BRAVE SURVIVORS FIGHT United to fight a cruel injustice

Women abused at home as kids band together to fight for compensation

ALL these women were sexually abused in their childhood homes by the very people they should have been able to trust.

They grew up with no safety or security, robbed of their innocence by those who should have loved and cared for them.

Today these fragile survivors waive their anonymity and stand together to fight for a change in the law that robs them of compensation and closure.

While the monsters responsible have mostly been brought to justice, these women say they are now being victimised all over again.

Under the absurd so-called Same Roof Rule, victims who lived with and were abused by their attacker up until 1979 are not entitled to compensation.

The women – whose battle was first revealed by the Sunday People – are demanding the Criminal Injuries Compensation Authority overturns the rule and gives them what they deserve. Ursula Martin, who was raped by her brother when she was only 11, said: “The wrongs my abuser did are recognised by the law. But the law hasn’t recognised me as a wronged person.

“We are being discriminated against because of a date. We were children – we didn’t have a choice as to when the abuse happened.”

Alissa Moore, who was repeatedly raped by her father for ten years, said: “Our childhoods were taken away from us. To not be recognised is just another way of making us feel worthless.”

A landmark case to end the injustice, featuring another abuse victim known only as JT, is currently being heard in the Court of Appeal.

Survivor Lyn Parsons said: “We are all rooting for JT and hoping it will set a precedent for us.”

Outraged

Ursula, 54, Alissa, 54, and Lyn, 62, along with Rhona Rankin 56, and Sharron Wheeler, 54, are part of a Facebook group called Victims of the 1979 Same Roof Rule.

It was created by Ursula in 2016 after her application was rejected and now has 100 members offering mutual support.

They might have been in line for up to £27,000 if it was not for the date they were abused.

The Same Roof Rule was introduced to stop money awarded to victims falling into the hands of their attackers.

The rule was changed in October 1979 but the change was not applied retrospectively, leaving hundreds outraged. Sharron Wheeler is haunted by her past. Her father, school caretaker George Wheeler, abused her and attempted to rape her until she was 14.

Wheeler, 75, was convicted of 15 counts of indecent assault and three counts of attempted rape and sentenced at Norwich crown court in 2014.

He was handed a six-year jail sentence but released a year ago.

Now he is on probation in Great Yarmouth where Sharron lives while she battles despair caused by his actions and after being rejected for compensation.

She said: “I’ve got no confidence. I don’t like been touched. I get flashbacks all the time. I’ve been cheated out of an education, and I feel I’ve cheated my children out of a better life.”

Like Sharron, Ursula Martin hoped a payout would fund private therapy for mental health problems since her brother Peter Martin, 62, raped her.

But she was rejected by the Criminal Injuries Compensation Authority in 2016 – three months after her brother was jailed for 15 years. Mum-of-two Ursula, of Bridgwater, Somerset, said: “This had deeply impacted my whole life.

“Last year I was suicidal and diagnosed with general anxiety disorder and severe PTSD.” The Independent Inquiry into