MY BEST FRIEND MARRIED THE MAN WHO RAPED ME. #SAYNOTORAPE.

RAPIST & HIS WIFE

A bridesmaid today revealed how her life was ruined after she was raped by the groom who went on to marry her best friend.

Army captain Daniel Howard, 29, was jailed for seven years last week for the sex attack but his new wife April, 26, has stood by him and dumped her friend.

Howard raped his victim when she was a guest at his home as his fiancée, now his wife, slept in the room next door.

The Sandhurst graduate's victim, 26, did not go to the wedding four weeks ago fearing 'it could happen again'.

DANIEL IS SERVING SEVEN YEARS SENTENCE

She told the Daily Mirror: 'I was meant to be a bridesmaid at her wedding. We were meant to have children at similar times and raise them together.

'I only said something in the first place to try to protect April. I couldn't have stood in church on her wedding day knowing what had happened and that it would most probably happen again.'

She has been diagnosed with post-traumatic stress disorder, has had to change jobs and rarely leaves the side of her family because she is no longer be 'the fun-loving, bubbly person that I was'. 

Howard raped his victim when she was a guest at his home as his fiancée, now his wife, slept in the room next door. 

APRIL HAS STOOD BY HER CONVICTED HUSBAND.

She bravely faced her attacker in court to tell him: 'This will always be part of my life that I have to learn to deal with. I don't think I will ever fully recover.'

Howard, an officer in the Royal Army Medical Corps who served in Afghanistan, denied rape but was convicted after a four-day trial.

He repeatedly denied anything happened between them and claimed his accuser was making up the night-time attack in a spare bedroom.

In court, Howard was accused of inventing a 'ludicrous, cold-blooded and insulting' defence in court by attempting to explain away damning DNA evidence by suggesting he and the woman had used the same sex toy by chance.

The attack happened in February last year in the apartment Howard shared with fiancée, April Broadgate, 26, in Darlington.

She refused to believe the woman and supported her husband – ignoring advice about postponing the wedding until the outcome of the case.

Howard wore full ceremonial uniform when they tied the knot in a lavish ceremony three weeks ago and she posted photos of the wedding on Facebook.

The new Mrs Howard accompanied her husband to Teesside Crown Court but didn't enter the court room to listen to any evidence.

The retail worker wept uncontrollably after being informed of the verdict, and was ushered into a room with Howard.

The judge told him he had been convicted on the 'strongest possible evidence'.

Recorder Andrew Sutcliffe, QC, accused Howard of attempting to 'humiliate and denigrate' his victim by concocting a false defence. He described the attack as 'calculated'.

Prosecutor Paul Cleasby said the woman was fully clothed in bed after a drinking session when Howard entered the room and forced himself on her. 

In her evidence, the victim said Howard warned her during the attack: 'Don't tell April.'

The next morning, she tried to call her boyfriend, contacted a rape crisis line and drove to the nearest hospital. When she got up, and Howard had asked her: 'Have you had a good time?'

Howard told police he never entered the guest room and denied having sex with the woman.

Paul Abrahams, defending, told the judge Howard had achieved much in his life until now.

'He has the support still of his wife and his in-laws,' he said. 'It will have a massive impact on his family. I would ask Your Honour to consider it was an utter moment of madness.'