It took Carol Higgins 35 years to get justice after she was raped repeatedly by her own dad, but Labour’s early release scheme has warned her he may be released after serving just a quarter of his sentence.
The mum-of-two managed to secure a conviction against her abuser, Elliot Appleyard in 2019, after fighting with the police and courts for justice.
She was raped repeatedly from the ages of 13 to 16 in the 1980s by her dad who tried to convince her it was ‘normal for dad and daughter to live as man and wife’.
In 2019, after Carol first went to police in 1985, Appleyard was jailed for 20 years at Leeds Crown Court.
But a few days ago, Carol received a letter saying her abuser may be released in September after serving just seven years.
She told Metro: ‘Reading that letter just overwhelmed me, I couldn’t stop shaking. It has made me feel how he made me feel for years – completely worthless.’
Carol’s childhood at the hands of her dad was violent, with him owning shotguns and threatening to shoot her mother.
In 2017, when the CPS said they were going to prosecute him after years of back-and-forth, he saw Carol at a car boot sale in West Yorkshire and launched a vicious verbal attack.
Carol said: ‘He got right in my face and started shouting he will ‘f***ing have me. He has nothing left to lose, what if he kills me when he gets out? My children are terrified, saying they are worried he will come over with guns.’
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The Government has been pressured to make sure rapists and abusers are exempt from the early release scheme, which is aiming to free up space in prisons. This includes prisoners convicted of manslaughter, rape and other sex offences.
Many of those released are expected to be under strict licence conditions, including electronic monitoring.
But Carol said this is pointless when she, like so many others, were attacked in the abuser’s home.
She told Metro: ‘It’s alright saying they will be tagged, and they won’t be allowed to have children around them, but they can’t monitor everything that goes on in their home.’
According to the Truth Project, which was an independent inquiry into sexual abuse, 47% of child sexual abuse was perpetrated by a family member. And 42% of all assaults took place inside the family home.
The Ministry of Justice told Metro: ‘This government is fixing the prison crisis it inherited – building 14,000 more prison places and reforming sentencing so we can always lock up dangerous criminals.
‘Without this decisive action, prisons would have run out of space entirely, making it impossible for convicted offenders to be sent to prison and risking the complete breakdown of the criminal justice system, putting the public at untold risk.
‘Public safety and supporting victims is our top priority. Offenders who a judge has deemed the most dangerous are automatically blocked from early release, and prisoners who behave badly while behind bars face being locked up for longer.
‘Anyone who is released faces tough rules such as restrictions on their movements, tagging, being banned from attending public events, pubs and clubs, backed by our record £700m investment into probation and 1,300 extra probation officers.’
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