‘When my rapist father was freed, it was as if I, or his conviction, never existed’
Paula Bairstow says she had no idea that her father, who raped and sexually assaulted her, would be released half way through his 12-year sentence.
She says she was informed just three months before Joseph Joyce’s release that her father was to be set free.
“I was absolutely disgusted when I was told. I felt completely ignored. I had no idea he would not serve the full term,” said Ms Bairstow, who has waived her right to anonymity.
“The probation service got in touch to say he was being released and that he had been a good prisoner. He completely demolished my childhood. It’s as if I, or the conviction, never existed. I was distraught. I started having panic attacks and it triggered a lot of issues that I have had since childhood because I know what he is capable of. They don’t.
“I should have been given better advice from the beginning. It was like the victims don’t have a say in any of it and it’s just the big book of justice. Well that book needs changing.
“I was pleased with the 12-year sentence. I thought it would get him off the streets and away from other children. When they say 12 years in prison it should be 12 years in prison. I have been let down by the system to say the least.”
Back in 2011, jurors found Joyce, then 67, guilty of two offences of rape and five other indecency charges against Paula.
He was also found guilty of five indecency charges relating to two other female victims. He was sentenced to 12 years but released in 2017.
The trial heard how Joyce began abusing Paula at the family home in Yorkshire when she was aged four.
He later told his daughter that he wanted to marry her in Africa and made her promise him her virginity when she turned 16.
Paula was a teenager when her parents divorced. But despite moving with her mother, the abuse continued.
She reported the offences to police in May 2009, leading to the 2011 trial.