One Survivor's Story; Overcoming the Suffering and Misery from a Pedophile Priest

Dave O’Regan, leads the way in silence breaking: "Two photos of me. Twelve-year-old Little Davy to the left, and me on the right. Davy was frozen in time, broken and fractured by the Catholic Priest who chose to criminally sexual abuse him, shattering his world. 

Davy and I split at a young age. Davy was broken, stuck, unable to move past the horror of the abuse. I moved on growing older, developing physically, but maturing not so well. 

As I grew, I held on to a deep level of guilt, hostility, and self-hatred. I acted out horribly, and would fight anyone who looked at me the wrong way; I had severe trust issues with adults and authority figures. I tried to kill the pain with alcohol, that only made matter worse. I never did understand my behavior, why I had zero self-esteem, and felt I wasn't worthy to be loved or give love.

Thankfully in 2002, The Boston Globe came out with "Spotlight" The investigation of child sexual abuse and the cover-up by the leaders of the Roman Catholic Church.

This triggered PTSD in me causing the memories I had fought to suppress for forty years to all come flooding into my head. It was then I saw and felt the extreme pain little Davy suffered. He could not get past the horror of what happened to him. I moved on in life corrupted, with the effects of deep wounds Davy suffered. I left him behind; he was unable to move forward in life, not comprehending how a man of God could hurt him, blaming himself, thinking I'm evil and this is how bad kids get their punishment.

The pain of the reality of what Davy suffered was overwhelming me then. I fell into deep depression, suffered nightmares, and flashbacks of my abuser attacking me, never knowing when or where I would be, I needed help and thankfully help was there for me.

At 52 years old I began my healing journey from sexual abuse. It has not been an easy road, the journey is slow and continues to this day.

I had a moment along with my journey when I saw clarity with the image of Davy in my head, looking at his innocence, and how he was manipulated by and used by a sick perverted Catholic Priest who selfishly stole my innocence.

Davy and I are coming together as one, more and more, and this healing is by me soaking Davy with love, When I have bad feeling during the day I examine them, and if related to my abuse, I put Davy's image in my head, telling him It was not your fault, and that I love him. The more I like and love him, the more complete we become as one.

Healing from sexual abuse is a lifelong journey, we can and do improve, the road gets difficult at times.

The more I can love Davy the more we become one again."

Dave O’Regan

worcestersnap@gmail.com

Worcester-Boston SNAP (Survivors Network of those Abused by Priests) 

Facilitator

413-779-8364

Hundreds of Thousands of Child Sex Abuse Cases Missed

From BBC UK 

Yehudis Goldsobel was abused by a family friend from the age of 13

The majority of child sex abuse is carried out by family or friends and up to 85% goes unreported, a study says.

Around 50,000 cases were recorded from April 2012 to March 2014, but a report by the children's commissioner suggests the actual number was up to 450,000.

Much attention has been focused on child abuse in institutions but most happens within families or their trusted circles, the report said.

The government said it was looking at how authorities dealt with abuse.

The report found:

Two-thirds of child sexual abuse took place within the family environment or the close circle around it

75% of victims were girls

Abuse was most likely to have occurred at about the age of nine

Victims often did not speak out until adolescence or later, when they recognised what had happened

Even if a child did tell someone, often the abuse did not stop

Children's commissioner Anne Longfield said recent attention and investigations had focused on the abuse children suffered in institutions or by groups of perpetrators.

"We must now wake up to and urgently address the most common form of child sexual abuse - that which takes place behind the front door within families or their trusted circles," she said.

'Terrible guilty secret'

Sue was abused by a male family member from the age of four to 13.

"He was extremely caring and affectionate. My earliest memory is of him coming in and abusing me and after he would sing me to sleep. At that stage it all felt complicit because I'd go along with it and he was so nice to me.

"It's maybe shocking to believe but I loved him. I didn't know any different."

"At school I realised that what was happening was shameful and awful. But at the same time I went along with it, because I got gifts, rewards and love and affection.

"There was shame around me, but it never registered that it was him, not me, who should feel shame.

"The abuse led to physical problems but nobody ever picked up on the signs. I didn't think about telling anyone because I knew he would get in trouble and so would I. It was my terrible guilty secret."

The children's commissioner has called for urgent action from government and more training to help teachers, social services, police and other professionals identify abuse early on.

"There are always signs. Children can become withdrawn or show overly sexualised behaviour. If you know the child it will be obvious to see changes in their behaviour," she said.

The report - the most detailed analysis of child sex abuse in England to date - examined information from a range of sources, including police and local councils, and surveys from more than 750 survivors of abuse.

It also drew on a recent study of child maltreatment - which found 11.3% of young adults aged 18-24 had experienced sexual abuse during childhood - and calculated results based on the 11.5m children and young people living in England.

As the report points out later, many sexually abused children do not recognize that they have been sexually abused until well into adulthood. So, 11.3% will be an inadequate number. I cannot hazard a guess as to how inadequate but certainly the percentage will be higher than 11.3.

Norfolk Chief Constable Simon Bailey, who is in charge of police child protection and abuse investigations nationally, said: "The numbers are staggering [but] I'm not that surprised.

"I've regularly talked about the level of child abuse reported to police as being the tip of the iceberg."

Police had made significant improvements in dealing with child abuse reports, but there was still work to do, he admitted.

"Jimmy Savile in 2012 was a watershed moment, for the police service in particular. This now has to be a watershed moment for all agencies involved in child protection.

"We have to fundamentally rethink how we go about stopping abuse of this nature happening on the horrific scale the commission has identified."

The report calls for a major strategy by government to prevent child abuse, including:

To increase the responsibilities of those working with children

To teach school children as young as five, in compulsory lessons, about healthy and safe relationships

To teach them to talk to an appropriate adult if they are worried about abuse

Training teachers to recognise the signs and symptoms of abuse and act accordingly

To support children from the moment they disclose abuse. And to have a child psychologist or appropriate intermediary in evidence interviews with the child

To make sure all police forces record child sexual abuse-related crimes

The Department for Education said it would "carefully consider" the recommendations in the report.

"[This government] set up the first ever cross-government child protection taskforce to overhaul the way police, schools, social services and others work together in tackling this abhorrent crime," it said.

Anne Longfield's report makes a number of recommendations

"We have also invested an extra £100m to support vulnerable children and we are providing £7m for services supporting child abuse survivors."

This is great, however, £7m will be woefully inadequate to enable survivors to get the the help they need. Woefully inadequate!

Roy Perry, of the Local Government Association, said the burden of disclosing abuse needed to be taken away from children wherever possible, but "councils cannot do this alone. We need support from a million eyes and ears amongst the public".

Children's Commissioners in Scotland, Wales and Northern Ireland said they had no equivalent figures on abuse.

The Truth About Child Sex Abuse is on BBC Two at 22:00 GMT on Tuesday. If you miss it, click here to catch up online.

Man on Trial for Child Rape & Triple Murder Jumps to Death from Courthouse Balcony

© WKBN27 / YouTube

A man has jumped to his death from an Ohio courthouse balcony just before standing trial for triple murder and the rape of a 10-year-old girl.

Robert Seman Jnr faced the death penalty if he was found guilty of the rape and murder of 10-year-old Corinne Gump and the murder of her grandparents Judy and William Schmidt, whose home he allegedly set on fire in March 2015.

However, the 48-year-old plunged to his death after flinging himself from the fourth floor courthouse balcony – just as he was about to enter the courtroom.

CCTV footage of the macabre incident released by Mahoning County Sheriff’s office shows Seman being escorted by police officers along a county courthouse corridor in Youngstown, Ohio.

Seman, dressed in a white shirt and khaki pants, was not wearing handcuffs at the time of the incident and managed to hurl himself over the balcony as cops belatedly scrambled to stop him.

Mahoning County Sheriff Jerry Greene told WKBN that the lack of handcuffs was standard procedure, “Due to the fact that the courts do not want individuals on trial to be seen with restraining devices on, or per se, in custody.”

Seman’s attorney said the apparent suicide was completely unexpected as his client maintained his innocence.

However the prosecution say his actions were an indication of guilt. "He knew the evidence against him,” Assistant Prosecutor Dawn Cantalamessa said. “Every witness we talked to in preparation for the case, they didn't know why he wasn't pleading guilty or asking for some sort of plea, so this is very telling.”

Prosecutors allege that Seman abused Corinne Gump from the age of four to nine years old. Investigators believe he set fire to the house hours before the child was due to testify against him for the years of alleged sexual assault. He had only recently been released from prison under electronic monitoring and was awaiting trial on the rape charges.

Days after the deadly arson attack Seman was charged with attempting to bribe his ex-wife to lie for him at the rape trial, Cleveland.com report. The woman allegedly refused her ex-husband’s request.

The Sheriff's office is conducting an internal investigation into the incident.

Mahoning Co., Ohio

Ottawa Woman Racked with Guilt, Anger After Police Returned Boy to Abusive Parents

'He wasn't lying. He was telling the truth and he was asking for help, and the help wasn't there'

By Laurie Fagan, CBC News 

    The woman, who lives about a block from the boy's Ottawa home, can't be named in order to
    protect his identity. (Laurie Fagan/CBC)

Five years after a gaunt, fearful, nine-year-old boy showed up on her doorstep, an Ottawa woman says she still struggles with feelings of guilt that she could have done more to protect him from his abusive parents, and anger with police for sending him back to them to endure months of gruesome torture and neglect.

The woman, a former neighbour who can't be identified to protect the boy's identity, testified at the trial of his father — a suspended RCMP officer — and his stepmother.

"It makes me sickened to my stomach that this could have been prevented, and I include myself in this," the woman told CBC News.

On Nov. 21, the 45-year-old Mountie was found guilty of aggravated assault, sexual assault causing bodily harm, forcible confinement and failing to provide the necessities of life. The boy's 38-year-old stepmother was found guilty of assault with a weapon and failing to provide the necessities of life.

"I will be haunted by this, and I am culpable as well. I didn't follow up and I trusted the police, I trusted the system, but he still had to endure all those horrors."

Signs of abuse, neglect

Gut-wrenching evidence presented at the couple's trial showed the boy, who's now 14, was beaten, sexually assaulted with a BBQ lighter, shackled and starved. 

'His eyes — you could see the fear and sadness in his eyes, and as a mother it was terrifying to see that. You never want to see that in a child's face.'

The boy, who lived near the woman, showed up at her home on a cold day in November 2011 wearing just a T-shirt and jeans. Her daughter, who was a classmate of the boy's, answered the door and came sobbing to her mother in the kitchen, "Mommy we have to adopt him because his parents aren't nice to him," the woman recalled.

The woman, a mother of three, brought the boy inside and gave him two pieces of cake and a glass of milk. As he ate he explained that his father made him do hundreds of pushups as punishment for lying or not finishing his homework, and if he didn't complete them he didn't eat.

The boy lifted his shirt so the woman could see his stomach.    

"I could see his ribcage. I could see his sunken stomach, and all the red on his stomach and forearms looked like carpet burns," said the woman. "There was also red ligature marks on his wrists."      

She questioned the boy about the marks, but he wouldn't tell her how he got them.

"His eyes — you could see the fear and sadness in his eyes, and as a mother it was terrifying to see that. You never want to see that in a child's face," said the woman, tears welling in her eyes.

Police returned boy to abusive home

She and her husband decided to call 911, and when police arrived they told them the boy's parents had also called to report him missing.

The woman said the boy sat in her lap and held her hand tightly as he told the two police officers about the mistreatment he suffered at home. She recalled how tiny and frail he felt.

    CBC Ottawa's Laurie Fagan interviews the woman, who can't be identified, in her home.
    (Jean Delisle/CBC)

She said she was shocked when the female officer barked at the boy, "Do you know if you are lying your father could go to jail?"

"You want maternal, you want kind, and the child hadn't eaten in two days, and you're defending the father?" the woman recalled thinking. "I said to her, 'He's not on trial here! He's the victim!'"

In her testimony during the couple's trial, the woman recalled the boy telling the officer, "I don't want my dad to go to jail."

The officers thanked the woman and said they were taking the boy home, about a block away.

She said she'll never forget the image of the boy walking with the police officers to their cruiser, pleading, "I don't want to go! I don't want to go!"

"I was heartbroken. I told the boy, 'Trust the police. They will take care of you.'"

Within an hour the male police officer returned and told her everything was fine, and said there was lots of food on the boy's family's kitchen table. The officer told her the boy and his father had a "little argument," but said the boy was in a "healthy, happy home."

Visit from stepmother

The next day the boy's stepmother showed up at the woman's house and told her the boy was bipolar and hadn't been taking his medication. The woman described the stepmother's behaviour as "odd" and lacking empathy for the boy.

    The boy's father, a suspended RCMP officer, and stepmother were found guilty of a number
    of crimes on Nov. 21, 2016. (Courtroom sketches by Sarah Wallace)

A few days later, still feeling uneasy, the woman went to see the principal at her daughter's school to share her suspicions about the boy's mistreatment, but a short time later the boy switched schools.

In February 2013, 15 months after the boy's visit to the woman's home, she was in her car when she heard a radio newscast that described police finding a nude boy wandering down an Ottawa street.

"They said the street name and all of a sudden my heart sank and I said, no, it cannot be, and to my horror it was. I was shaking and crying. I said to myself, 'You should have made some calls.' What do you do? What do you do?"

The woman immediately called police and told them what had happened more than a year earlier when the boy came to her door.

'He was telling the truth'

"There were signs that no one followed up on. If there was followup, the horrors that he had to endure, he wouldn't have had to endure."

"He wasn't lying. He was telling the truth and he was asking for help, and the help wasn't there."

The woman said she was pleased with the verdicts in the boy's parents' trial, but she believes police haven't been held accountable for their role. She said she'd like to speak with the two officers who returned the boy to his home.

"I would love to have that conversation with them and say, 'I know what I should have done. Do you accept the responsibility of what you should have done?'"

Ottawa police did not provide anyone for an interview, but in an emailed statement Monday, Supt. Don Sweet told CBC News the 2013 investigation that led to the charges against the boy's parents "considered all information — including the 2011 event when police responded to a call for service related to a missing persons file. It is the opinion of the OPS that the information, as presented in 2011, was investigated appropriately."

Police should be required to inform social services who should be required to investigate any accusation of child abuse. This was a big-time failure by Ottawa police; the boy's pain and suffering over the last year or so is their fault.

My Time to Stand Against Sexual Abuse

By Tiffanie Drayton, Newsday

    Tiffanie Drayton, a graduate of New School University, is a freelance writer focused on social
     justice issues. Photo Credit: Tiffanie Drayton

The version of “locker room banter” that too many girls and women know is the intimate sharing of stories of sexual assault and abuse by men who view them as nothing more than things to be grabbed, as Donald Trump suggested in the 2005 “Access Hollywood” tape.

More than a decade ago in middle school, I found myself surrounded by a group of young girls. They all leaned in, quiet with interest. We swapped stories about boys and “firsts” — the young girls’ version of “locker room banter.”

My tear-stained face told them what I had to say was important. Devastating, even. My then-best friend, Jennifer, was there. She pressed her hand against my back, like a mother soothing a child.

I revealed my secret between sobs. The girls remained silent. Moments later, I was called into an office and questioned by my teacher and a counselor. I felt naked and vulnerable. They said that the accusations were serious and they were going to call my mother.

“No, that never happened to me,” I responded in a panic.

I was too ashamed to tell the truth — that I had suffered sexual abuse at the hands of someone I was supposed to trust, a family friend, someone I thought of as an older brother. So I lied.

“Jennifer was the one who was abused,” I declared, my eyes cast downward.

I never forgave myself for choosing the safety of a lie over the discomfort of the truth. I never forgave myself for selling out my friend — who weeks earlier had revealed to me that when she was a child a relative raped her — to protect myself from confronting that I, too, was sexually abused. Now 26, I finally have found the courage to no longer hide.

The version of “locker room banter” that too many girls and women know is the intimate sharing of stories of sexual assault and abuse by men who view them as nothing more than things to be grabbed, as Donald Trump suggested in the 2005 “Access Hollywood” tape.

He should know that every two minutes an American is sexually assaulted, and that every eight minutes that victim is a child, according to the Rape, Abuse & Incest National Network, RAINN, an advocacy group. Just 6 out of every 1,000 perpetrators end up in prison.

Jennifer’s relative is among the perpetrators who never served a day in prison. After she was dragged through a legal process that lasted years and tore apart her family, she was told there was not enough evidence to prosecute him. It was her word against his. My abuser also never suffered any consequences for his actions. A couple of years ago, I contacted him via Facebook. I needed closure and understanding about what happened all those years ago. Was it my fault?

“You liked it,” he wrote. “You wanted to.”

For years, I’ve been consumed by guilt and shame. Shame over whether I liked it? Fears that my abuse was my fault. Shame over the decision I made that forced a friend to publicly relive the trauma of her abuse. I wished I had never said what I did that day to a group of girls. I thought our conversation was private, not that it would be revealed to the world. But the hard truth is that sexual assault and abuse should never be kept private.

“We need to recover from our shock and our depression,” Michelle Obama said Thursday of the appropriate reaction to Trump’s derogatory comments about women. She’s right.

For sexual abuse survivors, the road to recovery is long, and often we have little or no support in our journey. As I did to my best friend, the world frequently turns its back on survivors. It brands, blames or attempts to discredit us, because confronting the truth that sexual abuse is widespread and must be addressed is far harder to do than hiding behind the excuses that “boys will be boys,” “men will be men” or “she wanted it.”

Today, I finally take a stand, not only for my best friend, but for myself and all of the girls and women who cannot because they are still recovering from shock, guilt and shame.

I hope America will stand with us as well. A man who is so cavalier about the abuse of women is not fit to be our president. Survivors on their road to recovery need to be assured of at least that much.

Tiffanie Drayton, a graduate of New School University, is a freelance writer focused on social justice issues.

Turn on the Lights

Turn on the Lights is a group dedicated to supporting CSA survivors and raising awareness

Below is an excellent article from their Facebook page

Finding out that my husband was abusing my daughter wasn't the first mind-boggling terrible thing that I had to live through in my life. It was, however, the worst...and, as odd as this sounds, I truly hope that it remains the worst thing that happens in my life.

There are a myriad of emotions one goes through when you find yourself in this position. The one I want to talk about today is guilt. The abuser has none. He (or she) will find ways to lay the guilt on others, a thousand and one rationalizations to excuse behaviour that has no excuse. As the non-offending spouse of the abuser, you, however, have tons of guilt.

How could I let this happen? Why didn't I see it? How could I have married this person? I lay in bed with him, had a child with him, stood before God and our family and swore to love him until "death do us part". How? Why? You feel as if you failed, as a parent, on the most elementary level. You failed to keep your child safe. You brought this person into their lives.

The list goes on and on.

How do you move on? How do you go back to the person you used to be?

Well....you don't. Every trauma, every tragedy in your life changes your personal reality. You can't go back to the person who never experienced betrayal, loss, pain. You go forward. It is really just that simple. You only have two choices, if you think about it. You get up in the morning and you keep breathing, or you don't. I don't know about you, but for me there was no choice in the matter. My family had already been through this horrific experience and I was the mother. I was now the only head of the family -- me, and only me. To not move forward, to not keep breathing, was unacceptable. So I got up in the morning, remembered to breathe and got through day 1, day 2, day 3, day 100, day 200.

And the guilt? It really doesn't go away either. I just started to stop listening to it. There was nothing I could do, at this point, to change what had already happened. All I could do was stand by, and with, my children from this point forward and be the support system for all the difficult days ahead. It's been almost four years now...four years since I got a text message that took my life apart at the seams. And even now, in a dark moment, I can hear that voice in my head saying "How could you have been that blind? How could you be that stupid?"

When that voice comes, I ignore it. I turn on a show, or play some music. I have fixed up countless pieces of furniture -- it's become a little hidden talent of mine (rather important, when you are starting over again at my age). "Shut up" I tell that inner voice. I remind myself what I would tell someone else. "Did you do the best you could? Did you make what you thought were the best decisions at the time? Did you love your children? Did you want this to happen to them? No? Well then, why are you beating yourself up?"

Occasionally, I'll get my youngest to give me a hug. (She's a great hugger!) I remember the four really good friends who saw me through the darkest days...and I remind myself that someone who has friends who stand by them when their life is in the gutter can't be THAT bad a person.

And I remember what one of them told me -- that the sun rises in the morning, that each day is a new start to get things right.

Did it change me? Yes, it did. I do not trust people easily, if at all, except for people I have know for years. I don't date. I don't trust my ability to judge new people. If Prince Charming is out there, he is going to have to show up at my door with a bow around his neck and three letters of reference.

But what hasn't changed about me is the most basic part. I still love the beach in the summer, sunsets, laughter. I still love with all my heart. I still have faith. I still believe life has a purpose. And my children are still my world.

I tell myself what I told my daughter -- God (whomever or whatever you believe Him to be) -- God can make great good from great evil, if we allow it. I have reason for being here. And tomorrow...tomorrow is another day to get things right.

Hugs.

Ottawa Mountie On Trial for Abusing Son Was Sexually Abused as Child

By Laurie Fagan, CBC News 

An Ottawa Mountie (left) and the victim's stepmother (right) were charged in February 2013 with aggravated assault, forcible confinement and failing to provide the necessaties of life in what investigators called "the worst case of abuse" they'd seen. (Courtroom sketches by Sarah Wallace)

An Ottawa Mountie on trial for the severe abuse of his son testified today that he was himself sexually assaulted as a boy growing up in Lebanon. 

Both the man, now 44, and the victim's stepmother were charged in February 2013 with aggravated assault, forcible confinement and failing to provide the necessaties of life in what investigators called "the worst case of abuse" they'd seen.

The woman is also charged with assaulting the child with a weapon, while the man is charged with sexual assault causing bodily harm and assault with a firearm.

Both have plead not guilty. Neither accused can be named in order to protect the identity of the victim, who was 11 when the charges were laid.

The trial resumed today after being adjourned last fall.

Abused by neighbour, teacher

The man told the court that when he was eight, a boy living next door to him in Beruit assaulted him repeatedly over a one-year period.  

The man claimed he was later assaulted by another man, and again by a trusted teacher at the school where the accused worked with his father. 

"I was ashamed and embarrassed," the Mountie told the court.

The man, who is suspended without pay from the RCMP, recalled exact details of the sexual assaults, but remained composed during his testimony.

He said the abuse happened against a backdrop of civil war in Lebanon, with bombs exploding continually around the home he shared with his parents and five siblings.

"This becomes your reality," the man told the court. "Is the next [bomb] coming down on your head? That's how I lived."

"My life is no longer the same," he said. "I grew up asking why am I being targeted ... I lived with the guilt, shame and anger inside of me for the whole time."

So, you decided to make your son a target and fill him with guilt, shame and anger! Good goin'.

Nightmares continued

The man told the court he experienced nightmares about both the bombings and the sexual assaults for years, even after he came to Canada.

His lawyer, Robert Carew, asked him if the assaults played a role in his relationship with his son, now 14.

In addition to the sexual assaults he said he endured in Lebanon, the man told the court he witnessed another boy about his age performing indecent acts on children in his neighbourhood.

The man likened his own son to the boy he said he witnessed abusing other children. He said his son was "indecent in his touching" of other children, and said the boy had been caught peeking under stalls in a girls' washroom.

Good grief!

Asked by defence counsel asked if he thought his son was exhibiting sexual predatory behavior, the man replied: "Morally, he was dead to me."

The man also testified that while preparing for his entrance exams for the RCMP — a process that included a psychological test — an officer cautioned him against mentioning his ongoing nightmares related to his childhood in Lebanon.

Last fall the court saw a video of the man's son, naked and restrained in the basement of the family home. 

Testimony resumes Tuesday. This portion of the trial is scheduled for two weeks.

Lord Janner Dead: Former Peer Found Unfit to Stand Trial for Alleged Child Sex Abuse

 Janner was suffering with severe dementia

Heather Saul 
The Independent

Greville Janner, in 1975. Rex Features
Greville Janner, the former Labour peer, has died aged 87.

His family confirmed his death on Saturday. He was suffering from severe dementia. 

"Lord Janner died peacefully on Saturday, 19 December after a long illness,” the family said in a statement. "He will be deeply missed."

A High Court judge ruled Lord Janner was "unfit to plead" over a series of child sex abuse charges dating back 50 years earlier in December and a 'trial of the facts' was scheduled to take place in April.

Mr Justice Openshaw said in his ruling: “The defendant has advanced and disabling dementia which is deteriorating and irreversible and I find he is unfit to plead and stand trial on his indictment.”

The former Labour MP for Leicester West was accused of 22 sexual offences dating back to the 1960s against nine alleged victims, the majority of whom were 16 or under at the time.

Lord Janner was made a life peer upon his retirement in 1997 after serving as a Labour MP for 20 years. He was diagnosed with Alzheimer's disease in 2009 and suspended from the Labour party in April.

His family said he was "entirely innocent of any wrongdoing" in response to the allegations.

His many alleged victims will not agree with his family's assessment of Janner. They may also feel cheated out of their day in court to air the alleged abuse suffered at his hands. But Mr Janner still has to stand before God in judgment; his guilt or innocence will be made known and recompensed at that time.

Lord Janner was an outspoken MP and prominent campaigner for Jewish organisations. Sir Mick Davis, chairman of the Jewish Leadership Council, said: “The passing of Greville Janner marks the end of an era for the Jewish community.

”Our thoughts and prayers are with the Janner family at this most difficult time.“

A family spokesperson asked that their privacy during mourning be respected. 

Labour's 'Selfie Queen' was Victim of Sickening Child Sex Abuse from Age Six

Karen Danczuk, wife of  Rochdale MP Simon Danczuk

A LABOUR councillor - dubbed the party's 'selfie queen' - has revealed she posts pictures of herself on the internet as a response to being the victim of sickening sex abuse as a child.

Karen Danczuk, who is married to Rochdale MP Simon Danczuk, has gained notoriety for sharing photos of herself on Twitter – often in a low-cut top.

The 31-year-old has now spoken about how she takes the self-shots because she is now "free to do whatever I want" after years of feeling ashamed due to her childhood horror.

She told The Sun: "I was raped and abused by a paedophile for years and years.

“And for years afterwards I felt worthless, guilty, as though I had somehow brought this on myself, but I was just a little girl."

Simon Danczuk

The businesswoman said the abuse, which began when she was six-years-old at the hands of a family friend, meant she had been suicidal, and had been prescribed anti-depressants.

However, her husband, who has been at the forefront of the campaign for an enquiry into historic child sex abuse, encouraged her to seek help.

She said: "I used to cover my body, wear head-to-toe black clothes so I didn’t draw attention to myself. I was so self-conscious.

"I now know I didn’t do anything wrong. Finally I realise this isn’t my fault.

"I can have fun without feeling ashamed of myself, and that is why I take pictures and put them on Twitter — because I can.

"I am now free to do whatever I want."

Picture of Karen Danczuk

Mrs Danczuk, who runs a delicatessen in Rochdale, explained how she had been molested while growing up in Middleton, Lancashire.

She said: "He was just someone who would be around a lot.

"He was OK. I didn’t take much notice of him until one night he came up to my bedroom.

"He didn’t chat. He just came to my bed, got hold of my hand and made me put it on his area.

"He tried to make it a game. I was young, but I knew right from wrong. It was wrong.

She added: "I’d try to blank it out. I had a very unhappy childhood. I wouldn’t wish that on anybody."

Mrs Danczuk, who met her husband in 2007, said she was scared of her abuser, and did not feel like she could tell anyone.

She said: "After a few months it became full-blown rape and that went on for years.

"It always happened in my bed. Even now I can’t sleep with the door open in case someone comes in.

"I’d dread hearing his footsteps.

"It always happened on a Sunday. Sometimes it was other days too but on Sundays it was bath day."

The abuse continued until Ms Danczuk was 11, but she has not reported the man who raped her to the police.

She said: "I’ve thought about it, but I don’t want to take a step back.

"He’s ripped years of my life apart. I can’t let him take any more from me."