Kathleen Richards was just 17 when she and her sister Deirdre found themselves on the doorstep of 25 Cromwell Street, Gloucester, seeking lodgings from a seemingly friendly local couple: Fred and Rose West.While growing up in poverty-stricken Dublin in the 1960s, Kathleen was abused from a young age. A move to England allowed her to escape, but even so life remained difficult, forcing her to seek refuge.At first, Cromwell Street provided freedom for the sisters who were ent...

For over 20 years, Joanne Lee's mother kept the remains of three newborn babies hidden in her wardrobe. For the first time since exposing her mother's crimes, Joanne breaks her silence over her family's horrific ordeal.Growing up, Joanne suffered at the hands of a violent boyfriend and controlling relatives, as her mother lapsed into a downward spiral following the break-up of her marriage. But the consequences of her mother's lifestyle turned out to be worse than Joanne could ever...

For 46 years, Carol Minto has quietly gone about her life, carrying with her the most extraordinary and heartbreaking secrets.Born into poverty and with mostly absent parents, Carol helped to raise her nine siblings. But when she was just 11 years old, her older brother began to sexually abuse her. After four years, Carol managed to escape – and ran away from home.Picked up by social services they place her at Aston Hall in Derby; a psychiatric hospital now infamous for the...

Alison Connolly, 49, was stabbed to death by two sisters in May 2015 who were later jailed. Alison had been sexually abused throughout her childhood by her father, and she had never been able to speak out. He later abused and raped Alison’s daughter, Tara. After her mother was murdered, Tara became intent on justice for them both. On the eve of her mother’s wake, she secretly recorded her grandfather’s confession and took her evidence to the police… This is a story of a woman who has ultim...

Christina O’Connor is the main prosecution witness from the Huddersfield Grooming scandal. In 2017, 11 men were convicted of a staggering 43 offences against her, including 22 counts of rape.In this memoir, Christina will describe how, from being a happy child with a loving family, she fell into the clutches of a grooming gang whose abuse of children earned them a total of 221 years in prison. Christina’s helpless parents tried desperately to save their 13 year old daughter as she ...

After a life in care, with both good and bad experiences of the system, Hope knows all too well what the risks are for children in care as they approach adolescence. Lacking any sense of self-worth or belonging, children in care are often dismissed by the authorities as impossible to manage and, worse, perceived as children who have invited sexual abuse by placing themselves in 'dangerous' situations. They quickly become invisible to the authorities - too old to be perceived as 'children' ...

“It was like going through a door which had been locked all my life. I had walked past it every single day, afraid to even rattle the handle. Now I was smashing the locks, I was wrenching it from the hinges, and I was marching through. Here I am!"A woman whose mother twice tried to kill her as a child has won a ground-breaking battle in the supreme courts for the right to claim compensation. Monica Allan’s legal victory set a precedent and has opened the floodgates for others to cl...

“I am just an ordinary mum, yet I would go to the ends of the earth to get justice for my daughter. If I can change the way people are treated, then Jodey will not have died in vain. I now feel that this was her destiny; to change the lives of millions of others.“While Jodey Whiting was stuck in hospital battling pneumonia over Christmas, a letter dropped on her doormat from the Department of Work and Pensions, asking her to attend an assessment. It was a letter she never saw....

Co-written by the writer of Sunday Times bestsellers The Asylum, The Convent, Silent Sisters and AbandonedHarrowing emotional story of horrific sexual abuse at the hands of a fatherSarah Sidebottom was repeatedly raped by both her father and her brother as a child has secured justice thanks to a forgotten letter.Sarah Sidebottom, 54, was raped and sexually abused by her father, Arthur William Bowditch, and her brother, Arthur Stephen Bowditch. They were jailed in 20...

Co-written by Ann Cusack, the Sunday Times bestselling author of The Asylum, The Convent, Silent Sisters and AbandonedA woman who was sexually abused by her own father and later gave birth to his daughter is now running a support group which spans 30 countries and has tens of thousands of supporters.Stace Don, now 36, was taken into foster care as a baby after being neglected by her parents. For seven years, she lived an idyllic life, believing her foster parents were her r...

Kathleen Richards was just 17 when she and her sister Deirdre found themselves on the doorstep of 25 Cromwell Street, Gloucester, seeking lodgings from a seemingly friendly local couple: Fred and Rose West.While growing up in poverty-stricken Dublin in the 1960s, Kathleen was abused from a young age. A move to England allowed her to escape, but even so life remained difficult, forcing her to seek refuge.At first, Cromwell Street provided freedom for the sisters who were ent...

Aged 12, Sam Walker Roberts was groomed online by a teacher who later sexually assaulted and raped her.Weeks later, she fell into the clutches of a paedophile ring and was raped repeatedly by a gang, only one of whom faced justice.Devastated at the failures in the judicial system, Sam launched: ‘You have not defeated me’, a campaign which demanded more support and understanding for grooming victims.In 2012, Sam worked with Keith Vaz on a government inquiry into localis...