THE former wife of sex fiend Nigel Coates has appeared on national television to tell of her harrowing ordeal.

Christine Haywood, of Acomb, York. spoke on ITV's daytime show This Morning of how she had been forced by her husband, Nigel, to have sex with his father, Raymond Coates.

The show's hosts, Fern Britton and Phillip Schofield, looked visibly shocked as she explained why she had agreed to their demands, and described her experiences.

She said Nigel had been violent and gained full control of her life, telling her what she could wear and do. He had also distanced her from her family and friends, causing her to lose a lot of contact with her parents.

He had then told her she would lose custody of their son if she refused his demands to have sex with his father.

She said Nigel Coates had said to her: "Think about it. You are not going to get custody. You are going to lose your son if you don't do this."

Christine said she had been determined not to lose her son and so had allowed the abuse to begin. She said they had been living in a two-up, two-down home at the time, and Nigel had wanted money from his father to pay for a bigger house. She said his father came to the house within 20 minutes and they went upstairs, where he had sex with her.

She said the abuse continued, sometimes once a week, until eventually "something snapped", she separated and met a "nice" man.

Christine was on the show after writing a hard-hitting novel, Thoughts, Memories And Consequence, under the name of Patricia Woods, based on her experiences, as a way of dealing with the trauma.

It includes extracts from The Press reports of Nigel Coates' trial, at the end of which he was jailed for 13 years after being found guilty of forcing Christine and later his second wife, Linda Allsopp, to have sex with his father, a former North Yorkshire county councillor.

Christine spoke on This Morning about her unhappiness that Raymond Coates had not been well enough to stand trial. She said she always feared she might bump into him when she was out.

The Press revealed in December how she had written the book, which told the story of a broken woman's emotional journey towards healing and wholeness.

"Writing this book has been my way of dealing with things," she said.

"I suffered nine years of hell and I don't think Nigel was ever properly punished for what he did to me. He used my son, so I was stuck in a Catch-22 situation. I couldn't leave him with Nigel."

Christine said she hoped the book would prove an inspiration to other women who had suffered a similar ordeal.

"Memories can't hurt you, they are just storage in our minds," she said.