A BRIDESMAID pulled out of her best friend’s wedding after she was raped by the groom.
But bride April Howard went ahead with the ceremony despite the accusations, refusing to believe that her future hubby could be responsible for the attack.
However groom, Royal Army Medical Corps officer Daniel Howard, was found guilty after a trial and jailed for seven years. His victim, who has not been named, said: “I was meant to be bridesmaid at her wedding.
“We were meant to have children at similar times and raise them together. I only said something in the first place to try and protect April. “I couldn’t have stood in church on her wedding day knowing what had happened and that it would most probably happen again.
“Our whole friendship group has become divided when I most needed my close friends.”
The victim was raped when she stayed at the couple’s house as her best friend April slept in the next room.
She went to hospital following the attack where nurses contacted police and Howard, 29, was arrested.
The woman, now 26, told how her life had been torn apart following the attack and her boyfriend at the time later killed himself.
She said: “He felt partly responsible for what had happened, he had turned his phone off that night. I couldn’t get hold of him.
“He never forgave himself for that. He always worried every time I went somewhere and wouldn’t sleep if I went out, it put a strain on us.
