"I was supposed to be a bridesmaid for the man who raped me."

TRIGGER WARNING: This post deals with issues surrounding rape.

A woman was supposed to be a bridesmaid for her best friend from university, but after being raped by the groom she never walked down the aisle with her friend.

The groom, officer Daniel Howard, 29 was jailed for seven years because of his actions. But his wife, and the victim’s former best friend, April, doesn’t believe that the act ever happened.

The couple, from England, still got married weeks before the rape trial went to court. Her bridesmaid was not at the occasion.

“I only said something in the first place to try to 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,” the bride’s former best friend told the Mirror.

The situation has only worsened for the former bridesmaid when her friendship ground became divided over the difficult situation.

“I went travelling around Asia by myself before all this, now I’m scared to live by myself in England," she said in a victim impact statement.

The alleged rape took place during a night out. The bride and groom-to-be were in a room next door to the woman. Howard went in to the bridesmaid's room and sexually assaulted her.

After the attack, the victim took herself to a hospital after trying to call her boyfriend whose phone was switched off at the time. Nurses alerted police.

The (now) 26-year-old woman said after the incident her boyfriend was extremely supportive of her. But she explained he really struggled with his own guilt as he'd been uncontactable on the night it occurred. Ultimately their relationship ended because neither were coping well.

“He committed suicide a few months after we broke up," the victim told the Mirror.

Howard's DNA was found on intimate swabs taken from the woman but he claimed that she had got that from a sex toy he had used earlier in the week. He claimed she had set it up because she was jealous of their relationship.

The court said his story was, “Ludicrous, cold-blooded and insulting”. It took the jury less than two hours to find him guilty.

“This attempt to humiliate your victim severely exacerbated the wrong you had already done to her," recorder Andrew Sutcliffe, QC, told Howard.

Howard and April still got married. It took place last month, and his bride was very upset when her new husband was found guilty.

And after all she'd been through, the victim said in her statement that she was really sad to have lost her friendship with April - one that she thought was strong and everlasting. She also admitted that initially she blamed herself for the rape.

“I blamed myself until I had counselling. I thought the playsuit I wore was too provocative, but any 24-year-old would have worn it. Then I thought maybe I looked too similar to April," she wrote.

The 26-year-old says her future plans have been ripped away and she is dealing with post traumatic syndrome.

If you are a victim of sexual assault you can find support at Reach Out.