HEART pounding, Kaitlin Womack felt waves of revulsion in the pit of her stomach as the police mugshot flashed up on her Facebook feed.
It was the photo of a man she knew far too well and the horrifying trauma the monster had put her through when she was aged nine suddenly came flooding back.
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The man was child sex offender Kert Birtwistle and seeing his face on her screen horrified the 25-year-old who had been harbouring her own awful secret about him for almost a decade.
Birtwistle was Kaitlin’s former neighbour and when she was nine, he’d subjected her to three sexual assaults while she played at his house, including touching her vagina under her swimming costume.
Kaitlin, from Preston, Lancs, recalls: “The abuse affected my life in so many ways.
“I struggled with crippling anxiety and depression as a teenager. I self-harmed to numb the pain.
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“I suffered in silence for so long.”
Now, Kaitlin, and works in insurance, is courageously waiving her right to anonymity to help encourage other survivors to report their abusers to the police.
She says: “They never deserve to walk the streets again.
“I hope that my story will encourage other potential victims to come forward.”
Growing up, Kaitlin was neighbours with Birtwistle, and they went to the same primary school.
Though Birtwistle was four years older, he often invited Kaitlin and other children from the neighbourhood to his house, though she was not particularly good friends with him.
Kaitlin remembers: “He lived in the biggest house on the estate and his family were really nice.
“I saw Kert as cool. Loads of us would go there for parties and to play in the garden.”
How to report a sexual assault
In 2007, aged seven, Kaitlin attended a breakfast club at school and Birtwistle, then 11, happened to be there too.
Kaitlin recalls: “I was standing at the breakfast table, looking to choose a cereal, when Kert came up to me.
“With no teachers around, he asked me what my favourite word for vagina was. I told him I wasn’t sure. After all, I was only in year three.
“But he wouldn’t leave it and went on to tell me his ‘favourite’ word. I don’t remember what he said, I just remember feeling really embarrassed.”
Time progressed, and in 2009, aged nine, Kaitlin went to Birtwistle’s house for a birthday party where lots of others attended.
He sat me on his lap and told me to be quiet…Then he put his hand up my skirt and fondled me down below
Kaitlin Womack
Kaitlin explains: “Me and Kert 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 privates.
“No one could see us. I felt really uneasy.”
After a while, Birtwistle threw Kaitlin onto the floor of the castle and carried on with the party like nothing had happened, leaving Kaitlin feeling confused.
Months later, she was at Birtwistle’s house again where a group of kids played hide and seek.
Shed 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 fondled me down below.”
Meanwhile, Birtwistle’s friend didn’t say a word.
When he eventually let Kaitlin go, he passed her to his friend, who was sitting opposite. It’s unclear what happened to this child.
He told me to open my legs. I was only wearing a skirt, so my underwear would be on show. But I did as he said
Kaitlin remembers: “He told me to open my legs. I was only wearing a skirt, so my underwear would be on show. But I did as he said.
“He stared at my privates until we were found by another child.”
Kaitlin was left wondering if Birtwistle’s actions were normal.
But, still so young and naive, she decided to trust him and put it to the back of her mind.
Until a couple of months later when Kaitlin and some other children the same ages were in Birtwistle’s garden.
She says: “It was a hot, summer’s day, so they had a paddling pool up and out of nowhere, Kert picked me up.
“He moved my swimming costume to one side and touched me down there. I screamed for him to get off, and he let go straight away.”
“Another child said to me ‘I saw what he just did.’”
Sexual abuse in numbers
669,000 adults are sexually assaulted in England and Wales every year
- 1 in 5 women (8m) in the UK have been sexually abused
- 1 in 6 men (5m) in the UK have been sexually abused
- 1 in 20 children in the UK have been sexually abused
Sexual abuse has been attributed to:
- 15% of all suicides in the UK
- 11% of all common mental health disorders in the UK
- 7% of alcohol dependence disorders
- 10% of drug dependence disorders
- 15% of eating disorders
- 17% of post-traumatic stress disorders
(Source: Safeline)
Horrified, Kaitlin went straight home and stopped going to Birtwistle’s house.
She says: “I thought I’d done something wrong, for years, I blamed myself.”
It wasn’t until Kaitlin was 13 and learnt about sex education at school she realised she’d been abused.
Still, she convinced herself that it was too late to tell anyone what had happened.
Instead, she tried to bury Birtwistle’s abuse, but throughout her teenage years, Kaitlin struggled.
Seeing him jailed validated how I was feeling, and I was so pleased that he was off the streets
Kaitlin Womack
She recalls: “I suffered terribly with anxiety and depression, and I self-harmed.
“Keeping his abuse to myself was torture.
“Noticing a change in my behaviour, my parents asked if there was anything I needed to tell them.
“But I couldn’t bring myself to.”
It was in 2016 when Kaitlin spotted his face in a newspaper article on Facebook.
Birtwistle, then 20, along with two others, had been jailed for child sex offences which had taken place in 2014, when he was 18.
Monster jailed
Kaitlin says: “I felt sick. Seeing his face brought everything back.
“But seeing him jailed validated how I was feeling, and I was so pleased that he was off the streets.
“It made me want to report him too, but I still wasn’t ready.”
Shortly after seeing his face, Kaitlin, then 17, broke down and confessed what had happened to her parents.
She says: “They were so supportive and said they’d 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’d put her through.
She explains: “After years of chaos, I was in a stable relationship and determined to tackle my problems head on.
“I submitted an online form to the police, but in the back of my mind I still thought nothing would come of it because so many years had passed.”
A couple of weeks later, a Lancashire Police officer rang Kaitlin, inviting her into the station to give a statement.
Kaitlin says: “A month after that, I returned to give a video interview.
“I felt so believed, and relieved to finally get everything out in the open.”
An investigation got underway but it was two years before Kaitlin received a letter from the police, confirming that Birtwistle and his brother, Jordan Wright, 30, had been arrested for dozens of sexual offences.
Kaitlin says: “I’d never even heard of Jordan.
“I then discovered, following my report, that six other victims had come forward and revealed the pair 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 jailed for 12 years.
His brother, Wright, of no fixed address, pleaded guilty to 18 sexual offences and was jailed for more than 16 years.
But Kaitlin says her abuser has never shown any remorse.
She says: “Kert wasn’t remorseful at all. No amount of time will ever make up for what I went through.
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“Every day, I live with physical and mental scars. But I refuse to let his actions dictate my life.
“I am a survivor.”
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