A woman who was raped by her dad’s best friend as a teenager says she is “disgusted” after learning her attacker could be released just 18 months into a nine-year prison sentence under plans to ease prison overcrowding.
Jade Belgrove was just 12 when she was first introduced to Simon Tyler and says he quickly “weaselled his way into the family”.
Her dad Matt, 53, had met Tyler at work at an airsoft base.
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Jade, now 30, says he groomed her with cigarettes and alcohol, then in 2010, when she turned 14, she woke up to him raping her on the family sofa while her dad slept upstairs.
“I know now that for about two years before, he was completely grooming me and my family,” Jade, from the West Midlands, told Need To Know.
“He weaselled his way into the family and acted like an older brother.
“He would randomly message me and he was in such a position of trust in my family so I thought of him as family.
“He was so close, he was round all the time, he’d babysit, he was part of the family.
“One day when I was 14, my dad took me to a business meeting and Simon came along but ended up babysitting me.
“While my dad was in the meeting, he was giving me shots of tequila outside of a bar.
“I wasn’t used to drinking.
“When we got back home, my dad went to bed, Simon was staying over – which he’d done before if he was drunk.
“I was downstairs with him and he gave me more alcohol and a line of coke.
“I fell asleep and woke up to him raping me on the sofa.
“I hadn’t even kissed a boy at that age.
“In the morning, he came in my room and offered me a cup of tea.
“I freaked out and went to my friend’s house.
“I told her but she was 13 and we just didn’t get it so we didn’t mention it again.
“We didn’t mention it again.”
Relationship manager Jade says she didn’t speak up to protect her dad but two months later, Tyler raped her again while on a family holiday to Wales.
She said: “In those two months, I was very lost.
“He would hound me with messages saying he loved me and when I was 16, my dad would have no choice and we could be together.
“We went on a family holiday to Wales and he came in, plied my cousin – who I was sharing a room with – with alcohol, waited until he passed out and raped me again.
“I was frozen.
“From then, if he came round I’d stay at a friend’s house.
“I did everything I could to protect myself.”
Tyler eventually moved abroad but Matt stayed in touch with him and he’d often come back to visit the family.
Jade says she barely remembers her teenage years because of the trauma she suffered thanks to Tyler.
She said: “My dad stayed in touch because he was completely unaware.
“I’d threaten Tyler by text and tell him to stay away from my family or I’d call the police.
“I kept those messages over the years.
“It’s caused me a lot of issues.
“I moved out as soon as I could, when I was 18.
“I don’t remember a lot of my teenage years, they were very turbulent.
“I had very rogue teenage years and so many mental health issues.”
In 2022, she “snapped” at hearing her dad mention visiting Tyler and made the brave decision to report him to the police.
Then she broke the news to her dad.
She said: “I was on the way to work and my dad called me, and he’d just seen Simon.
“I don’t know what came over me, maybe because my sisters were the age I was when he did it to me, I screamed ‘he’s a piece of sh*t’ and I went to the police station instead of work.
“Then I had to tell my parents.
“I was always trying to protect them because I knew it would break them and I didn’t want to hurt them.
“And I was scared of the repercussions.
“The conversation was horrific.
“My dad was so confused and didn’t understand how it could have happened.
“My dad gave me the best childhood he could but he was so unaware of this.
“My family never understood my mental health problems because I had such a nice life but I was dealing with that on my own.
“It was a relief because I didn’t have the horrible, dirty secret anymore but now the people I love most in the world are hurting as much as me.
“It took me back to the weak child that I was.
“Giving evidence was awful.”
Tyler was arrested in 2022, and later found guilty of the offences.
He was was originally jailed for nine years for three counts of rape and will be on the Sex Offenders’ Register for life.
But under government plans to cut prison sentences to free up space, he may be able to get out earlier.
Previously, he wouldn’t have been eligible for parole until 2030.
Jade discovered the news last month through an email that she received out of the blue.
Jade said: “The trial was horrific.
“Giving evidence was awful.
“I was happy he was found guilty and put in prison but the whole system is broken.
“Nine years for completely ruining my life is nothing.
“When I got the email, I thought it couldn’t apply to me.
“The last I heard was that they were doing the early release scheme but sexual predators weren’t part of that.
“I rang my victim liaison officer and she said it does apply to me.
“I felt sick, I felt disgusting, the thought of it makes me feel disgusting.
“When I received it, he’d been in prison for 18 months and I was only just trying to get myself back together.
“It’s never-ending.
“It’s affected my sense of safety and I feel really vulnerable.
“He could be out this year.
“Knowing this would happen, I don’t think I’d put myself through all the trauma of the trial because where has it got me?
“I’ve lived longer with this than I have without it.”
Jade is sharing a petition to oppose the early release of sexual offenders and rapists and it’s already racked up more than 63,000 signatures.
She added: “When I know he’s out, it’ll seriously put me back.
“I always knew he’d be released but I thought I’d have a lot longer to get myself together.
“I’m petrified or myself and future victims because we know paedophiles don’t change their sexual preference.
“I want other victims going through this to know that there are ways of reaching out to me and we can get through it together.”
PETITION: Sign the Petition
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