'You took my childhood away from me,' daughter tells abuser as he is jailed

The daughter of a man who raped and abused her during her childhood told him that she will "never be able to break free from the chains that you bound me in" as she watched him being jailed.
'You took my childhood away from me,' daughter tells abuser as he is jailed'You took my childhood away from me,' daughter tells abuser as he is jailed
'You took my childhood away from me,' daughter tells abuser as he is jailed

Elliott Appleyard, 71, carried out the repeated sexual abuse of his daughter, Carol Higgins, when she was aged between 14 and 15, with prosecutors explaining how he would rape her "three or four times a week" during the 1980s.

Leeds Crown Court was told how Miss Higgins, who has waived her right to anonymity, was even made to wear an engagement ring belonging to the wife of Appleyard, and was forced to have a tattoo of his nickname put on her shoulder.

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Leeds Crown Court heard how the pensioner used violence to control those closest to him, once using a machete to threaten his wife for having a "sex dream".

'You took my childhood away from me,' daughter tells abuser as he is jailed'You took my childhood away from me,' daughter tells abuser as he is jailed
'You took my childhood away from me,' daughter tells abuser as he is jailed

Miss Higgins, 49, first reported the offences to the police in 1985, but said she was told that proceeding any further would "blacken her name" and that she would be considered to be the "biggest slag going".

On Friday, the victim, of Pontefract, waved her father away as he was jailed for 20 years, having been convicted by a jury of five counts of rape and 10 of indecent assault.

In a victim-impact statement read in court by prosecutor Peter Hampton, she told Appleyard: "You took my childhood away from me, and treated me like a slave.

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"For 35 years I have been made to suffer the loss of my father and my family.

"Part of me wishes that someone on the street had raped me instead, because at least then I would have had the love and support of my family."

Discussing her mental state since the abuse, she said: "I wanted to reach down inside my stomach and pull away the foulness that you planted inside me.

"I will never be able to break free from the chains that you bound me in."

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In the statement, Miss Higgins added that she felt "let down" by the establishment, having also gone to the police about the offending in 2005 and 2012.

His Honour Judge Rodney Jameson QC, sentencing, told the sex offender, of Denby Dale, Huddersfield: "For a 12-month period you treated Carol Higgins as your wife.

"You used her for sex, and abused her physically, as you did your own wife.

"It is not surprising that she felt then, and feels now, suffering, embarrassment, shame and even guilt.

"It is clear that the effects of these offences have been both profound and lifelong."