‘I still get nightmares over 11-year rape hell’
from front page Taylor, of Flimwell, Sussex, was found guilty at Canterbury Crown Court of 30 rapes, sex abuse, false imprisonment and perverting the course of justice.
He smirked in the dock as details of his sickening crimes were recited by the judge before sentence.
Prosecutor Vivian Walters told the jury: “From 2006, the relationship deteriorated into a catalogue of violence and emotional, physical and sexual abuse.
“The abuse was often fuelled by the defendant’s use of drugs; at first cocaine and later steroids, and lasted many years, turning Kirsty Screene from the happy, confident young woman she had been, into a terrified, humiliated and powerless individual, unable to escape or to tell anyone about the full extent of what was taking place in her own home.”
Now, Miss Screene, who lives near Deal, has waved her right to anonymity to warn others of the dangers of being abused and to encourage those similarly affected to speak out.
Speaking to the Kent Messenger following the sentencing, she said: “I was scared. I didn’t have family or friends in Maidstone and I wasn’t allowed to work. It lasted 11 years and I still get nightmares, flashbacks and panic attacks. He has ruined my life but I can’t give up for the sake of my kids.
“I just want to help other people by speaking out now. I don’t want anyone else to go through what I did.”
The judge in the case, Recorder Mark Van Der Zwart commended Det Constable Natalie Davidson and civilian investigator Nicola Brown for their “exemplary” detective work, in bringing Taylor to justice.
He added: “They have shown the highest standards of care and performed their duties in an exemplary way in the way they investigated and prosecuted this case.”