Woman raped by her husband hundreds of times in her sleep is 'on a waiting list' to get therapy

A woman who was raped hundreds of times in her sleep by her husband has admitted that she is not receiving any counselling following the traumatic events – because she is on a waiting list.

Sarah Tetley, 26, was raped and secretly filmed by her husband Charlie, 34, an estimated 300 times and only discovered the abuse after she woke up in the middle of an attack.

“I woke up in the morning in that sort of drowsy just waking up stage and realised that he was molesting me in my sleep,” Mrs Tetley, from Melton Mowbray, Leicestershire, told ITV.

Immediately afterwards she left the bedroom and sought the help of a neighbour who encouraged her to go to the police.

When officers searched their property they found and seized 316 videos, which revealed the full scale of the abuse suffered by Mrs Tetlet. As well as raping her, Tetley had abused his wife with various household objects as she slept – and recorded everything.

Eventually in March Mrs Tetley, at the request of officers, went to the police station and watched 16 of the videos she told the Sun.

She described the recordings, which showed her husband molesting her as she remained entirely unresponsive - sometimes with ordinary household objects, as "disturbing".

Mrs Tetley said she had suffered from panic attacks and depression since her former husband's arrest but that she was not receiving counselling. “Not at the minute, I’m on a waiting list,” she explained.

She met Tetley when she was 18 while working at her local pub and although their relationship appeared successful; his behaviour towards her gradually became more possessive and controlling.

“I think I was quite scared,” she told ITV’s presenters as she described how after she fell pregnant with his child, she began noticing a change in his behaviour. He was adamant that if their child was a boy she should have a termination.

Despite this the couple married in 2011 – but his controlling behaviour only increased, until her discovery in November 2013.

She described how occasionally she would wake up in the morning with some of the objects around her, or with a dead arm, but said that it was never enough for her to realise what was happening.

Although tested for drugs in her blood, urine and hair, none of the methods returned anything conclusive.

On 28 March last year Tetley pleaded guilty to five counts of rape, attempted rape, eight counts of assault by penetration, three of sexual assault and ten of making indecent images of children. He was sentenced to 12 years.

“No matter how I think about it I never saw that coming,” Mrs Tetley, who is now divorced, confessed.

“I had trouble sleeping for a while, I didn’t really sleep for the first four or five months, I slept when I passed out.”

Victims of rape can contact Rape Crisis for help, support and advice