Abuse victim ‘left feeling suicidal’ after photos were shared with friends
Clare has spoken out following the sentencing of David John Andrews at Downpatrick Crown Court.
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Your support makes all the difference.A victim of David John Andrews has told how she was left suicidal after he shared nude images of her online.
Clare (not her real name) said she believed she was talking with a 14-year-old boy after he befriended her on Instagram.
She is 19 now, but was just 13 when first contacted by the sex offender.
Andrews, 55, whose address was listed as Maghaberry Prison, was sentenced on Tuesday after pleading guilty to 130 charges of sexual abuse.
It started off as a friendly conversation and then as it progressed, it started to get more aggressive on his side
Clare, who is from England, told the PA news agency: “It started on Instagram. He added me, I added him.
“It started off as a friendly conversation and then as it progressed, it started to get more aggressive on his side.
“He was asking for these photos. Being that age, I sent them.
“I had no idea (who he was), I thought he was 14.”
After the photographs were sent, Andrews shared them with all of Clare’s followers on her social media account.
She said: “They then got passed on to more people around my school. The photos ended up all around my school.
“My family had no idea at this point.
“I went to school the next day. The teachers were waiting for me cause they had the photos.
“I got taken into a room and they contacted the police and contacted my mum.
“That is when my mum knew what had happened.”
She continued: “There were a lot of emotions going through my head at that point.
“‘Why is this happening to me? Why did I do it? Who wants to do this to people?’ There was a lot of anger and sadness at that time.
“It was petrifying. My heart sank. It was my friend who said these photos have gone round and she had the picture.
“My mind was racing, I was thinking what are people going to think of me? How are people going to react? I was a mess at that point.
“Some people supported me, some just left and walked out.
“A lot of my friends decided to walk out and just leave me to it.”
I found out he was a sick man who has done it to many people, not just me
Clare said police established that the offender was from Northern Ireland and the PSNI were contacted.
She said: “At this point I still had no idea (that this was an adult).”
“I found out he was a sick man who has done it to many people, not just me.
“I had to tell the police everything that had happened. It was hard because I still at that age didn’t understand what I was doing, why I was doing it. I didn’t know why police were coming to fetch me to do an interview.”
Claire said she has struggled with mental health issues since the incident.
She said: “I am still in contact with my doctor now.
“I became suicidal, I was self-harming nearly every day. I got rid of all of my friends, I didn’t want to speak to them.
“I pushed my family away. It has only been this last two years that I’ve actually tried to build my bond back with my family.
“It has given me a long impact on trusting men, I don’t trust men.
“It is probably something I can never totally get over, because it is always there, but I am just learning to deal with it.”
Claire said she was speaking out in order to encourage other victims to come forward.
I want to push the message out: don’t be scared, the police will back you, your family will back you
She said: There are plenty of other people that have been through it, are in it, are still being groomed by these people.
“It needs to be highlighted. These people can be clever, they can get you quite easily.
“I haven’t done this (speaking out) for me, I’ve done it for the people that need to hear a friendly voice, people that might be scared to step forward.
“I want to push the message out: don’t be scared, the police will back you, your family will back you.”