UK sisters track down their paedophile stepfather to Maun through Facebook

Correspondent | Wednesday October 7, 2015 13:16

 

James Lawton, 44, was arrested on a plane at Heathrow after the sisters tipped off police about where he was living. He has now been jailed.

The girls kept the secret of their abuse from one another for 10 years but when they finally shared the terrible truth, they turned detective to hunt down the man who destroyed their childhood.

They have now waived their right to lifelong anonymity to speak openly about how Lawton ruined their childhoods.

Eldest sister, Danielle Michalik-May, 30, said: ‘James stole our innocence, took away the most precious years of our life. We were just little girls but he took full advantage of us and violated us all in the worst possible way.

‘We are still haunted by what James did to us. We all have flashbacks and get upset about what he put us through, so to see him jailed is the best justice we could have asked for.’

After Danielle, and her two younger sisters, Patricia and Terri-Ann Michalik, finally opened up to one another four years ago, they were determined to see their evil perpetrator punished for his heinous crimes.

Terri-Ann, 24, from Derby said: ‘I looked for him on Facebook and couldn’t believe it when I found him living in Botswana in Africa with a new wife.

‘It made my blood boil. I didn’t know if he had more children and couldn’t bear to think that he might be abusing others and ruining another little girl’s life.

‘I used a false name and got into a conversation with him, but he eventually cottoned on to who I was and the next message I got was from someone claiming to be a Doctor stating James was dead.’

Undeterred the three sisters went to the police and made official statements along with passing on the information as to where Lawton was living.

For three years the police kept an eye on his movements, but it was only when he applied for a passport and airline tickets to the UK that they could react.

In March this year Lawton was arrested on board a plane as he landed at Heathrow. And earlier this month he was jailed for 12 years at Derby Crown Court after pleading guilty to nine counts of indecent assault and indecency against the sisters between 1993 and 1999.

The reign of abuse began when the girl’s mother struck up a relationship with Lawton, a regular at the pub, where she worked.

Danielle, a hotel manager, said: ‘As soon James moved into our family home, he began abusing us. He would wait for Mum to go to work then come into our bedrooms and attack us.

‘I was absolutely terrified. I was only eight years old and had no idea what he was doing but knew it was wrong.

‘I just hoped he wasn’t touching my sisters, and naively thought if he is using me, then he would leave Patricia and Terri-Ann alone.’

But unbeknown to Danielle, he was also abusing her sisters.

Patricia, 25, a carer, said: ‘James would follow me into the bathroom and force me to perform oral sex on him. I was just four years old.’

Terri-Ann, also a carer, is haunted by similar memories from being just three. She said: ‘I was barely out of nappies when he began abusing me. It doesn’t get much worse than that.

'I have no happy memories of my childhood - it's just all horrible stuff. Now I feel that everyone has a motive for something.'

The sisters would all beg to stay up late of a night until their Mum came home, to try and prevent James from hurting them, but more often than not, he would force them to go to bed.

And his reign of terror didn’t stop there. To show his power he would kill their pet rabbits or limit what they could eat.

Danielle, who still suffers from anxiety and panic attacks, said: ‘We were all terrified of him. He was a nasty violent man with an aggressive temper. We just knew not to argue or ever breathe a word of what he was doing to us.’

It was only in 1999 when Lawton was arrested at the family home for sex offences he had committed when he was younger in his native Ireland that the abuse finally stopped. He was extradited and served a three year jail sentence.

Danielle recalls: ‘He was taken away by the police and we never saw him again. Social services did question us at the time but we never revealed what had happened to us. Mum finally secured a divorce years later and we barely spoke about James again, despite being haunted daily by what he had done to us.’

But four years ago on a night out the women finally disclosed to one another that they had all been victims.

Patricia, from Derby, said: ‘As much as it was horrendous knowing he had hurt all of us, we could at least now comfort one another and help each other emotionally.’

And within weeks, they had traced Lawton down and can now finally put closure to a chapter of their lives that has haunted them since childhood.

Terri-Ann said: ‘I hope he rots of prison. As far as I’m concerned they can throw away the key. He is the lowest of the low. I just hope he is never allowed near another child again.’

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