Child sex abuse trial: "Wound-up" Basharat Hussain "threatened to shoot woman"

Ms Gillian Batts said the 30-year-old woman, who admits an on-and-off relationship with Hussain from age 15 to 28, fabricated the events after seeing a BBC Panorama programme about his brother, co-defendant Arshid Hussain.

Ms Batts argued at Sheffield Crown Court that the woman, who cannot be named for legal reasons, had plenty of opportunities to leave Hussain if she wanted.

She also suggested that sexual relations the couple had did not start their relationship until the woman was 16, contradicting her claims Hussain had sex with her “lots of times” aged 15.

Cross-examining the woman on Tuesday, Ms Batts said: “This business at the reservoir, about you being to dig your own grave (relating an allegation made against Hussain on Monday), didn’t happen.”

The complainant replied: “Yes, it did. I’ve still got messages on my phone from him, apologising for what he did.”

Ms Batts pointed out that the woman had kept in touch with Hussain while he spent three years in prison.

She asked: “Do you agree that while Hussain was in prison your relationship continued?”

The woman said: “On and off, yes.”

Ms Batts asked: “That was your choice to go and visit him in prison, wasn't it?”

The woman replied: “Yes.”

Referring to the woman’s claims that Hussain tried to take her to Pakistan, Ms Batts said: “You went quite a long way towards going, didn’t you?

“And there was a problem because you didn't have a visa. That’s what stopped you going, wasn't it?”

The woman replied: “Yes.”

Hussain spent another 16 months in prison, during which the woman again kept in touch.

Ms Batts said: “What you wanted when he came out was to make a home together, wasn’t it?”

The woman again replied: “Yes.”

Ms Batts put it to the woman that she deliberately wound Hussain up by ignoring his phone calls, leading him to send a text threatening to shoot her.

She replied: “I used to ignore him because he got verbally abusive and I don't think ignoring him justifies being threatened with getting shot.”

Ms Batts also suggested that the woman had fed Hussain details by telephone of a police investigation into his brother Arshid.

She added that police had approached the woman for a statement about Hussain as recently as 2014 and she had refused, saying she was too busy.

Ms Batts asked: “You didn’t want to give a statement at all, did you?”

The woman replied: “I wouldn't be here if I didn’t.”

Ms Batts said: “You were telling the police one thing and the reality was your relationship was still on. Did you still have feelings for him?”

The woman replied: “I think I will always have feelings for him.

“It’s only once you get out of a relationship like that you see that it was wrong.”

She added: “Growing up I've realised that sort of relationship isn’t right.

“As an adult I can see that 15 years of my life were completely horrific. I know now it wasn’t a normal relationship, being spat on, strangled and controlled.

“But I kept seeing him so he would be happy and there would be no threats and no more abusive phone calls.”

Hussain denies all of the charges against him. The trial continues.