Forced to pay thousands to MY CHILD'S ABUSER

The law made Kirsty Easthope compensate a man who'd caused her nothing but pain

- FRANCESCA WOODSTOCK, KATIE PEARSON

A house is just bricks and mortar. But a home is so much more than that. It’s a place of warmth and safety, where you create memories and spend precious time with family. My parents’ home was very much my safe place. I had such fond memories growing up in their bungalow, which they’d bought in 1983. There was the table where I’d sat revising for my O-levels, the kitchen that my mum Irma kept so spotless, and the constant din of the radio – Mum put on Radio York while she pottered around and my dad Alan listened intently to the football scores every Saturday teatime.

When Dad passed away in May 1996, aged 71, I worried about Mum living alone. By then I was 25 and living down the road with my then husband, so I visited her as often as I could.

Then, two years later, in 1998, Mum met Arthur Peter Hepple, then 59, who she called Peter – a regular at the local bowls club.

He moved into Mum’s bungalow the following year and I was happy for Mum – I liked Peter. He was nine years younger than Mum, but it wasn’t a big deal. She was happy, and she was a young 68, physically active and making an effort with her appearance, her hair neatly coiffed and her make-up done.

By then, I was a mum myself to a baby girl, Louise*, and he doted on her like a grandad, playing peek-a-boo and throwing her, giggling, into the air.

He’d even mow my lawn after I moved house, when I was busy with Louise or with my job as a lunchtime supervisor at a primary school.