A YORK man whose disabled wife set fire to their marital home told today told of his distress at being "painted as an ogre" in the resulting court case.

Graham Spaven spoke of his love and support for wife Dawn, who was given a two-year suspended sentence at York Crown Court last week.

Dawn, who suffers from multiple sclerosis and walks with a stick, started a blaze at the couple's home in Constantine Avenue, Tang Hall, last year.

Judge Paul Hoffman told her: "You were, and had been for some time, labouring under intolerable stress.

"That morning, you had been humiliated to a point which no wife should endure, by your husband."

But Mr Spaven, 48, today told how he refused to give evidence against his wife, and spoke of his horror at seeing himself portrayed in this way.

He said: "I have been painted as an ogre and it is just not true.

"I love Dawn. We don't row and I have never hit her. I'm not annoyed at her even though she set fire to the house. That is just an inconvenience."

The court was told that, on the day of the fire, Mr Spaven, a paint-sprayer, had given a "very humiliating" sexual note to his wife and further humiliated her at lunchtime.

He claims what was highlighted were normal exchanges between any married couple that had been "twisted".

He said the note had read: "If you play your cards right, you can have my body tonight." He said the lunchtime incident involved his kissing her on the neck and cheekily peering down her top.

Mr Spaven told how when he met Mrs Spaven ten years ago she was a fun-loving outgoing person, who worked as a supervisor at a Presto supermarket in George Hudson Street.

But, in a character reference he provided for the court hearing, he said: "Sadly, when Dawn was diagnosed with multiple sclerosis, her world fell apart a great shock to both of us, and at her young age it has been and still is a great fear for her."

He told the Evening Press that on the morning of the fire, Mrs Spaven, 38, had sent fond text messages to him on his mobile phone and had been gathering geraniums in the garden.

He claimed his wife had run away roughly 20 times since her MS diagnosis about three years ago, once for as long as five months, and mainly to women's refuges.

He said: "I have asked her why she does it, but she just says she doesn't know. It is a way of life for me now. I always take her back."

Mrs Spaven has been away from home since the day of the fire and Mr Spaven does not know her whereabouts.

Updated: 09:22 Thursday, February 01, 2001