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‘No one should go through this’
Emma Bryant
suffered years of
abuse from her
husband.
Today,
she waives her right to
anonymity to urge others to
speak out against their
tormentors. She talks to Jim
Entwistle.
IAN Bryant subjected his wife to a decade
of violent abuse, a campaign of intimidation
and physical harm that continued
even after their divorce. The unprovoked
attacks culminated in him breaking into
the former marital home and raping her on the
kitchen floor.
It took Emma 18 months - and several more
beatings - before she could tell the police of the
rape, an attack which left her expecting her
third child.
Now 33, she has moved away from her home
in Darlington. Emma says it is a chance to
focus on raising her young family, something
she had longed for since getting married ten
years ago.
"I thought I would be trapped for
ever, but there is a way out," she
says. "I'm not saying it is easy - I
still have bad nightmares. But life
is good now. It is hard to move on,
but it feels like I'm a different person
and that I'm finally getting my life
back on track."
She may have carved out a new life
for herself, but Emma is still haunted
by the experiences of being imprisoned
in a violent relationship.
"He may have wanted to be in control
of me," she says, searching for a reason
why Bryant made her life a living hell.
"He would always put me down, telling
me I was a bad mother. When somebody
tells you bad things like that day in, day
out, you end up believing it.
"I would feel weak all the time. I started to
think I actually was a bad person. He would say
it was my fault that we weren't a family, but I
now realise it was purely because of him that
we weren't a family."
Where most people could turn to family or
friends for support, Bryant had driven a wedge
between Emma and those who cared for her.
"He turned me against my friends and
family, " she says. "I suddenly realised I had
no one in my life apart from this man who was
controlling me. If I did manage to go out
with friends, it would be ruined
because he would either upset me
before I went out, or I would be
that worried about what he was
going to be like when I got
home. I had no life, but
sometimes in that sort of
relationship you don't realise
that until afterwards."
The couple split in 2003, but
Emma couldn't escape the
violence and Bryant began a
campaign of fear to erode her
already fragile mental state.
Emma says: "At one point he
was breaking into my house,
moving things about and taking
things. I got the locks changed
numerous times but still he
managed to get in. He was
trying to make me
insecure so I
would take
him back.
"One night, a lot of the things that had gone
missing suddenly appeared on my bedroom
floor. It was all a big game to him. I began to
think I was going mad and had to go to
hospital."
Worse was to come. In autumn 2005, Bryant
launched the attack which would eventually
lead to his prison sentence. "He broke into my
house and raped me on the kitchen floor. He
nearly killed me," she says.
Matters came to a head when Emma was assaulted
again, and with bruising from head
to foot, her injuries were immediately
noticed by the staff at the nursery
her children attended. Encouraged
to go to the police, she subsequently
spoke for the first time of the attacks
inflicted upon her.
In the process of police inquiries, detectives
asked if any of the attacks had been sexually
motivated.
"I never thought they would have enough evidence,
or even that they would believe me,"
she says. "I just wasn't strong enough."
But, despite her fears, within a week of turning
to the police Bryant was detained. In February
this year, he pleaded guilty to rape and
began a five-year prison sentence.
Acting Sergeant Steve Smyth of Darlington
police was working on the case - one which he
says was made even more shocking by the
depths to which Bryant stooped in an effort to
hide his crimes.
He says: "On one occasion, Emma had reported
that she had been attacked by a
stranger in the street. It transpired that this
was another example of Ian Bryant manipulating
his wife to cover up the injuries which
he had caused to her. On another occasion, he
tried to explain her injuries by saying that she
had an epileptic fit. The bruising on Emma was
substantial, with injuries to her head, arms,
legs, back and breasts. This was certainly not
consistent with injuries sustained as a result
of even a severe fit, due to the positioning of
several of the bruises."
Emma wishes to thank PC Kay Cowan, her
new boyfriend Robert Libbey and Darlington
Borough Council's domestic violence officer
Kate Peacock for their support. "Without
them, I wouldn't have got through this," she
says. "I'd be happy if my story gives others the
confidence to come forward. No one should
have to go through this."
* If you are affected by domestic violence,
call the English Domestic Violence Helpline
on 0808-2000-247 for confidential advice.
Alternatively, visit refuge.org.uk
9:16am Friday 4th July 2008
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CommentPosted by: Carol, Durham on 2:11pm Fri 4 Jul 08
You're a brave, brave woman, I hope your story encourages women in similar situations to seek help.... Good luck with your new life
You're a brave, brave woman, I hope your story encourages women in similar situations to seek help.... Good luck with your new life
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