Wwyd? Statutory rape?

[NoNamesLeftDamnIt]

I need advice. I'm 24 now but when I was 14 I was involved with a 22 year old male. I was in an incredibly bad place with an abusive Dad and saw him as a safety net. He would buy me things, make me feel special, but it was obviously all a secret. I never saw anything wrong at the time. He confessed to me that before me he was involved with a friend of a friend for 2 years. I never connected the dots to realise she must have been 12 when this started. He was cautioned by the police but it never went any further as they never had sex.
I lost my virginity to him at 14 , he had booked a hotel room and bought alcohol for me and my underage friends and we all stayed there until early hours when they returned home and I spent the night. Again, at the time I didn't realise this was wrong. He eventually cheated on me when I was 15 with another 15 year old. I wanted to leave him but he threatened me with violence, threatened to post the naked pictures he had taken of me online. I then found out he still had naked pictures of the 12 year old he was with. Again, he told me if I left him he would send the pictures to me dad and logged on to my Facebook and posted a few before quickly deleting them. I forgave him because he made me believe he was doing this out of jealousy because he loved me so much. He would cry down the phone threatening suicide and I had never known that type of "love" and devotion so continued as normal. I got kicked out at 16 after a violent beating and moved in with him. He threw me out at 17 after "no longer being attracted to me"

I moved on, I had my own kids and I'm happy. However every now and then I stop and think how wrong this was. My niece is 14, in no way would I see this as appropriate for her.
I've spoken to a friend of mine and she suggested reporting him. Can I do this? How do I do this? Is it even worth it?

Yes, you can absolutely report it. It's entirely your decision - he may well deny it, and you might have to give evidence in court but he can still be prosecuted all this time later.

You just need to contact the police on 101 and tell them you want to report a historic sex offence, and they will take it from there.

What jurisdiction are you in?

In England, there is no such offence as statutory rape. The age below which there is strict liability is 13. For 13-16 year olds, it depends on various factors. So with the age gap you describe, plus the other circumstances, I think there is a fair chance it would be investigated as rape.

Have you RL support? You could try ringing Rape Crisis, who should be able to offer support and advice.

Well done for getting away.

I do have some real life support, my sister has begged me to report him for years, there were a few more young girls, one including inappropriate stuff with his cousin.
I've no doubt he would deny it, that's what's putting me off. Not having enough evidence to be believed :(

Hey, do a quick Google and see where your nearest sexual assault referral centre (SARC) is. It's basically a support service for victims of sexual assault whether you want to report to the police or not. You can get support and advice and usually submit anonymous intelligence.

In England, there is no such offence as statutory rape. The age below which there is strict liability is 13. For 13-16 year olds, it depends on various factors
Sorry but this is not strictly true.

A girl under the age of 16 cannot consent to sex so anyone who has sex with her could be deemed as being guilty of rape.

However whether or not the police will take action depends on many things, here is some useful information -
www.fpa.org.uk/factsheets/law-on-sex

You appear to be agreeing with me.

Having a rape charge brought because someone did not consent because of age is perfectly possible in England, it is not however called statutory rape.

Strict liability is at age 13 (still not called statutory rape) - these are covered in sections 5-8 of the Sexual Offences Act 2003

Section 9 onwards deals with over 13s. Between 13 and 16 there are a number of issues that would be considered in deciding whether to bring a rape or sexual assault charge (because - just for one example - there was never any intention to criminalise two enthusiastically consenting 15 year olds)

As I said in pp, the age gap is highly relevant - he was well over 18 - (as is use of intoxicants and coercion by threat of posting pictures online)

How are you getting on OP? Have you tried getting I touch with one of the support organisations?

Having a rape charge brought because someone did not consent because of age is perfectly possible in England, it is not however called statutory rape
Although there is no specific mention of the term "statutory rape" in the SOA 2003, my criminal law professor at uni used that term and it is used in documents from the NHS.

It doesn't really matter what people call it as long as people know that anybody who has sex with someone under the age of 16 could be charged with rape.