Husband jailed for rape attack

Little Mo was jailed for hitting back at her husband

A man has been jailed for three years for raping his wife, before making references to a similar EastEnders storyline.

The Barry, south Wales, man attacked the woman in their lounge after she refused to have sex because she was suffering post-natal depression.

Cardiff Crown Court heard he then asked her: "Does it make you feel like Little Mo?"

The man was jailed at Cardiff Crown Court

Prosecuting, Susan Ferrier referred to the plot in the BBC One television soap, in which character Mo Slater is serving eight years in prison for attempting to murder husband Trevor Morgan after enduring years of rape and domestic abuse.

The husband, 29, and wife, 28, involved in the court case cannot be named for legal reasons.

'Blank stare'

The man had told his partner the violence was her own fault. He called her a "selfish bitch" before raping her on 9 March.

He had ordered her to strip and stared at her before the attack in the living room, when he asked if she felt like the character.

The combination of drugs and the anti-depressants and his feelings of abuse came to a head at a time when he wanted sex

Andrew Taylor, defending

The court heard she replied: "No, because at least Trevor was nice to her afterwards. You were nasty and still shouting at me."

Later, the man went into a "blank stare" - he admitted he had raped his wife when a doctor called at the home.

Miss Ferrier claimed the pair's marriage hit the rocks after the wife suffered post-natal depression following the birth of their daughter.

"He was not able to see this as a medical problem. He saw it as rejection," she said.

"He kept on to her that she was not showing enough affection to him."

The woman had gone to police to report her husband after the incident.

Child abuse

Defending, Andrew Taylor said: "He maintains he still loves his wife. He is very sorry for the hurt and torture he put her through.

"He has lost contact with his child and that is punishment."

He said his client, who was sexually abused as a child, had no memory of the attack.

"On the day he had been prescribed drugs by a GP. He was also using illicit drugs," he said.

"It may be that the combination of drugs and the anti-depressants and his feelings of abuse came to a head at a time when he wanted sex."

Judge Roderick Denyer QC ordered the man be placed on the sex offenders' register indefinitely.

Soap storyline

EastEnders writers had scripted the plot involving shy, retiring Little Mo' in an echo of real-life scenes of domestic violence.

Actors Kacey Ainsworth and Alex Ferns won fans for their portrayal of Mo and Trevor.

The BBC said it the storyline had also encouraged many people to seek help for similar problems.

But the Broadcasting Standards Commission ruled episodes violent episodes on Christmas Day and New Year's Eve 2001 were too gruesome to be shown before the 2100 GMT watershed.

In one show, Trevor pushed Mo's face into a Christmas lunch. Later, she hit him over the head with an iron - an act for which she was later controversially jailed.