A SURVIOR of sexual abuse said the man who assaulted her when she was a child “took away any normal life” she should have had.

The woman was one of two victims who separately came forward to police to report that they had been sexually abused by Christopher James Attwood when they were girls.

Attwood, 39 and of Countess Close, Poole, was jailed for 19 years at Bournemouth Crown Court on November 3 having previously been found guilty of two charges of rape, three counts of indecent assault and two offences of sexual assault.

The first victim disclosed to police in August 2018 that she had been raped and sexually assaulted by the defendant at an address in Bournemouth in 2002, when she was 11 years old.

Attwood was interviewed and released under investigation in relation to those matters as detectives carried out further enquiries.

A second victim then came forward in March 2021 reporting that she had been repeatedly sexually abused by the defendant between 2001 and 2011 from when she was of primary school age. The offences occurred in the Bournemouth, Poole and Southampton areas.

One of the women read their victim personal statement at the sentencing hearing.

Her statement said: “The impact that the abuser has had on me, not only as a child but throughout my life is so hard to put into words. He not only took away my childhood, he took away any normal life I should be having as an adult.

“For many years after the abuse ended, I forced myself to believe that ‘it is what it is, it happened, but it doesn’t affect me, I’m fine’. I tried to keep hold of these thoughts for years but now I look back and see how I struggled as a teenager and as an adult my mental health deteriorated.”

She said Attwood was responsible for “severe psychological trauma” which she continued to suffer from.

The woman said she experiences intrusive thoughts that are “violent and disturbing”.

Bournemouth Echo:

She said: “They terrify me and stop me from sleeping at night. I have flashbacks and blackout and come to with tears down my face, my hands tight in fists and my jaw clenched."

The woman went on to say: “I scream into my pillow. I cry. I take sleeping tablets to make me go to sleep to stop the torment I feel inside. I suffer from panic attacks so severely I feel like I cannot breathe, my heart pounds and beats so fast it feels like a heart attack. I have a squeezing pain in my chest and it feels like I am dying.”

She said her abuser, whose image she struggled to remove from her memory, had “damaged her”.

The woman said her life goal was that her children never suffer how she did and they live "healthy lives full of happiness".

“My life as a survivor of sexual abuse is difficult trying to deal with the trauma I have suffered and still suffer to this day,” the woman said.

“One person, my abuser, is responsible for all of this. I do not know if he is even sorry. I do know that he should be and he should be held accountable for what he has done to me.”

Alongside the prison sentence, Attwood was placed on the sex offenders register for life and made the subject of a sexual harm prevention order for an indefinite period.

Dorset Police said non-urgent reports of child abuse, or to make an enquiry, can be made by going to dorset.police.uk/contact, where details of concerns can be provided using the online enquiry form. Residents can also email 101@dorset.pnn.police.uk or call 101. If a child is in immediate danger please dial 999.

Crimestoppers can also be contacted anonymously by calling 0800 555 111.

Support services include STARS Dorset – starsdorset.org/children-and-young-persons-service and 01202 308858 – and The Shores Dorset Sexual Assault Referral Centre – 01202 552056.

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