'There was so much abuse – for him it was just a way of living'

“The abuse got so bad that when he went to pick up a takeaway, I would fear for the person serving him” - these are the words of a woman who survived the horrific abuse of a dangerous sex offender and domestic abuser.

- LUCY JOHN Reporter [e-mail]

As a survivor of sexual violence, she has bravely decided to waive her right to lifelong anonymity to speak openly about Daniel Wide's sadistic treatment of her. We will not be naming her, but it means we can publish details about their interactions that would otherwise be prohibited.

This article contains details of sexual violence and rape, which might be distressing for some readers.

“I am speaking out to warn other women,” the woman said. “I worry about how much anger he could take out on other women in the future. Especially because he openly hates women.”

The woman from Cardiff said she became involved with 33-year-old Wide about seven years ago, having vaguely known him through mutual friends prior to that.

She said a chance meeting marked the beginning of an ordeal so life-changing that she clearly remembered the date he walked into her life.

“It was August 5, 2018,” she said. “A family member fell outside my house and Dan happened to be walking past. I hadn't seen him for years. He came over and he picked them up and seemed really nice.

“A couple of days later, I was in town catching a bus home and I called, ‘Dan!’ and that was it. He sat next to me on the bus on the way home and that was it. We started seeing each other from then on.”

The woman explained how at the time she was in a very bad place mentally. She said she was convinced Wide picked up on that and used it to his advantage.

She described how he would regularly say he had “invisible handcuffs” on her and viewed her as a slave. She believed this was because he knew how to exploit her vulnerabilities and manipulate her.

She said: “I was very mentally unwell at the time. He made out he was helping me with that at the beginning. I was so vulnerable and he could sense it. He said as soon as he saw me he knew how kind I was.