A WOMAN who saw the father of her youngest child sent to prison for trying to rape her is still intent on marrying him.

Brian Mills, 27, was jailed for six years for a sexual assault on 27-year-old Debbie Southern, the mother of Louis, his two-year-old son.

But his sentence was cut to three years after Debbie went to a Court of Appeal hearing to say she had forgiven Mills.

And now they plan to get married on April 23.

She explained her actions: "It might seem hard to understand but I knew I couldn't live with myself if he'd served six years.

"People might say I'm not doing other women a favour. But I know I've got to listen to my heart for once and do what I think is right."

Debbie first met Brian, of Water Street, Runcorn, in a nightclub in Widnes nine years ago. But they did not become a couple until April 1994.

Their relationship worked well at first but it began to show signs of wear after eight months.

Debbie took up the story: "He turned into a possessive monster. He would constantly be demanding to know where I had been or who I was talking to. Some nights he would not come home at all."

The birth of their son Louis followed in August 1995 but Debbie was still worried about Brian's behaviour.

Last April, things came to a head when Mills hit Debbie. She threw him out.

Shortly afterwards, when Debbie was returning home from a night out with friends, a drunken Mills confronted her, dragged her into a park and tried to rape her.

Brian was arrested and Debbie, of Stenhills Crescent, Runcorn, needed four months of specialist counselling to help her cope with her traumatic experience.

She said: "I hated him. I couldn't believe what he had done to me and I couldn't believe he did not apologise in the days after the arrest. Even at his committal hearing he didn't look sorry.

"I was very down - almost suicidal. I nedded pills to help me sleep and pills to calm my nerves."

But amazingly she fell for him again following a visit to Risley Prison, where Brian was serving his time.

Debbie said: "He started writing to me from prison, asking about the children and saying how sorry he was.

"I went to see him and all my old emotions came flooding over me. I went from hate to love in just six weeks."

Brian proposed on one of Debbie's visits and she accepted immediately.

"I realised that I still loved him as much as ever and that I wanted us to be together," said Debbie.

The couple will get married on April 23 - the anniversary of their first date - at Risley.

She spoke of the future: "I'm not saying that everything will turn out all rosy - I just know that we can work together and prove everyone wrong about us.

"Brian deserves another chance at making something of his life and our lives together."

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