A bullying and oppressive husband who raped his wife when she refused to have sex has been jailed for eight years.

The “isolated and vulnerable” woman had been obliged to live in a refuge and resorted to self harm and said she wanted to die since the offence, Bradford Crown Court heard yesterday.

The 34-year-old man was sentenced yesterday after a jury convicted him, by a majority verdict, of raping his wife, at their home in Heaton, Bradford, in August 2012.

He had claimed the sex was consensual.

The court was told the husband, who cannot be named to protect the identity of his wife, was a hardworking man with no previous convictions.

But Judge Jonathan Rose told the man: “Your good character cannot provide any great assistance to you now.

“You did not respect the wishes of your wife. Instead, you violated her.”

The man raped his wife after verbally abusing her when he came home drunk.

Judge Rose said: “You regarded her as a lesser partner in your marriage, whose role was to serve you and comply with your demands and wishes, whether for food and drink or for sexual relations.

“She was allowed to do, and told to do, only what you wanted. I am satisfied that you bullied and oppressed her, and by August 2012 she was a desperately unhappy woman.

“This rape was not a one-off aberration on your part, but was in the context of a relationship in which you were dominant and she was submissive.

“Your anger turned to lust and you determined you would have sex with her, whether she wanted it or not.”

Judge Rose added: “It’s the right of every woman to say no, and to refuse to engage in sexual intercourse. That right exists in a married woman, just as it exists in any other woman.”

The judge ordered the husband to register indefinitely as a sex offender and made an indefinite Sexual Offences Prevention Order, preventing any contact with his wife.