Timmy realised many years after he was sexually abused how he had been affected by the incident
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Participants have given us permission to share their experiences.
Timmy’s Scout leader, Eric, went out of his way to provide activities for boys, some of them unofficial.
‘Looking back, I think a lot of the signs were there’ says Timmy.
As well as leading the local Boy Scouts troop and taking the boys to outings like swimming lessons, Eric regularly invited them to his smallholding.
There was a lot of space, and Eric let the boys play in the grounds and outbuildings. These invitations and activities were completely independent of the Scouts.
Eric would often approach the boys from behind and put his arms around them. ‘There were some children who called him creepy’ recalls Timmy.
One day, when Timmy was at Eric’s place with a group of other children, he ended up alone in an outbuilding with the Scout leader. Eric approached Timmy from behind, grabbed him and put his hand down Timmy’s trousers. Timmy was 11 years old.
He can’t remember how the incident came to an end, but says ‘It was nothing more than touching … but I remember that night thinking “That wasn’t right”, but trying to make excuses for it’.
Timmy did not mention what had happened to anyone, until a few weeks later, when the police came to the family home to speak to him about the Scout leader. It emerged that another boy had been sexually abused by Eric and had told his mother.
‘If he hadn’t done that I probably never would have mentioned it, so I am grateful’ says Timmy.
Timmy went to the police station with his mother to be interviewed on camera. Eric was later convicted of several counts of sexual abuse against boys.
Timmy says he spent most of his life thinking that the experience had not really affected him. ‘It’s only as I got older I’ve realised some things are related to what happened’ he adds.
As a teenager, he self-harmed quite regularly. He remembers being scared that he might ‘turn out to be like the Scout leader’.
Being in spaces where he feels his path is blocked, or that he is confined or trapped, makes him uncomfortable and he says ‘I hate not being in control of myself’.
Timmy thinks that society should equip parents to be able to ask their children questions to check if situations have made them feel uncomfortable, without scaring or robbing them of positive experiences.
He would also like to see provision of immediate support for people with mental health issues; he feels that the sooner help is provided the more chance there is of preventing a crisis or breakdown.