Helen tells what she has told no-one before: Rob raped her.

Radio Times: Anna is asking questions, and Peggy takes it all in.

Characters: Anna, Helen, Judge Loomis, Julian Bywater, Pat, Peggy, Tony, Ursula

• Opinion is divided between Peggy and Tony about whether Kirsty’s outburst would have impressed the jury. Re-examined by the prosecution, she had been made to look hot-headed.
• From the witness box Ursula describes Helen as unstable and unpredictable, liable to throw a tantrum; by the time she went home Ursula’s nerves were in shreds. The exploration – it was just an idea – of boarding school was out of concern for Henry’s safety; Helen went berserk when she found out. Where were Helen’s family in all this? Oh, we didn’t see much of them.
• Next comes Pat; she agrees that Helen’s state was fragile and confirms that Helen had said she would kill Rob. That’s all she has the chance to say. Apparently under cross-examination she did get the point across that Helen said it in the heat of the moment but Pat feels she has let Helen down.
• Now it is Helen’s turn; when Anna asks about her reaction to the boarding school incident, in a calm and composed voice she declares she was furious. She had already lost so much control over her life with Rob telling her what she could eat, wear, even how she would have the baby – at home; she did not want this, after the complications surrounding Henry’s birth. And her mother-in-law took his side on everything. The threat to kill was just a figure of speech, letting off steam. She describes the Easter incident: Rob caught Henry eating chocolate when told not to and made him throw both chocolate and new soft toy bunny away. Henry sobbed but Rob blamed her for spoiling him and wouldn’t let her go to him: he had to learn discipline. He hit her once because she wanted his mother to leave after a month; she couldn’t stand it any longer. He told her that she shouldn’t have been allowed to have children.
• On the fateful night she describes how Rob forced the knife into her hand and taunted her that killing herself was the only way she could leave. Henry appeared and, though Rob shouted at him, he stayed and pleaded with them to stop fighting. Rob went to grab Henry; she knew she had to stop him; it all happened so quickly. She believed Henry was in danger. Rob tried to get the knife and she was terrified. Then he collapsed. She was more concerned about caring for Henry, who had seen it all, than with Rob.
• Anna embarks on a new line of questioning – about the call to the domestic helpline 10 days before. Why? What was on her mind? Although Helen initially protests that she couldn’t talk about it, she then describes Rob’s determination to have a baby; she wasn’t ready but he wouldn’t listen; he plied her with wine and held her down. Rob raped her – not just once but over and over again.