Woman ‘raped by ex-husband who rejected divorce on religious grounds’

♦ An ultra-orthodox Jewish man kidnapped his ex-wife and raped her in a “dungeon” after refusing to grant her a religious divorce, a court heard.

The defendant, who cannot be named, allegedly lured the woman to a warehouse he owned with the help of Steven Hill, 54, under the pretext of collecting her granddaughter.

The 62-year-old and Mr Hill then bundled the woman into a concealed cellar where she was tied up before the ex-husband raped her on October 15, 2014, Snaresbrook Crown Court, in London, heard.

The husband is said to have left the woman locked in the cellar where she was able to call for help. Police found her later that day tied up, half naked and covered in bruises, jurors heard.

Charlotte Newell, prosecuting, said the couple had been granted a divorce in a UK court in 2008, but under their ultra-orthodox Hassidic religion “they are still technically husband and wife until he grants her a ‘get’ or ‘release’”. She said he had refused to grant his ex-wife a “get” and they lived apart. “They had no sexual relationship, and she described him as physically ‘sickening’,” said Ms Newell.

The defendant, from Hackney, London, denies two counts of rape and one count of false imprisonment.

Mr Hill, from Stoke Newington, London, denies one count of kidnap.

The trial continues.