I was sexually abused by my ‘boyfriend’ when I was 9 and unfortunately I wasn’t the only one

Heart pounding, Kaitlin Womack felt waves of revulsion in her stomach as the police mugshot appeared on her Facebook feed.

It was the photo of a man she knew far too well, and the horrific trauma the monster had done to her when she was nine suddenly returned.

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The man was a child sex offender Kert Birtwistle and seeing his face on her screen shocked the 25-year-old, who had harbored her own terrible secret about him for almost a decade.

Birtwistle was Kaitlin’s former neighbor and when she was nine, he subjected her to three sexual assaults while she played at his home, including touching her vagina under her swimsuit.

Kaitlin, from Preston, Lancs, remembers: ‘The abuse affected my life in so many ways.

“As a teenager, I struggled with crippling anxiety and depression. I injured myself to numb the pain.

“I suffered in silence for so long.”

Now, Kaitlin, and working in insurancecourageously waives her right to anonymity to encourage other survivors to report their abusers to the police.

She says: “They never deserve to walk the streets again.

“I hope my story will encourage other potential victims to come forward.”

Kaitlin grew up neighbors with Birtwistle, and they attended the same primary school.

Although Birtwistle was four years older, he often invited Kaitlin and other neighborhood children to his home, although she was not particularly close friends with him.

Kaitlin recalls, “He lived in the biggest house on the estate and that was really where his family was Nice.

“I thought Kert was so cool. Many of us went there for parties and to play in the garden.”

In 2007, Kaitlin, aged seven, went to a breakfast club at school and Birtwistle, then eleven, happened to be there too.

Kaitlin remembers, “I was standing at the breakfast table trying to pick out a cereal when Kert came up to me.

“Since there were no teachers around, he asked me what my favorite word for vagina was. I told him I wasn’t sure. After all, I was only in year three.

“But he didn’t leave it at that and told me his ‘favorite’ word. I don’t remember what he said, I just remember feeling really ashamed.’

Time passed and in 2009, nine-year-old Kaitlin went to Birtwistle’s house for a birthday party attended by many others.

He put me on his lap and told me to be quiet… Then he put his hand up my skirt and caressed me below

Kaitlin Womack

Kaitlin explains: “Kert and I were jumping on the bouncy castle, and he picked me up.

“With one hand on my hip, he put his other under my skirt and touched my genitals.

‘No one could see us. I felt really uncomfortable.’

After a while, Birtwistle threw Kaitlin on the floor of the castle and continued the party as if nothing had happened, leaving Kaitlin feeling confused.

Months later she was back at Birtwistle’s house, where a group of children were playing hide and seek.

Colander horror

Birtwistle told Kaitlin to hide in a shed with him and one of his friends.

Kaitlin says: “He sat me on his lap and told me to be quiet.

“Then he put his hand up my skirt and caressed me below.”

Meanwhile, Birtwistle’s friend didn’t say a word.

When he finally let Kaitlin go, he passed her off to his friend, who was sitting across from him. It is unclear what happened to this child.

He told me to open my legs. I was only wearing a skirt, so my underwear would be showing. But I did what he said

Kaitlin recalls, “He told me to open my legs. I was only wearing a skirt, so my underwear would be showing. But I did what he said.

“He stared at my genitals until we were found by another child.”

Kaitlin wondered if Birtwistle’s actions were normal.

But because she was so young and naive, she decided to trust him and put it to the back of her mind.

Until a few months later Kaitlin and a few other children of the same age were in Birtwistle’s garden.

She says: “It was a warm summer day so they were paddling swimming pool Kert picked me up out of nowhere.

“He moved my swimsuit aside and touched me there. I shouted for him to get out and he let go straight away.’

“Another kid said to me, ‘I saw what he just did.’”

Shocked, Kaitlin went straight home and didn’t go back to Birtwistle’s house.

She says: “I thought I had done something wrong, for years I blamed myself.”

It wasn’t until Kaitlin was 13 and heard about it sex education at school she realized she had been abused.

Still, she convinced herself it was too late to tell anyone what happened.

Instead, she tried to bury Birtwistle’s abuse, but Kaitlin struggled throughout her teenage years.

Seeing him in jail confirmed how I felt, and I was so glad he was off the streets

Kaitlin Womack

She recalls: “I suffered terribly from anxiety and depression, and I was self-harming.

‘Keeping his abuse to myself was torture.

“When my parents noticed a change in my behavior, they asked me if I should tell them something.

“But I couldn’t bring myself to do it.”

It was in 2016 when Kaitlin saw his face in a newspaper article about Facebook.

Birtwistle, then 20, had been convicted of child abuse along with two others in 2014, when he was 18.

Monster imprisoned

Kaitlin says, “I felt sick. Seeing his face brought everything back.

“But seeing him in prison confirmed how I felt, and I was so happy he was off the streets.

“I wanted to report him too, but I wasn’t ready yet.”

Shortly after seeing his face, Kaitlin, then 17, broke down and confessed what happened to her parents.

She says: “They were so helpful and said they would be by my side if and when I wanted to report him.”

‘I am a survivor’

In 2019, with Birtwistle still behind bars, Kaitlin finally felt ready to share what he did to her.

She explains: ‘After years of chaos, I was in a stable relationship and determined to tackle my problems head-on.

“I submitted a form to the police online, but in the back of my mind I still thought nothing would come of it because so many years had passed.”

A few weeks later, A Lancashire Police officer called Kaitlin and invited her to the station to make a statement.

Kaitlin says, “A month after that, I returned to do a video interview.

“I felt so believed and relieved that I finally got it all out the open.”

A research took off, but it took two years for Kaitlin to receive a letter from police confirming that Birtwistle and his brother, Jordan Wright, 30, had been arrested for dozens of sex crimes.

Kaitlin says, “I had never heard of Jordan.

“Subsequently, following my report, I discovered that six other victims had come forward and revealed that the couple had abused them.

“I couldn’t believe it.”

Justice served

Finally, in October this year, Birtwistle, 29, from Blackpool, Lancs, was convicted of 14 charges including rape and sexual assault at Preston Crown. Court.

He was sentenced to twelve years in prison.

His brother Wright, of no fixed address, pleaded guilty to eighteen sex offenses and was jailed for more than sixteen years.

But Kaitlin says her abuser never showed any remorse.

She says: “Kert had no remorse at all. No amount of time will ever make up for what I went through.

“Every day I live with physical and mental scars. But I refuse to let his actions define my life.

“I am one survivor.”

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