West Yorkshire Police apologise to rape victim after 35-year fight for justice

• Carol Higgins speaks to reporter Jonathan Brown

A woman who was repeatedly raped by her father has won an apology from the police force which once warned her taking him to court would "blacken her name".

Carol Higgins, 55, from Penistone, Barnsley, was a teenager when she was sexually abused by her father, Elliot Appleyard.

She first reported his crimes to police in 1984 and made five further complaints over the next 33 years.

But it took until 2018 for him to be prosecuted. He was eventually convicted of 15 sexual offences, at the age of 71, and jailed for 20 years.

West Yorkshire Police has now issued an apology for taking "too long" to bring Appleyard to justice.

Ms Higgins, a mother-of-two, has waived her right to anonymity to speak about her experience.

She said she felt a "sheer release of frustration" after receiving a letter of apology from the force.

"I felt a lot lighter, like the baggage I was carrying wasn't as heavy," she said.

"It felt like other people might be listened to now, that I'd paved the way for other people to speak their truth."

Appleyard, who had two other children as well as Ms Higgins, was abusive towards his family during their early years.

He once threatened his wife with a machete and pointed a shotgun at her during an argument.

Ms Higgins eventually fled with her mother, but later returned to her father's house due to her strained relationship with her mother and her desire to see her siblings.

She was then subjected to escalating abuse, including repeated sexual assaults.

She said it became "normalised".

"When the sexual violence came in, I never thought anything wrong because he told me that he believed all fathers should break their daughters in and [claimed] his friends lived as man and wife with their daughters," she said.

Appleyard once forced her to have a tattoo of his nickname, which she later had removed.

Ms Higgins says she first went to police in 1984.

She said she was told it would "blacken her name" if she pursued her complaint and she would be considered "the biggest slag going".

"I've always remembered those words," she said. "It was so normalised to me at that time. When they said that I must have been disappointed but I must just have got on with life."

She made further complaints in 2004, 2005, 2014, 20015 and 2017.

"I've had to carry a lot of anger and frustration and tears my whole life," she said. "I think it's going to take a long time for that to go away.

"You feel like you're screaming into the abyss and no-one's listening and I used to have a lot of nightmares where I was screaming out but no sound was coming out."

After Appleyard was convicted, she says police acted like the matter had been concluded.

"I hadn't got what I wanted really because I wanted the police to be held accountable for how they had treated me," she said.

After pursuing civil action, she has received a letter from Chief Constable John Robins, who issued a "sincere apology for the way in which you have been treated you over the last 39 years".

He added: "It is accepted that your extremely serious and truthful allegations took too long to come to justice, resulting in the delay of prosecution of your abuser and that this was not your fault.

"It is a matter of profound regret that it took so long for your abuser to be convicted."

Ms Higgins also received £15,000 in compensation, but said: "It was never about the money, it was about the apology and the recognition. I know that what I do is priceless to other people."

In a statement to ITV News, West Yorkshire Police said: "The chief constable has apologised directly to the complainant on behalf of West Yorkshire Police and given his personal reassurance that the Force has learned from the mistakes made in her case."

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