The rule is just another way of making us feel worthless

Child Sexual Abuse has recommended the same-roof rule is scrapped.

Chris Buck, of the inquiry’s Victims and Survivors Consultative Panel, said: “The rule doesn’t treat people equally. If you’re a victim of childhood sexual abuse either before or after 1979 it’s the same crime – the impact is the same so there is no sense in treating two victims differently.”

For Alissa Moore this travesty is acute. Both she and a second girl were raped by her father James O’brien, 77, who was jailed for 24 years in 2015.

The other victim, whose ordeal happened after 1979, has received a payout while Alissa isn’t entitled to a penny. Alissa said: “It’s not right or fair. I don’t care if I get paid a pound. It’s about acknowledging I’m a survivor of that kind of trauma.”

Her mother Joan, 72, who was sentenced to six years for failing to stop the abuse, was released this week to return to Milton Keynes, Bucks, where Alissa lives.

Alissa said: “It’s like someone has punched me in the stomach. I feel like a child again – the fear.”

A male victim in his sixties, whose case is ongoing, hopes a review will happen by the time his abuser is brought to justice. The man, who claims he was raped from the age of seven over ten years, said: “Knowing I won’t be compensated makes me feel like I’m not worth anything.”

Lyn Parsons agreed, adding that compensation would fund treatment for her ongoing battles with PTSD, food addiction and fibromyalgia – which causes pain all over her body. Both stem from abuse.

In the two years up to 2017, 174 women were refused compensation under the rule, according to the charity Women Against Rape.

The organisation is assisting Rhona Rankin with her claim. For Rhona it is her one opportunity for justice because her abuser, her father John, died two months ago before his trial. Women Against Rape’s Lisa Longstaff said: “We’ve been supporting women who claim and get refused for decades. We are anxiously awaiting the outcome of the JT case, which could set a new precedent.” The Ministry of Justice said: “Our sympathies are with the victims. We are looking at concerns about the compensation scheme as part of our work on a victims strategy.”

Voice of the Sunday People: P14