Absued By The Paedo Next Door

Only 8 when it started. Conviction 30 years on. I want to help others.

- Kelly Strange

The first time it happened, my friend Sarah and I were playing with dolls in her bedroom.

Her stepdad Graham Carson popped his head round the door.

‘Why don’t you go and give your baby a bath?’ he said to Sarah.

She went off to the bathroom, leaving me and Graham alone.

I was 8, and often popped next door to play with Sarah.

Graham was Sarah’s mum’s new partner. To me, he was just another grown-up. But then…

‘I’m going to make you feel better,’ he said, once Sarah was out of earshot.

He pulled me on top of him while he was lying on the bed, and started moving me up and down. Then he began touching and kissing me. 

I wanted so much for it to stop. 

‘If you tell anyone about this, they’ll laugh at you,’ he smirked after. ‘No-one will believe you.’

I knew what he was doing was wrong, I just didn’t know why.

Shock revelation

After that, the abuse became regular. Carson liked to play that game Murder In The Dark, where he’d turn the lights off and us kids would hide.

Only, I was the one he always caught first…

Eventually, I plucked up the courage to tell a couple of my schoolfriends what was going on – but, just as Carson said, they didn’t believe me.