IN LESS than a month, the man who abused my two children will be released from prison.

He was originally given a 13-year sentence. However, he was given time off for pleading guilty, and then only has to serve half of his sentence before he is released on licence.

This means he'll be out after just four-and-a-half years.

During the time he spent in prison, he breached 'no contact' rules by sending us letters. He even got his fellow inmates to give his post to their visitors to foil the system.

Since the clock ticked over to 2018, life has started unravelling for us again.

We have gone from being survivors - which took huge strength, courage and counselling, as well as support from friends and family - to feeling like victims all over again.

It has been utterly shocking for us how few rights and entitlements my child - his victims - and I have regarding his release.

For us, it seems to be all about the criminal and his rights.

For example, we will only hear he is out of prison on the day of his release, and can't be told in advance.

We won't be told where he will be once released - not even the name of the county.

However, he is entitled to live back where he is familiar with. That is, in fact, the usual course of action for offenders released from prison.

He will be banned from certain areas as part of his licence. Instead of this being a big area, which takes in where we live and visit, I have had to spend more than two hours with a victim liaison officer justifying which roads we need included and why.

The girls’ abuser can now contest any of this.

Even if he doesn’t, he will be able to frequent areas as close as a 15-minute drive from our home.

The children are frankly terrified of his release.

One told me: “You know he is going to come back and murder us all, don’t you?”

She thinks he will want revenge for her speaking up.

The other one, having rebuilt a semblance of a life through many hours of counselling and art therapy, is deteriorating daily as the date of his release from prison gets nearer.

Already, we are becoming quite hermit-like, and there isn’t a day where his release isn’t mentioned. None of us will want to go out alone.

My children asked if they could have a recent photograph of their abuser so they would know what he looks like now.

Our crazy system in the UK, which we feel is weighted against victims, means we have to apply for this. We have no idea when we will get to see the photo.

In addition to that, we can't own a copy of his photo if permission is granted. Instead, we can only have sight of it while a police officer is present.

Other members of our family aren't allowed to see the photo, and neither are teachers at the girls' schools. I consider their right to see it vital to ensure the victims are properly protected.

This man knows how to find us through schools, activities and places we go, even though we have tried to change our movements for our own security.

If we see him in the restricted zone, the onus is on us, in our panic, to get photographic evidence to prove it.

He then may get 30 days back in prison - a small penalty, and a risk I believe he will be prepared to take.

Having requested additional security for our home, we have become totally frustrated with the system again.

Initially I was told we don't qualify for help as we are not the victims of domestic violence. Surely sexual violence is just as bad?

Eventually we were told we may be able to get a panic alarm fitted, but with less than four weeks left, and endless stressful chasing of our victim liaison officer, we still don't know if we qualify or if anything will be installed.

This just adds to our anxiety.

My children have asked why is their abuser not going to be monitored by tagging.

The Probation Service have just told us it's not part of his sentence. Instead, they will rely on him to be honest about his movements and activities.

After the horrendous ordeal my children endured for years at the hands of this sick and evil man, we feel totally let down by the system and its lack of power to protect us.

This only makes his impending release even more traumatic for us all.