Laurie says ‘I feel that my childhood innocence was brutally snatched from me at such a young age’
All names and identifying details have been changed.
Participants have given us permission to share their experiences.
As a young boy, Laurie was subjected to sexual abuse by three different men. He did not speak about this in detail for nearly 60 years.
He has reported the perpetrators to the police and says he feels relieved ‘it is now out in the open’.
Laurie describes how he and his family were groomed by a teacher at his infant school, before the man began to abuse Laurie when he was seven years old. Laurie says he never liked Mr P but the teacher befriended his family and would often take him and his brother out at the weekend for ‘fun excursions and lavish lunches’.
The abuse began in the swimming changing rooms when Mr P would insist on drying Laurie after every lesson, repeatedly patting him around his genitals and backside. Laurie recounts that he would dread this happening so much that he was too anxious to swim during the class.
Mr P took a further opportunity to abuse Laurie after a rehearsal for the school Christmas concert. The teacher kept Laurie back alone and locked the school doors. He ordered him to undress and put on a flimsy costume. The teacher touched his genitals on the pretext of fitting the garment then started to take photographs and film.
Laurie remembers his heart pounding and he was shivering as he was so cold. He says he wanted to run home but he was afraid it would anger Mr P and go against him on his school record.
When it was over, Laurie cried during the whole walk home but says he dried his tears before going into the house and never told anyone about the abuse.
Laurie suffered further abuse and humiliation at the hands of Mr P on a school trip to a holiday camp. The teacher entered Laurie into a fancy dress competition against his wishes. He dressed and made Laurie up as a sexualised caricature of a female, and sexually abused him as he was getting him ready.
When Laurie was eight years old he was abused by a young man who was a neighbour. He and his friends were making fun of the man, who then dragged Laurie into his house and forced him to masturbate him.
Laurie remembers being extremely distressed and pleading to be let go. Later, with great difficulty and confusion, he told his parents what had happened. His father confronted the young man’s father who apologised profusely. No other action was taken.
The third person who abused Laurie was a member of the choir, Mr S, at his local church. Like Mr P, Mr S befriended Laurie’s family and invited the two brothers to his home and on outings. One day Laurie was alone with Mr S in his car when the man stopped in an isolated place and sexually abused him.
Laurie felt petrified and desperately wanted to get away but was scared that if he ran away from the car he could get lost or Mr S might become violent. Instead Laurie pretended to be sick and Mr S took him home.
Laurie says the sexual abuse he experienced has had a ‘devastating effect’ on his life and that ‘hardly a day goes by where I do not think about the events from 58 years ago.’
He reports that he has suffered depression and suicidal thoughts. He has regular nightmares about the abuse and wakes up crying. He struggles with feelings of shame and guilt and that he is in some way responsible for what happened.
Laurie failed his 11+ exam, which he feels prevented him achieving his academic potential. Although he has had a very successful career, he feels that without his experiences he could have achieved much more.
He doesn’t wish to be critical of his parents but he finds it difficult to understand why they didn’t question Mr P’s motives for taking their sons out alone. He adds that he finds it difficult to understand why his parents did not report the second episode of abuse to the police.
Laurie would like to see better protection of children. He feels it is important to share his experiences with the Truth Project so lessons can be learnt to stop abuse happening to other children in the future.