one majority on all three charges.

Prosecutor Richard Hearnden then revealed the man had already been found guilty of carrying out the attack in November 2009, but that the conviction was overturned.

Forced marriage: The Bangladeshi immigrant had repeatedly refused to have sex with

her new husband at his home in Poplar, east London (pictured), because she was too nervous

The Court of Appeal had ruled that the first trial was compromised when evidence of the defendant's previous convictions - which include assault causing actual bodily harm, handling stolen goods, possession of cannabis and possession of crack cocaine - were revealed to the jury.

Mr Hearnden described chloroform as an 'obsolete Victorian anaesthetic' which is no longer used in any British hospitals, although it is still available and used as an industrial strength cleaner.

CAMERON 'TO CRIMINALISE' FORCED MARRIAGE

Forcing someone into marriage could be made a criminal act under possible changes to British law, David Cameron said yesterday.

Alongside moves aimed at cracking down on sham marriages used to cheat immigration rules, Mr Cameron said he has asked interior ministry officials to discuss creating a new offence aimed at those who force people to marry against their will.

Currently, a potential victim of forced marriage can apply to a court for a protection order, which is intended to stop intimidation or violence and prevent someone from being sent overseas.

Although anyone breaching the order can be jailed for two years, the sanction is made under civil - not criminal - law and is rarely imposed.

Only one person had been imprisoned under the legislation, which was introduced in 2008.

 Mr Cameron said: 'Forced marriage is little more than slavery
'To force someone into marriage is completely wrong, and I strongly believe this is a problem we should not shy away from addressing.'

'It is perfectly possible in the wrong hands, to use chloroform to commit crimes, and this fact had been known since at least 1861,' he said.

The victim married her husband in a 'simple Islamic ceremony at his flat in Poplar' on 12 April 2009, the court heard.

 'She says she was forced to marry him, and it certainly seems that the period of time between the defendant first meeting her and the marriage ceremony was extremely short,' said the prosecutor.

On the night of their marriage, the husband tried to have sex with his wife, but she refused, saying it was normal to wait two days before sleeping together.

 When he tried again 48 hours later, she tried to put him off again with another excuse.
'The defendant would not take no for an answer,' said Mr Hearnden.

 'On at least two occasions between the day of the marriage ceremony and 9 May, the defendant had sexual intercourse with her without her consent.

 'The method, we say, was the same each time. He would tie her hands up with a scarf in the bedroom and he would make her senseless by putting some of the chloroform onto a towel, wetting it, and holding it against her mouth.

'It would make her totally helpless during the rapes,' he said. 'She could feel pain and burning.'

The situation continued until 9 May, when a blazing row broke out at the marital home and the woman was badly beaten.

 Police were called to the flat, at which point the woman took them to her bedroom and showed them the bottle of chloroform, which was large enough to hold around a litre of the drug.

 She indicated what had been done to her in broken English and sign language, the court heard.
When her husband was questioned, he initially said they had never had sex and then said they had slept together but it was consensual.


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200 suicide bombers 'planning attacks in UK'

From: telegraph

 

At least 200 potential terrorists are actively planning suicide attacks while living freely in Britain, intelligence chiefs have warned ministers.

Court artist's impression of Irfan Nasser, left, and Irfan Khalid, right, who were

arrested over an alleged UK suicide bombing plot Photo: PA

 

By Sean Rayment, Defence Correspondent

A senior intelligence source has revealed that the figure is a "conservative" estimate of the threat facing the country from UK-based Islamist suicide bombers.

The would-be killers are among 2,000 extremists who the security services have said are based in Britain and actively planning terrorist activity of some kind.

The figures are contained within a secret government report on the "enduring terrorist threat" facing the UK from al-Qaeda and affiliated organisations, The Sunday Telegraph has been told.

While the deaths of Osama bin Laden and Anwar al-Awlaki may have left al-Qaeda without a charismatic leader, both the Secret Intelligence Service, MI6, and the Security Service, MI5, believe the organisation remains as dangerous as ever.

The warning comes as Britain begins preparations for next year's 2012 Olympic Games, which has been described by MI5 as the biggest security operation in the country's history.

But senior sources believe that rather than targeting Olympic venues, where security will be extremely high, terrorists will be tempted to attack areas where crowds are likely to congregate such as train stations and public events.

If terrorists were to mount an attack in Britain of the kind seen in other countries, by packing a single explosive vest with hundreds of ball bearings then detonating it in a crowded enclosed area such as a station terminus at rush hour, they could kill up to 120 people according to one explosives expert.

The 200 British residents thought to be planning suicide attacks, either within the UK or overseas, represent one in 10 of the wider group of 2,000 terrorist plotters.

The intelligence source added that suicide bombers would only be stopped by either a "chance encounter" or by an intelligence-led investigation. But he added that if a terrorist cell was properly organised and secure there was very little the authorities could do to prevent an attack.

The latest disclosure follows the arrest of six men from Birmingham who were remanded in custody two weeks ago over an alleged UK suicide bombing plot.

Two of the six, Irfan Nasser and Irfan Khalid, are accused of preparing for an act of terrorism, including travelling to Pakistan for training in terrorism, making a martyrdom video and planning a bombing campaign.

They are also accused of "being concerned in constructing" a home-made explosive device for terrorist acts and stating an intention to be a suicide bomber.

Earlier this year, classified intelligence documents disclosed by the whistle-blowing website WikiLeaks, showed that MI6 officers believed that Britain was facing a wave of suicide attacks from British-based Muslim extremists who had been trained in terrorist camps in Pakistan.

One report quoted an MI6 officer's briefing to US officials in which he said: "The internal threat is growing more dangerous because some extremists are conducting non-lethal training without ever leaving the country.

Should these extremists then decide to become suicide operatives, HMG [Her Majesty's Government] intelligence resources, eavesdropping and surveillance would be hard pressed to find them on any 'radar screen'."

One intelligence official told this newspaper: "We may have only had one 'successful' suicide attack in Britain but the tactic remains an enduring threat. This is a generational problem we are facing. The terrorists are learning all the time and adapting their tactics. They now operate a cell structure and there security is very tight.

"Suicide bombers know the signs we will be looking for. So they don't pray in the moments before an attack, there will be no heavy coats in summer and they are becoming much more security aware. For every countermeasure we develop they create a new 'measure'. They will always be looking for our exposed flank."

Intelligence experts believe that suicide bombers are motivated by a number of factors including politics, religion, poverty, finance and social factors.

Research has shown that they can be drawn from all social strata and can range from the well-educated to the mentally impaired. In Iraq and Afghanistan, young children and women have been recruited, while in London, the 7/7 bombers who killed 52 people and injured hundreds more in four coordinated attacks on the Tube and bus network came from stable backgrounds with close families.

Another classified report, details of which have been passed to this newspaper, stated that suicide attacks had developed as the weapon of choice for al-Qaeda and its supporters because of the level of fear that such attacks can engender.

The report cited examples of past suicide attacks which were perceived by the organisations which mounted them as having produced successful outcomes, such as the Beirut barracks bombing of 1983 which was followed by the withdrawal of US forces from Lebanon.