M aya enjoyed every single second of watching her husband in the dock of Kingston Crown Court.

Mohammed Alakkawi, 25, refused to meet her eye last month as he was sentenced to more than 26 years for blackmailing her into marrying him and subjecting her to years of unrelenting control, abuse and sexual violence.

“Watching him get sentenced was so satisfying, I can't lie,” she told The Independent.

For the three years of their unhappy marriage she felt “so small and weak and scared and terrified” as she was sworn and shouted out, raped, assaulted and burned with cigarettes, she explained.

“This was my chance to sit there and stare at him and be like, I did it,” said Maya, whose name has been changed to protect her right to anonymity and is sharing her story for the first time to help empower other women to speak out. “You didn't kill me. You didn't scare me. You did for a while. You don't scare me anymore.…