My evil stepfather broke my ribs and burned me… now Starmer is letting him out EARLY
A VICTIM who spent years fighting for justice to put her ‘evil’ abuser behind bars has been left devastated and scared – after he was released today as part of the government’s controversial early release scheme.
Miriam Lake, 47, from Bradwell, was just nine years old when she suffered years of violence and mental cruelty at the hands of her stepfather Michael Egan.
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As a child, she was forced to lick dog feces from Egan’s shoes, burned with a lit cigarette, had cold water poured over her while she slept, and kicked in the ribs.
She grew up being told repeatedly that her mother didn’t love her, dragged to the ground by her hair, kicked until she coughed up blood and subjected to horrific verbal abuse, including one in which Egan, now 79, called her a “rape baby” and said she should have died in a fire.
Miriam, a mother of four, went to the police as an adult in 2017 and reported Egan to the police. She was given a suspended prison sentence in 2022 for previous offences of assault and child abuse.
However, prosecutors later appealed what they saw as a more lenient sentence, increasing it to four years.
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But today Egan was one of around 1,700 convicts released under Labour plans to ease prison overcrowding. He has served just 19 months of his sentence.
Miriam said: “I’m concerned about how victims of domestic abuse will suffer as a result of this new early release law. It’s also the message to perpetrators, to say: you can be released. It’s not that serious and most perpetrators, especially in family situations, always, always go back.
“I am so afraid for these women and children who will feel scared and the message this sends to the perpetrators and victims is shockingly dangerous.
“The government said domestic abusers would not be released if you examine the terms of this new early release scheme, but they are. My abuser is being released – despite my childhood being taken away after the sadistic torture and cruelty I endured for years.
“Women are so brave to fight back in the first place, and by releasing these abusers, they are risking the safety of the survivors. They are not going to put themselves through a trial or come forward and go through all the trauma of reporting abuse because they know an abuser only has to serve 40 percent of their sentence. They will think it is not worth risking their safety.
“Domestic abusers are usually sadistic, controlling, and manipulative individuals who will never change. For this reason, survivors need not only protection, but justice.”
Miriam’s mother Naomi Mitchell met Egan through a marriage agency around 1987 and shortly after she moved in with the family, he made Miriam’s life “hell” until the couple split in 1993.
Miriam was regularly verbally and physically abused. He would watch her shower and laugh at her, force her to lick dog poop off his shoe and it escalated to “he hit me”.
In the evenings, Miriam stayed in the park as long as possible to avoid Egan. Miriam said her teachers at school had reported their suspicions to social services, but the family moved often, so it slipped through the net.
It has only given me a life of fear. That is how it has affected my life.
Miriam Lake
When her mother packed her bags on Christmas Eve in 1993, taking her three children with her, Miriam had no idea that the trauma of what had happened would stay with her for the rest of her life.
What is the early release scheme?
Under emergency plans announced in July, convicts serving sentences of less than five years in prison in England and Wales will be released after serving 40% of their sentence in jail, rather than the usual 50%.
The temporary measure was taken to create more space in overcrowded prisons.
There are exceptions to the scheme, such as victims of domestic violence, but some people are left out.
Sir Keir Starmer has urged ministers to “do everything” to ensure perpetrators of domestic abuse are not released from prison early.
The number of prisoners reached a new record of 88,521 last week and has increased by more than 1,000 in the past month.
Isabelle Younane of Women’s Aid, a leading domestic violence charity, said they were concerned the “policy is coming at the expense of the safety of women and children”.
“The early release of the perpetrators will have a detrimental impact on both the physical safety and mental well-being of the survivors, who were able to live in safety and rebuild their lives without fear while their abuser was in prison.”
She said: “I have a panic disorder so I can’t drive because it would be a risk to other people. It has affected my life. I have to rely on public transport so it limits where I go and the jobs I can do.
“I’m on medication, which I’ll always be on. As soon as I stop taking it, my panic disorder just comes back. So it’s given me a life of anxiety. That’s how it’s affected my life.
“It’s under control with medication, but it’s something that will always be with me because it happened when I was a child, a teenager and a teen.”
Miriam, a grandmother of one, did not blame her mother, Naomi, for the abuse, as she was also a victim. When Naomi passed away in 2017, Miriam finally decided to report the historical crimes to the police.
HOW TO GET HELP:
Women’s Aid has this advice for victims and their families
- Always keep your phone at hand.
- Contact charities for help, such as Women’s Aid’s live chat helpline and services such as SupportLine.
- If you are in danger, call 999.
- Familiarize yourself with the Silent Solution, where you report abuse without speaking into the phone, but by dialing “55.”
- Always carry some cash with you, such as change for a public telephone or bus ticket.
- If you suspect your partner is going to attack you, try to move to a place in the house where you are less at risk, such as a place where you can go outside and use a phone.
- Avoid the kitchen and garage, where knives or other weapons are likely to be found. Avoid rooms where you could get trapped, such as the bathroom, or where you could get locked in a closet or other small space.
If you are a victim of domestic abuse, SupportLine is open Tuesday, Wednesday and Thursday from 6pm to 8pm on 01708 765200. The charity’s email support service is open weekdays and weekends during the crisis: messageinfo@supportline.org.uk.
Women’s Aid offers a live chat service – available on weekdays from 8am to 6pm and on weekends from 10am to 6pm.
You can also call the free 24-hour national domestic violence helpline on 0808 2000 247.
Miriam said: “When my mother died, I decided: this is my time, just to have closure, knowing that this man was still alive.
“But he got a suspended sentence. So after he relived all the abuse, everything he did to us, the judge in court said ‘he’s sadistic, he’s cruel, but I don’t see the point in sending an old man to prison now’ and I just thought, ‘you don’t see the point?!’
“Anyway, the Court of Appeal got involved and they said, ‘No, we’re not going to accept this. This is terrible.’ And it went back to court and he got four years in prison.”
But in July this year, Miriam received a letter from the Ministry of Justice saying that the Lord Chancellor had announced plans to introduce a change in the law that would allow some prisoners serving a ‘specified sentence’ to be released early on probation.
It was added that Egan met the criteria for the scheme and would be released on September 10, 2024, having served just 19 months of his sentence.
The letter ended with, “I appreciate this news will be unwelcome.”
Miriam said: “I have always felt abandoned. I have always felt that the government does not take domestic violence seriously.
“When I got the news that he was going to be released, I did some research and I thought, ‘This is just absolutely horrible.’
“When I feel this way about past abuse, I just think about all the other victims of abuse who are in the same situation right now, sitting at home while their abusers are out of prison and it’s happening right now.
“I just feel so scared and anxious for all these women and children who I know exactly how they’re going to feel and it’s just dangerous. It’s dangerous, the message it sends, the message it sends to the perpetrators and the victims is just shocking to me.
“Only those poor victims and little children. The government has abandoned the women and children, it ultimately leads to death.”
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