Edward Weeks 33

Description

A woman took her own life after she found a video of her partner raping her on his phone.

Tina Lewis, 24, was raped by Edward Weeks while she slept at his home in Cwmbran, Torfaen, in December.

Cardiff Crown Court heard Ms Lewis found footage of the attack on Weeks' phone the following day after he recorded the attack on motion-sensitive cameras set up in his bedroom.

Weeks, 33, was jailed for eight years after admitting rape.

Prosecutor Matthew Cobbe described Ms Lewis as "child-like" and dependent on Weeks during the course of their five-year on-off relationship.

Ms Lewis, who was autistic and described as "very vulnerable", stayed at Weeks' home just after Christmas, where he raped her after she fell asleep.

Weeks let Ms Lewis use his phone to play a game the next day when she found the video.

Mr Cobbe said it "was the processes that followed the complaint" that appeared to have had the most "extreme impact" on Ms Lewis.

"In the weeks that followed she agonised about the process itself but also about the effect it was going to have on the defendant," he added.

Ms Lewis' sister, Saffron, described the pain of losing her sister in "such upsetting circumstances".

'A very wicked act'

She said Weeks had become Ms Lewis' full-time carer and that she relied on him for many tasks.

"The effect on our family has been devastating. I have lost my best friend," she said.

"Tina was the greatest inspiration of my life."

Julia Cox, for Weeks, said: "This is a tragic case and nothing that I say in mitigation detracts from that."

She said Weeks was also autistic and described his relationship with Ms Lewis as "complex".

Weeks admitted rape and assault by penetration and judge Jeremy Jenkins told him he had committed "a very wicked act".

As well as his prison sentence, Weeks was placed on the sex offender register for life.