A woman who was sexually abused by her father as a little girl has bravely waived her right to anonymity to speak out for the first time about her nightmare.

Gillian Keogh suffered a horrific five-year reign of abuse at the hands of her father which started when she was just eight years old.

It was only when she was 14 and had her first boyfriend, her father finally left her alone.

The 42-year-old mum-of-two kept quiet about the abuse for decades and only in 2006 did she decide to seek some justice for what she went through.

She said: “People might wonder why I am willing to speak out about this. I just want everyone in Croydon to know what kind of man my father is and what he did.

“I also want to encourage anyone who has been sexually abused to come forward. Even if it happened years ago, you can still get justice.”

Mrs Keogh received no money for this interview.

“Once I had my own children, I realised that it had to be dealt with. My husband was the one who said that I should do something. He encouraged me to go to the police.”

After a three-year battle, she finally saw her father imprisoned for what he had done to her.

Ronald Keogh, 73, of Stanley Grove, West Croydon, was jailed for 27 months on January 8.

For three years, Keogh had claimed that he was innocent and Gillian feared that she would have to face her tormentor and relive the trauma of the abuse in court.

She had no words to describe her relief when, a mere 10 minutes before his trial began, her father changed his plea to guilty.

As a little girl, Gillian did not understand what was happening to her.

“I felt confused when it happened,” she said. “Any child would – to be woken up in the middle of the night with your father touching you in that way.”

The frightened girl would tell him to stop but he never did.

“I would say, ‘leave me alone or I will tell mum,’” she said, but the threat was empty. Gillian knew that she could never tell her mother, who for her was a cold distant figure, about what was happening to her.

“There was no one to talk to about it. I could not go to my mother. Whenever I told her anything she would say to stop bothering her and that she had her own problems.”

When Gillian finally found the courage to tell her mother what she went through 30 years later, she was called a liar.

At first, she said that her mother believed her. Maureen Collins had been divorced from Gillian’s father for about 15 years.

“She called me up, all teary and said that she was going to shoot him.”

However, she later accused Gillian of lying.

“I went to my mother’s house to prove that I was telling the truth and she slammed the door in my face and called me a liar,” she said.

“Even after my dad admitted guilt, she still hasn’t acknowledged what he did to me. Her attitude would go some way in explaining why I didn’t go to her when I was little. It’s a shame she couldn’t stand in the dock with him.

“As a child she never told me that she loved me, or even gave me a cuddle.”

Her mother denies the claims. Maureen Collins, who has remarried since she divorced Keogh, insists that she had no idea that her ex-husband abused their daughter.

She said: “No I did not and she knows I did not, when I got back together [with my daughter], I asked her outright what did he do to her and she said he didn’t do anything – he tried.

“If I knew that anything went on I would have left him and took him to court myself.”

A source close to the case said that in person Keogh played the part of a jolly, Cockney bloke. Behind the facade he was manipulative and deceptive.

Keogh was charged with 20 counts of sexual molestation. He plead guilty to eight and the remainder of the offences have been placed on file.

Unfortunately, because of the way the law works, he had to be sentenced in line with sentencing from the early 70s when the offences took place.

Investigating officer, Christopher Wilson of Camberwell’s Child Abuse Investigation Team said: “If Keogh had offended like this after 2003 he would have been looking at between seven and 11 years for what he did.”

Gillian said: “His sentence was rubbish, but I’m just glad it’s over and appreciate all the hard work that Chris Wilson put into my case. He believed me all the way through and did everything he could to get my dad behind bars.”

She praised the dedication of everyone involved in the case.

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