Ann Cusack – författare

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 entertained by Fred's quirky behaviour. Kathleen was also happy to make a new friend in her fellow lodger, Shirley Robinson.But then, things took a sinister turn: Fred began to abuse Kathleen with his wife's encouragement. And, when Shirley suddenly disappeared too, Kathleen's world began to grow very dark...This is a chilling account of what it's like to come face-to-face with Britain's most notorious serial killers, but it is also an inspiring account of the resilience of women and how to find happiness after trauma.

'Under Their Roof...does so much more than chronicle her time living with the Wests. It's a desperately sad insight into what makes someone vulnerable to abusers... but ultimately, this is a book about the triumph - however painful and even fluky - of good over evil.' Simon Hattenstone, GUARDIAN'My stomach was clenched tight. I knew there was no way I could swallow a single morsel. Playing in my mind was a slideshow of evil, fragments of memory, glued together by fear: Fred and Rose West dragging me off the pavement, Fred pinning me on the sofa while Rose stroked my hair...'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 entertained by Fred's quirky behaviour. Kathleen was also happy to make a new friend in her fellow lodger, Shirley Robinson.But then, things took a sinister turn: Fred began to abuse Kathleen with his wife's encouragement. And, when Shirley suddenly disappeared too, Kathleen's world began to grow very dark...This is a chilling account of what it's like to come face-to-face with Britain's most notorious serial killers, but it is also an inspiring account of the resilience of women and how to find happiness after trauma.

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 entertained by Fred's quirky behaviour and endless DIY. Kathleen was also happy to make a new friend in her fellow lodger, Shirley Robinson.But then, things took a sinister turn: Fred began to abuse Kathleen with his wife's encouragement. And, when Shirley suddenly disappeared too, Kathleen's world began to grow very dark...This is a chilling account of what it's like to come face-to-face with Britain's most notorious serial killers, but it is also an inspiring account of the resilience of women and how to find happiness after trauma.

On March 2nd, 2019, Yousef Makki, a scholarship pupil at Manchester Grammar school, was stabbed in the heart by one of his friends on a quiet, leafy street in the wealthy Manchester suburb of Hale Barns.The two boys who were with him as the 17-year-old lay dying from a 12cm deep knife wound were brought up in the affluent surrounding areas and like Yousef had attended expensive public schools. But unlike them, Yousef was not from a wealthy family. He grew up seven miles and a world away on a council estate in Burnage and won a life changing bursary to a prestigious grammar school.Just four months after Yousef was killed, a jury found his friend not guilty of murder or manslaughter. The outcome has been widely questioned, raising issues of class, wealth, and privilege in the justice system.Yousef died from a single stab wound to the chest. When his sister, Jade, collected his blood-stained clothes and personal possessions, he had a single pound coin in his pocket.This is Jade's personal story of her brother and how the fight for justice has transformed her life.

"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 claim in her wake. Thanks to her 12-year legal fight, other victims now have hope. Other victims now have a voice.In her memoir, Monica, 54, tells the story of her childhood, when her mother, Betty Mount, forced her head under running bathroom taps and tried to strangle her. She had previously tried to kill Monica as a baby.Monica was taken into foster care, where her new parents ran a brutal regime. To the outside world, the family was devoutly religious and respectable, but behind closed doors, Monica was physically and sexually abused.Failed by a second mother figure, she moved into her own home aged 18 and went on to have four children. Monica loved her children but battled constantly with the demons from her past. She carried her dark secrets around with her for 40 years until in 2010, haunted by her trauma, she finally decided to seek justice. She was told she could not seek compensation because of the ‘same roof’ rule, meaning victims who lived with their attackers up to 1979 were ineligible for pay-outs.For the past 12 years Monica has been fighting her case through the Supreme Courts and was recently awarded compensation from CICA in respect of the sexual abuse she suffered in foster care. She is awaiting a second settlement for the attacks by her mother.

"He had raped me, had me beaten up, drained me of every last shred of self-respect. Surely he would leave me alone now? But that evening, as I was eating with my parents, the phone rang. My blood ran cold…"Christina O’Connor is the main prosecution witness from the Huddersfield Grooming scandal which saw 11 men convicted of a staggering 43 offences against her, including 22 counts of rape.Christina will describe how, from being an innocent child in a normal family, she fell into the clutches of a grooming gang whose abuse of children earned them a total of 257 years in prison. Christina’s helpless parents tried desperately to save their 13 year old daughter as she began playing truant, and was lured into sexual activities with complete strangers, in exchange for pizza, vodka and cannabis.After five years of almost daily rape, Christina committed robberies under duress from the grooming gang and was jailed. She made a complaint to police about the abuse, but no action was taken.She sees the prison term as her salvation; from this moment she turned her life around. Two years after her release, her police statement was found at the back of a filing cabinet, and Operation Tendersea, the investigation into the grooming gang was launched.This is the first time Christina has spoken out. She has waived her right to anonymity and wants the world to hear her voice.

"What mattered was that someone listened to me. Someone believed me, after 25 years. That means everything."A mum of three who was abused and raped as a child by her own father has revealed her ordeal drove her into the clutches of middle-aged paedophiles.Trish Hinde, 35, was sexually abused by her father, Gerard King, from the age of six. Alone and scared, she internalised her trauma and began suffering from violent seizures. Her father took responsibility for her epilepsy care, even abusing her on hospital visits.Trish and her five siblings were neglected, often relying on neighbours for food and watching helplessly as bailiffs carried away their possessions. In her early teens, Trish was recklessly promiscuous and became a victim of child sexual exploitation, often finding herself in danger.She reported her childhood abuse many times, in letters to family members and social workers, in an essay she wrote at school, to a therapist and to NSPCC. But, despite her father being jailed for abusing another child, her complaint never went any further. Trish became suicidal and despairing. Her relationships seemed doomed because she had damaging flashbacks and seizures whenever she became intimate.But in 2015, she met her husband, Craig, and found true happiness. They had three children, Jacob, now six, Oscar, five and Jessica, three. But Trish was overly protective of her children and did not like her husband looking after their daughter. Realising her past history was damaging her marriage, she decided to go to the police. This time, at last, they listened.In April 2022, Gerard King, 59, was convicted of rape, indecent assault and indecency with a child at Chester Crown Court. Trish maintains the court case and conviction were not important to her.

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' by the system and yet, far too young to be safe in an adult world. Hope was brought up in care from the age of nine. Until now, she has never spoken about what happened to her once she left the security of her children's home at the age of 13 and moved into a 'secure unit'. It may have been secure but it was never 'safe'. In this new book, she lifts the lid on this untold chapter of her story and the devastating effects she experienced when she reconnected with her past. This isn't Love is a book that not only casts blame on the men and women who abuse children in care, but also on those who avert their gazes in the belief that these children are 'asking for it'. Hope's story ends on a hopeful note, championing victims of abuse and encouraging others to tell their story.

Sarah Sidebottom was repeatedly raped by both her father and her brother as a child hassecured justice thanks to a forgotten letter. Sarah Sidebottom, 54, was raped and sexuallyabused by her father, Arthur William Bowditch, and her brother, Arthur Stephen Bowditch.They were jailed in 2022 for a total of 32 years.The first attack, when she was just three and a half years old, left Sarah needing surgery torepair internal damage. A decades-old letter from her doctor proved crucial in securing aconviction for the abuse, which began almost 50 years go.Sarah, 54, now happily married and a mum of two, runs a charity for ex-army veterans withher husband, Darren, himself a former soldier, in Barnsley, South Yorks. She's even beena guest at Buckingham palace in her charity role - a far cry from the suffering of her earlyyears.Sarah also shares a special bond with her dog, Kayla, a German Shepherd, who saved her lifewhen she has felt unable to carry on.She says: "I had no idea about the surgery until 2021, and I saw my medical records. I washorrified, but at the same time, this was exactly what the prosecution needed to build acase against my father. After staying silent for nearly 50 years, part of my healing process ishaving a voice and speaking out."

A 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 real parents. But a chance encounter with her natural father, Nigel Taylor, shattered her happiness and she was later moved from her foster home, away from the family she loved.Upset and angry that she had been lied to, and confused about her own identity, Stace spent the remainder of her childhood flipping between different homes. Aged 17, she visited Nigel Taylor and he refused to let her leave. Over six months, he sexually, physically, and mentally abused her, forcing her to behave in a 'wifely' role; cooking, cleaning, washing.He paraded her as his partner in pubs and in shops, and even took her house-hunting, claiming they would live as a couple. She was also expected to have sex with him and endure sickening levels of intimacy. Stace fell pregnant aged 18 and, despite her loathing for her father, was determined to keep her baby.Nigel Taylor was jailed for seven years in April 2011 at Basildon Crown Court after admitting sexual activity with a child family member. Stace now runs a blog and support group for other survivors of sexual abuse. Her daughter, aged 16, is fully supportive of her mother's work.

“You might have thought I would run for my life, scream at the top of my voice, smash the nearest window. But I was beaten and broken and I could take no more...”When Sam was only 12 years old, she was groomed online by a man who went on to sexually assault and rape 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.It could have been a series of events which broke her but Sam channeled her pain, rage and devastation at the failures in the judicial system into a campaign for change.Over and over she refused to take no for an answer, demanding more support and understanding for grooming victims as well as harsher sentences for abusers.Sam has battled back from unimaginable tragedy and devastation in her personal life to fight for change, not just for herself but for the countless victims of abuse still out there.