A WOMAN has revealed she was raped more than 100 times by her husband during lockdown in a harrowing BBC Panorama interview.
Jess – not her real name – said that on the day Britain went into lockdown due to the coronavirus pandemic her husband gave her a chilling warning.
"I was at home with him, we were both listening to Boris Johnson and he looked over at me, he had his arms folded back and chest out, because he knew that would intimidate me, and he looked at me and he said: 'let the games begin'," she said.
"And he said: 'If you think it was bad before with the rape, you're in for a rough ride.'
"So the rape started really, really, really bad, really bad. Curtains would get closed, TV would be up loud, front door would be locked, music would be turned up, so nobody could hear me screaming for someone, for anybody."
Jess said she managed to escape after her husband fell asleep.
She used the internet to find out how to contact the police via text message.
Shocked viewers shared their thoughts on Jess's horrific ordeal on social media.
"Really harrowing piece on domestic abuse during lockdown," one said.
Another posted: "This Panorama episode is breaking my heart."
"This documentary on Panorama is just shocking – those of us who work in this area know just how terrible it is and how important refuges and charities are," another said.
"Heartbreaking to watch, I'll never understand how a 'man' can do this," one person tweeted.
FIGHTING BACK TEARS
Host Victoria Derbyshire had to fight back the tears as she told how her violent dad used to beat her mum in terrifying attacks.
The BBC presenter, 51, said she understood the terror faced by those who had been “trapped” in abusive relationships during lockdown.
Tonight’s episode of Panorama looked at the impact the lockdown has had on those living with abusive partners, revealing the scale of domestic violence during the height of the crisis.
And speaking to the BBC ahead of the programme, Victoria described how her “whole body” would “tense” every time she heard her father's key in the back door.
She said she never knew if his mood would lead him to hit her mum, or even whip her with a belt or slap her round the back of her head.
New figures have shown that domestic violence against women has rocketed during the coronavirus outbreak, with two-thirds of women in abusive relationships suffering even more during the pandemic.
And while Victoria said she could flee her dad’s violent rages by going to a friend’s house, she said she felt for those “trapped” in the same house as their abuser.
The journalist said: 'When the Prime Minister told us all to stay at home because of coronavirus, one of my first thoughts was for those living in abusive households – women, men and children, essentially trapped, forced to stay inside week after week.
“What would happen to them?”
'TRAPPED'
In the documentary, Victoria revisits her childhood home in Littleborough, Rochdale, for the first time in 35 years.
She said: “Like I could really cry, I could really cry. Pathetic.
"So this is the house where I grew up.
"It's so weird, I haven't been here for so long and I've got some really happy memories of being there, but there were some really difficult times because my father was violent.
“You know, this was the 70s and 80s. No one had heard the phrase 'domestic abuse.' No one knew what it meant, what it was or what it involved.
“If he was in the house we were on eggshells all the time. I remember once he locked my mum in their bedroom and he was hitting her and there was loads of noise and I was scared.”
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