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A VICTIM OF marital rape said she was “broken” by having to defend her reputation against false allegations to Tusla.

Last month, Tracey Jessop’s former husband, Joseph Jessop (45), was jailed for 10 years after he was convicted of rape and oral rape of his estranged wife on 2 February 2021.

He was also convicted of raping her on 29 March 2021 and of assault causing her harm in November 2020.

Ms Jessop waived her right to anonymity so Joseph Jessop, formerly of Newtown, Tyrrellspass, Westmeath, could be named.

In her victim impact statement, Ms Jessop said she suffered stress and anxiety from having to defend herself against false allegations to Tusla and gardaí.

Passing sentence last month, the judge said it was an aggravating factor that having raped his former wife, Joseph Jessop proceeded to call Tusla and make “baseless allegations” against her in an effort to ensure she would not be believed.

In an interview with RTÉ’s Liveline on Friday, Ms Jessop said that on one occasion, “I said ‘no’, and he [Joseph Jessop] literally picked me up and was shushing me”.

She said a few hours after she was raped, two workers from Tusla arrived at her front door.

There were false allegations put to me, it broke me.

Ms Jessop told Liveline that this was an attempt to “try and discredit and tarnish me and my character”.

She said it was “very hard trying to deal with all that, and trying to be there for my kids, as well as trying to deal with my own emotions”.

Ms Jessop added that in her locality, she had “heard some really wild stories about things I was meant to be doing”.

“It was all horrendous lies”.

Ms Jessop was raped when her relationship had broken down, but she was still living in the same house as her former husband.

She said she felt that people would not believe she had been raped because they were still legally married.

Ms Jessop said that “looking back now, there were red flags that I did overlook”, such as accusations of cheating and Joseph Jessop’s “Jekyll and Hyde” temper.

She said things “went bad and started to escalate” around 2014 and that prior to this period, she was a “very outgoing and a social person”.

“It just destroyed me.”

Ms Jessop remarked that “it’s going to be a long road” to get back to herself.

“I don’t even know if I know who that person is anymore, it strips you a lot,” said Ms Jessop.

“You lose your identity, and even finding things you like on Netflix and it’s like, ‘oh, I can actually pick the movie that I want to watch’.”

Ms Jessop said that she had “normalised things that were far from normal”.

There were continuous insults, and someone breaks your character down over time, and you don’t realise it at the time.

She said that around April 2020, “physically or mentally I couldn’t tolerate it anymore, and I ended the relationship”.

Ms Jessop said she first reported the physical abuse in November 2020 after she was held down and punched and headbutted.

She said this attack happened because “I was going to leave the house and he didn’t want me leaving the house”.

Meanwhile, Ms Jessop said it was difficult to face Joseph Jessop in court and “reliving it”.

“Just been around him was awful.”

Speaking on the trial, she said it was “really hard reliving everything, knowing that in the box beside me, he was sitting there, and I’d have to pass him.

“It’s a really difficult thing to go through, but I’m glad I did.”

She said she was “relieved” with the 10-year jail sentence and added: “I have a life sentence from what he did, but at least he’s been held accountable for his actions.”

The judge had set a headline sentence of 11-and-a-half years, which he reduced to 10 years taking mitigating factors into account.

However, the judge noted there was little in mitigation, given Jessop’s lack of guilty pleas but that he had no serious previous convictions.

Ms Jessop also said it’s been “very hard” explaining the situation to her children.

“They’d be hearing stories back in school of different things that was happening, and there’s that level of embarrassment as well.

“You’re seeing your dad posted all over the papers, and accepting that that’s the type of person he is, and that’s hard as well.”

Meanwhile, Ms Jessop expressed concern that there could be “a lot of people in marriages or relationships going through a similar situation, and maybe don’t realise that this is wrong”.

That you can’t just demand and take sex and violate someone’s body, that it’s against the law.

Ms Jessop was holding a purple teddy during the RTÉ interview.

She said she chose purple as the colour is used globally to represent domestic violence awareness.

“It helps me regulate my nervous system,” said Ms Jessop.

“I get severe panic attacks, and I had him the whole way through the trial.

“It’s probably psychological now, he goes everywhere now.”

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