What are my chances of securing a conviction for historic child abuse?

[splodger]

Going back to the 1980s. There were no witnesses. It went on for years. I've had ptsd for two decades since. I made a formal statement in '85. It was not followed up due to his denial & lack of evidence. I was handed back to him. I ran away. The police tell me my original statements have been destroyed. What are my chances if I start again now?

I'm sorry I can't answer your question, but I wanted to say how brave you were to report him at the time when you were a child, and brave to think about doing it again now.

Hope the fucker rots in hell.

Hope someone can be mire practical help than me. I would think the police might be best placed to tell you about conviction rates?

I did it.

I won't tell you it was easy- I don't do bullshit- but it's possible.

I'm also not sure if the procedure is the same for everyone. In my case, I called the police on a Tuesday after two bottles of wine they sent someone to take a statement on the Thursday (this took hours) and they kept me posted all the way through.

Wow - this is a little poignant for me at the moment. Ss and the police were involved in 93' for us, and we were very much encouraged to pretend nothing happened in interview ( left in the abusive home while investigated and mother sat in on the interview).
My sister has decided to try and get the statements - I'm not sure what the end goal is but certainly a couple of people in my life have suggested prosecuting

Good luck op

Re; the statements. I reported things when I was eight, then again whwn I was 13. Both times they came to nothing- but the police managed to find them when I reported at 21.

I'm not sure. I had the same in 84 when I was eight years old. Mum and Dad pressed charges and for almost 30 years I thought he went to jail. Only a few years ago my dad broke down and said not only nothing happened, years later he found out the young man's father was a notorious 'protected' pedo. There's just so many levels of corruption that I am not sure if the fight would be worth it to be honest.

Hi all, I just thought I would make a positive update. In December, the perpetrator in our case was sentenced to 23 years, I hope this may give courage and strength to those who need it!! X

How amazingly brave of you OP! What an inspiration you are. I hope it can give you some peace x

Hi OP, you can contact the NSPCC for advice on this. Other people to contact would be NAPAC. Other useful organisations are the Survivor's Trust if it's sexual abuse.

You can find police guidelines here.

Victim Support may also be of help regarding courts and police procedure.

All the best.