Historical Sexual Abuse verified by Lie Detector Test in Grantham

Disowned by her family 20 years ago after she told them she had been raped multiple times, our client decided to set the record straight by taking a lie detector test in Grantham. It related to historical sexual abuse.

Alison’s Case

As Alison looked out of the window and saw the fallow deer at the bottom of her garden, she reflected on how far she had come from her humble beginnings. She enjoyed the peace and quiet of her rural surroundings in the East Midlands.

Born on a rough council estate in London she remembered how her parents had struggled to make ends meet. The 3 bedroomed flat, in the tower block where they lived, was too small for 5 kids and two adults. As she and her siblings grew older, they spent more time out of the flat than in it.

The depression and stress caused by their living conditions led to her parents drinking more than they should. Invariably arguments followed, police would be called by concerned neighbours and Alison cowered in the room she shared with her sisters.

At 13, staying out as long as possible held its own dangers.  Strangers would draw alongside her on the street and offer her sweets, drugs or alcohol. She knew all the back alleys and would run away, avoiding the addicts living on the streets.

When she was 14 she’d hooked up with a gang of fairly tough girls who came from similar backgrounds.  One day one of them asked if she fancied going to a party over the weekend.  Her parents were usually out drinking on Saturdays so she decided to go.  They wouldn’t even notice if she was missing. Being her first party she wondered about the protocol. If she needed to take a gift or anything else to the party she had no money.  But her friend, Gaynor, said that all she needed to bring was herself.

A different type of party

Saturday night came around soon enough and Alison waited for her parents to leave for the pub before she put on her party gear.  Meeting up with the gang, they all walked to a terraced house that wasn’t far away from where they lived. She noticed that all the houses in the street were boarded up and the one where the party was being held was no different.

Walking in, she was immediately aware of the dingy, dirty surroundings. Drugs and alcohol were being passed around freely. Most of the men there appeared to be of Indian or Pakistani origin and all of the girls not so. They all looked to be much older than the girls ranging between 25 and 40 she thought.

A guy who seemed really nice offered them a drink but Alison refused.  She wasn’t old enough to drink alcohol and her parents would hit the roof if they smelled alcohol on her. The other girls called her a prude but the guy said he’d get her a coke.

Having drunk half the coke she didn’t feel well and said she ought to go home.  But Ahmed, the guy who’d been so nice, said she should lie down upstairs for a while until she felt better.  Alison felt disorientated and confused as she was led upstairs to a room where there was a mattress on the floor.  She felt drugged. What followed was the stuff of nightmares.

During the course of several hours Alison lost track of how many men raped her. She had vague memories of several men being in the room and being pinned down.

Racism

Daylight was breaking through the windows when she found herself alone. Bruised and very sore, she got up, found her clothes strewn around the room, got dressed and made her way home. It was 7:00am and luckily her parents weren’t up to see the state she was in.

She staggered into the shower but no matter how much she scrubbed she couldn’t feel clean. Finally she got out of the shower, rubbed the steam off the mirror and was shocked by what she saw.  Her bottom lip was split possibly where she had bitten through it. She also had a black eye but she had no memory of how that had happened.  Her legs, wrists and ankles where covered in bruises.

Alison had hoped to hide what she’d endured from her parents but her face told the story. When they got up, they found her shivering on the couch and she told them what had happened to her.  The immediate response from her mother was that they should report it to the police but her father was less enthusiastic about this course of action.

He said they lived in a predominantly Pakistani community and they’d be accused of racism if they reported it.  Not only that Alison had washed away all the evidence hadn’t she? It was decided that the police shouldn’t be involved.

Confession

In the months that followed, Alison ran a gauntlet of jeering men and boys on her way to school. Finally she stopped going and her parents were fined because of her truancy. A social worker arrived one day and Alison, not able to hold it in any longer, confessed all.  The social worker didn’t seem to believe her and cutting a very long story short, nothing transpired. Social Services also appeared to be worried about racism.

Her parents were horrified that she’d “let the cat out of the bag” and sided with the social worker. Perhaps she’d not been raped and only told them she had because she’d had “rough sex with a boyfriend” they said. Life became unbearable at home after that.

Leaving home

Just short of her 16th birthday, Alison stole some money from her mother’s purse and ran away from home.  She got as far as the East Midlands on the train before a guard kicked her off for not having a ticket. He said she should think herself lucky that he hadn’t called the police.

The first night living on the streets was frightening but she stayed close to the station. In the morning an elderly woman was standing over her and asking her if she was alright. She wasn’t and the kind woman, who said her name was Olivia, told her to get up and she would take her for some breakfast.

Over breakfast Alison related her story to Olivia who was clearly horrified by it. She said she had a spare room and Alison could stay with her until she got something else sorted out.  She didn’t know it then but she would never leave Olivia.

Not long after she moved in, Alison learned that the old lady was very wealthy.  She paid a private tutor to educate Alison in return for her helping out around the house. Olivia inherited her wealth from her father and never married due to the love of her life being killed in a motorbike accident when she was very young.  She hadn’t met anyone else, who she cared enough about, to commit to.

For the first two or three years after meeting Olivia, Alison was resentful that her parents hadn’t supported her.  She was angry that the social worker hadn’t believed her. But in time Olivia made her realise that no matter what had happened to her, it didn’t define who she was. She only had one life to live and she could either take responsibility for it or wallow in self-pity.

Alison qualified as a solicitor and could have continued her studies to become a barrister. However, Olivia became ill and she chose to stay at home and look after her. When she died, Olivia left her entire estate to Alison.

Lie detector test in Grantham

Alison contacted us to book a lie detector test in Grantham for herself.  She wanted to prove to her parents and the social worker (if she could find her) that she had been telling the truth about her ordeal.

Our East Midlands polygraph examiner formulated the questions she wanted to be asked and was grateful for his sensitive handling of the matter.

There was no deception found in her answers and she had a fully analysed, peer reviewed report of her polygraph results within 24 hours.

Vindication

With the assistance of a private investigator, the social worker was tracked down.  A copy of the results from the lie detector test in Grantham was delivered to her by hand.  It also contained a note from Alison stating that she was about to open a charity to help girls who were failed by social workers such as her.

Another copy of the report was hand delivered to her parents. Now that she was a wealthy woman, her parents seemed to suddenly be more interested in her.  But there was no going back for Alison.

Help for historical sexual abuse victims

We understand that the word ‘victim’ is often discarded in favour of ‘survivor’.  However, we believe it’s important for girls to understand that they are victims when sexual abuse happens to them, despite also being survivors of it when they grow older.  In no way should young girls believe that they are not victims when it occurs. There is nothing acceptable or normal about it.

There is an abundance of help available nowadays and here are some useful links to organisations that will never turn you away. If you have suffered sexual abuse, historical or otherwise contact us or any of the following: