I didn’t know my partner was raping me while I slept

“In my eyes, up until maybe the day before he admitted to what he’d done, it was the best relationship I’ve ever had.”

Adelle Overton’s boyfriend of 13 years, Steven Uden, appeared to be the perfect partner.

They met on the set of a zombie film and had lots of shared interests. She says Uden was kind and loving and even gave up work to be Overton’s carer when she became disabled.

“He was wonderful. I loved him deeply, and I think I still kind of do a bit,” says Overton, sitting on a sofa at her home in Derby.

Overton trusted Uden, but that trust was shattered when he admitted he had been raping her while she slept.

“I instantly felt betrayed. I’d never felt so safe in a relationship before that point,” says Overton.

Uden had cared for Overton while she was being treated for breast cancer, but he later told police he had raped her while she was under the effects of the medication.

“That sense of betrayal, that I thought I knew him, but I don’t know who he was,” says Overton.

“And the thought that he’d been living with me for 13 years, he helped raise my children.

“I thought he was safe when he wasn’t.”

Uden is now in prison, and Overton has decided to talk about what happened in the hope it will help others.