DETERMINATION ON DROPPED CASE My battle to bring child rape stepdad to justice
her school alerted social services. He was questioned but in 2010 the case was dropped due to lack of evidence.
Naomi moved out at 17 to live with a boyfriend and fell pregnant. But in 2011 there was fresh anguish. She was forced to give up the baby because of family contact with Graham. He was still on the social services radar and was considered a risk to the child.
Naomi says: “It was heartbreaking. I’d done all I could to get away, but Graham still had a hold over my life.” Naomi spent the next three years getting her life back on track. She found work and a new partner.
By 2014 she had found the strength to go to police. “It got to the point where I thought that’s it, I’m going to fight back. He’s not going to take anything more from me,” she says.
Howard was arrested in early 2015 and Naomi’s sisters came forward to give grim accounts of abuse.
But the CPS decided after 12 months not to bring charges. “We were devastated,” says Naomi. “It had taken so much to get to that point. I looked at the CPS letter and felt they didn’t believe us. The police were as disheartened as we were.”
REVIEW
Naomi was advised by York-based charity Independent Domestic Abuse Services to appeal under the Victims’ Right to Review scheme. DAS helped Naomi, regularly pushing for updates.
The CPS review took two-and-a-half years – by which time Naomi had split from her partner and mum Regina, 48, had died. Finally, in 2018, Howard was charged. He went on trial at York Crown Court in August 2019, denying 11 rapes, gross indecency with a child, causing or inciting a child to engage in sexual activity, and indecent assault.
Naomi, then heavily pregnant, was the first of the sisters to give evidence.
She says: “I think it was only at court that we realised what each other had been through. We had never spoken about it. It was just too painful.”
Jurors were reduced to tears by the girls’ plight, hearing stories of depression, self harm, drink and drugs. They returned guilty verdicts on 18 counts. Howard, of Knottingley, West Yorks, had admitted three charges of cruelty.
He was jailed for 30 years and will serve at least 16 before parole.
But it took another 18 months before Naomi felt able to speak publicly – to raise awareness of the Victims’ Right to Review Scheme.
She says: “I dread to think what Graham would be doing now if we hadn’t appealed. The CPS needs to seriously reconsider how it handles abuse and rape cases.
“Despite everything, I count myself as one of the lucky ones. Without the review, I’d be another statistic, a case that didn’t make it to court.”
CPS deputy chief crown prosecutor for Yorkshire and Humberside Chris Hartley said: “There were significant delays while essential enquiries were conducted. I apologise for this.
“Despite hugely complex investigations we were ultimately able to build a strong case resulting in Howard’s 30-year sentence. I hope this is of some comfort to his victims.”