'Tell us the truth': Sex abuse victim's plea to the Pope
By owen evans owen.evans@essnmedia.co.uk
A SEX-abuse victim who was raped by two clergymen has gone to the Vatican, calling on the Pope to reveal the identities of all paedophile priests.
Former Oxted School student Lucy Duckworth, who protested with fellow victims last Friday, says she was just five years old when first abused.
The 28-year-old said the abuse continued until she was 11 years old, and was carried out by a Catholic priest, Church of England vicar and an accomplice.
She has waived her anonymity and spoken exclusively to the Mirror about her ordeal.
Miss Duckworth explained the abuse happened when she and other children spent time with the clergymen at a church in the holidays.
Describing one incident she said: "We would always be picked out as a group to go and clean. The group was always made up of girls. We would be picked out for our 'good behaviour'.
"Then, when we were there, he would take us round the back and abuse us one by one.
"I was eight years old at the time. I did not know it was wrong.
"The abuse eventually stopped when I was 11 and went to Oxted School as I wasn't as accessible any more, and also I was hitting puberty and I think it got too dangerous for them."
Two years ago, Miss Duckworth "broke down" and finally told her boyfriend and family.
She walked into her local police station in London – where she now lives – and reported the crimes for the first time two years ago.
They referred her to a police station in Surrey but the Crown Prosecution Service did not follow up the complaint.
She joined the Survivors Network for those Abused by Priests – and became the English Ambassador – following a demonstration for the Pope's UK visit in September.
"I couldn't believe the Pope was over here and I was helping to pay for the trip," she added.
"I went to the London demonstration with my boyfriend.
"We were holding up some quite controversial signs. Someone from SNAP saw them and asked us if we wanted to join them at the protest in Birmingham.
"When we were there we held up the same signs and we were spat at and shouted at.
"I just thought, 'Isn't this a sad society where you have to walk around with a placard to show people abuse is going on under their noses.'"
Following a series of gynecological tests this summer, the former Hurst Green resident and Reigate College student discovered that, due to the systematic abuse, she has only a ten per cent chance of conceiving naturally, .
"I don't want an apology. An apology won't make it easier for me to have children naturally. An apology won't make my mother feel any better about herself.
"I want both churches to acknowledge they have predators and to hand over the information they have on them.
"I don't want another child to go through what I went through."
For more information on SNAP visit www.snapnetwork.org.
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