Abusive Birmingham husband 'beat wife and locked her indoors' Published duration 19 June 2018

media caption Violent husband kept wife virtual prisoner for 16 years

A husband who regularly beat his wife and kept her locked indoors during their 16-year marriage has been jailed.

Aziz Rehman, 47, would only allow partner Zeenit Bibi to leave their home in Collingbourne Avenue, Hodge Hill, Birmingham when on the school run.

He would wedge twigs in the front door whenever he went out so he could tell if she had left the house.

Rehman was sentenced at Birmingham Crown Court on Tuesday to three years and nine months in prison.

A jury found the businessman guilty in May of assault and coercive control.

Mrs Bibi, 36, who married Rehman in December 2000, told the BBC she wanted other victims to speak out.

"I didn't think anybody was going to believe me, which was one of the reasons that I left it so long, because in the outside world he made it look like we were the perfect family," she said.

"Nobody deserves this kind of life - talk about it, let somebody know.

image copyright West Midlands Police image caption Aziz Rehman hit his wife on the head with a dumbbell

"I had dumbbells put on my head, I had a foldable chair hit on my knee, I wasn't walking properly.

"I wasn't allowed to go the doctor, I wasn't allowed to be in the hospital.

"My ribs were done in, my knees were done in, and I told people 'it's OK - I fell over the lawnmower'."

Judge Roderick Henderson told Rehmen - who owns Arden Superstore and off licence in Arden Road, Saltley - that he controlled his wife "as property".

He said: "People are entitled to a basic level of respect from partners, not to be assaulted, bullied and controlled."

Rehman, who denied the charges, ran their home like a "prison".

One regular visitor told police how the curtains were always drawn and described him as an "oppressor".

Mrs Bibi alerted West Midlands Police in July 2016 while her husband was out of the country and he was arrested following his return to the UK.

PC Maria Watts said Mrs Bibi was "tormented throughout her marriage".

"She was forbidden from seeing friends and family, regularly assaulted, denied access to a mobile phone, and was effectively living a life of domestic servitude," she said.

"She went 16 years without seeing her family even though some lived just a few miles away."

If you, or someone you know, have been affected by domestic abuse or violence, the following organisations may be able to help, click here for more information