Care home volunteer guilty of vile rapes of children
Duffy preyed on kids
A FORMER kids’ home volunteer was yesterday convicted of grooming and sexually abusing three children more than 30 years ago.
Joe Duffy, 60 – a civilian custody officer with the police for 20 years – was found guilty of raping two young sisters and sexually abusing a boy at a home run by nuns in the 1980s.
Duffy, of Glasgow, said the allegations were “mindboggling and incredible”.
He insisted nothing ever happened and his victims only went to the police so they’d get compensation – but a jury took less than two hours to convict him.
The court heard that during his time volunteering at the home, Duffy would drive a minibus and take the children on outings. He slept at the home on Fridays.
One of Duffy’s victims said he raped her at one of these sleepovers when she was 12 and he was 24 or 25.
She said it happened in the living room while other children dozed nearby.
The witness said the nun in charge would go to bed at 10pm and leave Duffy with the children.
Asked by prosecutor Steven Borthwick: “Did you want him to do that?” the witness replied: “No.” Asked how she had felt, she said: “Ashamed and dirty.”
Her sister said: “Joe abused me for many years.
“It moved from a safe relationship to something inappropriate. He began touching me when I was 13 or 14.”
She said Duffy sexually abused her at Eastwood swimming pool and on the day she left the care home. he was supposed to drive her home to her family but instead took her to his house and raped her.
Asked if she had wanted to have sex, she said: “No.”
Afterwards, she said, Duffy behaved “as normal”, as if nothing had happened.
The witness, now 48, added: “The nuns said I was infatuated with Joe.
“They just assumed I was a lovesick puppy. I was told by the nuns to sort myself out and stay away from him.”
The court heard that Duffy kept in touch with the woman, and in 1994 or 1995, they were briefly engaged.
A 46-year-old man told the court Duffy abused him at the home and when he took him out on a number of weekends.
He said: “Every night it got seriously worser and worser.”
The witness said Duffy would strip naked, get into bed with him and sexually abuse him.
Asked, “Did you want him to do that?” he replied: “No, I was only 11.”
Duffy will be sentenced at the High Court in Aberdeen on March 16.
He was remanded in custody and placed on the sex offenders’ register. VICTORIA Smith spent her whole career hiding a big secret – terrified she would become an outcast in the macho world of racing.
As Vince Smith, she suppressed her wish to be female, passing herself off as one of the lads and even as a bit of a hellraiser.
Looking back over 50 years of her life as a man, she said: “I had a reputation for chasing women with the rowdy lads.
“I was very fortunate, I went out with some stunning girls. I was in love with them but also envious of how they looked.”
Pals had no idea of the real reason Vince was so keen on “eyeing up the girls”.
Victoria added: “I’d find myself looking at women not because I fancied them but to examine their clothes and make-up.”
Since living as a woman, Victoria has received moving messages of solidarity from friends in racing, including three-time champion jockey Richard Dunwoody and Cheltenham Gold Cup winner Graham Bradley.
She said: “Everyone in racing was completely shocked. But the support has been absolutely unbelievable and overwhelming, the opposite of what I expected.
“During the 80s and 90s, racing was a very masculine sport so the idea of anyone finding out terrified me. It was such a relief when I finally confided in a friend because I had lived with this secret inside since the age of five.
“It felt as if I had been in prison that whole time and then suddenly released.”
The jockey has never married and has no children but enjoys the support of ex-partners including Lorina Anderson.
Victoria said: “I have had four long-term relationships with women, ranging from four to seven years. They’re all still in touch and I went out to celebrate my last girlfriend’s birthday weeks ago.
“It was really nice she wanted me there. We split three years ago but are on good terms.”
Victoria is now in talks to ride in charity races over the next year.
She added: “I rode as a male for 17 years while always wanting to be female. But if I was born a woman I wouldn’t have had opportunities in racing or made all the friends I did.
“So I want to finish off my career by racing as a female. I’m determined to do it.”
Victoria, who grew up in London, experimented with her mum’s make-up and shoes as a young boy.
In public, she put on a macho persona – often getting into fights with classmates.
She said: “I tried to make myself harder. I could feel this femininity inside so made myself more aggressive to compensate. I was in a battle with myself... it was like a double life.” Victoria had dreamed of being a jump jockey after watching racing with her grandfather. She had lessons in Richmond Park and at 16 moved to Newmarket to become an apprentice. At 18, on April 14, 1983, she rode her first race, the Daily Mirror Apprentice Championship Handicap. She enjoyed a 17-year career on the flat and jumps, winning 250 races, appearing at Royal Ascot three times and riding the Topham Chase over Aintree’s National fences and the Cheltenham County Hurdle.
Victoria said: “During good times, I managed to suppress my femininity but whenever an injury or relationship problem came along, it always surfaced again.”
After retiring as a jockey, Victoria went on to train 82 winners in five years. Her biggest win was in 2005 when 20/1 shot Blitzkrieg took the Autumn Stakes at Salisbury.
Even while sipping champagne in the winner’s enclosure, however, she was secretly dreaming of becoming a woman. In 2015, a