Thefts, arson and abuse: The Archers - it's an everyday story of cuntery, folks.

[PseudoBadger]

Thanks to Lancelottie for the title

Raped not taped, bloody censorious phone.

Really liked the episode with Jess. It tied up Ethan's parentage well I thought, and slipped in that Rob did to Jess what he did to Helen - got her drunk and then raped her. I hope the rest of this storyline shows Helen how she gets the support she needs to get herself and Henry away from him ASAP and gets everyone who cares about her to support her, with her having the option to press charges. Could Usha be brought in soon? I hope the SL shows how practically she can leave and what legal help there is re bank accounts, the position re Henry is etc as well as the personal support. Personally I think it will also turn out that Rob has been heavily stealing from the shop.......

SexNames, I thought that too. Surely Jess wouldn't have wanted sex with anyone a few days later if Rob had raped her?

I don't think it's reasonable to speculate on why a rape victim might have slept with someone else by choice after being raped.

Well I don't think anyone can predict how they, or anyone else, would react to such a traumatic experience. And I think Jess said Ethan's dad was an old friend. She might have been looking for comfort and familiarity.

Tbh it makes perfect sense to me that she'd go off with someone else. Many rape victims seek out sex as a way to regain control over their experience or to deny what happened to them. That being said, Vince is right and speculation is probably not appropriate on this topic.

Delurking to say hello to you all. Ex-Mler here

I can't quite work out how this SL will end, either. Initially I thought something would happen to the baby, or that it would be a GURL, but now I'm not sure. I do think that the upthread analysis of Rob's standing being trashed when it all comes out what's been going on will cause him to leave. Sadly, I was once married to someone like Rob and for him others' perception of him was massively important.

Current DH finds the whole thing v difficult to listen to and takes solace in shouting rude words at the radio. I find it difficult, but it's really well done though I'm not sure I would ever meet up with ex's now wife

I think you might be over-analysing Jess's mindset after being raped by Rob: the SW had to invent a second liaison to explain how Rob could not be the father - more to do with tying up the storyline than developing Jess's character.

To think Rob will lose it and do something that is either witnessed by someone or that leaves evidence like bruising. Helen will need back up to leave him and there will be some resistance from the Rob fan club until the evidence is out there. Then Rob will be dethroned and run out of ambridge.

If both Helen and Jess went to the police to accuse Rob of rape, and it went to court, there's the possibility that other women would see his name and come forward with their own experiences of him. Or it might be that although he has never been charged with sexual assault in the past that there are allegations against him held by the police, and they will be looked at again if Hel/Jess go to the police.

GherkinsMummy I have a relative who left her abusive arse of a husband after over 25 years of marriage, and her life has been so much better since.
I hope you are able to do whatever you need or want to do to make your life better

Thank you Annie. I'm getting my ducks lined up.

thank you D3, that's made my day!! :)

You won't recognise my name, so I've sent you a pm telling you who I used to be

Lovely to see you here

Er... sorry for derail, everyone. As you were.

I thought Jess was very convincing and Hellin can't dismiss her the way she can Kirsty et al

Got it. Have replied. And how fab that we can swear here. That will come in useful.

Now, back to TA. Where is Alistair? In a flooded culvert? Buried under heaps of yellow towels?

Annienomouse a previous conviction or even something lying on file might be why Knob didn't want to adopt Henry in the end, but went for the parental thingy instead. There has to be some ramifications from his legal rights over Henry (or can that easily be overturned by H?) He is the father of this baby though - I think it will turn out to be a girl so he'll lose interest. That would be the best outcome for H - a girl would be easier to disassociate from Knob.

Yes, the swearing is v liberating!

I likes a good swear, I do

Alistair is going to fall for Dan's new girlfriend, I think. He's got form for it, after all, and what with St Smugula mooning around after DocLocke... (she's going to be livid when she realises he's after her little sister)

They've had so many scans though. Surely they can't have got it wrong every time.

Didn't they have a private scan fairly early on to determine the gender? Would that information be included in her hospital file?

I'm also confused by Jess's assertion months back that Rob had slept with her on Valentine's day (2015). If he had raped her as well, why would she have told Helen in such an ownershippy kind of way? I'm not trivialising rape in any way at all, but saying that it certainly was portrayed as a 'romantic' assignation between them back then.

I think it's less the complex reaction of a victim of abuse, and more inconsistency by the SWs. Trying to shoehorn in unmatching SLs to make sense of current events.

I thought Jess was admitting yesterday that she (Jess) let the sex happen even though it was obviously foolish thing to do, but Rob is very charming/sexy/persuasive (persuasive does not equal coercive).

Jess was way too nice yesterday. That's the only part that didn't ring so true.... But perhaps it could happen if Jess was just vindictive in past because of wanting to hurt Knob. And now Jess can just pity Helen. I can't remember what was said when Jess tried to 'warn' Helen.

I thought that too about the sex lljkk

From what I remember, Jess said 'You don't know what he's like' to Helen. I remember getting the impression that it had been an on'/off thing with them, and she kept going back to him despite her better judgement. But also that she didn't really want the relationship to be over. There was certainly no indication in the early days that his relationship with Jess was controlling. He had moved to Ambridge on his own, she was independently living in Hampshire looking after her dad, he seemed to have no power over her at all.

Jess did start the conversation in quite a defensive, scratchy way. She only opened up after Helen apologised for the way she behaved and when she realised that Helen was being abused in the same way she was.