Four victims of a predatory paedophile have waived their right to anonymity to tell the Nottingham Evening Post about their ordeals.

The four women decided to tell their story to Rebecca Sherdley, the Evening Post’s legal affairs correspondent, after the man who abused them was jailed for nine years at Nottingham Crown Court.

As well as agreeing to waive their anonymity to speak to Rebecca, three of the four women agreed to be photographed, as long as their faces were not shown. A fifth victim also agreed to be quoted as long as she wasn’t named.

The women told the paper how the man, who they thought looked like ‘Santa’, had used gifts and treats to lure them to his home.

Evening Post deputy editor Marc Astley said: “Rebecca used her initiative and as the case was progressing she used her contacts to find out who these women were and if they would be willing to speak to us.

“It was a classic case of a reporter being on the ball and thinking ahead.

“In cases such as this when asked to speak, nine times out of ten the victims would probably say no, but on this occasion they agreed and it was extremely brave of them to do so.

“It gave the story much more gravitas and impact.”

The man attacked the five girls, then aged between eight and 13, between 1982 and 1993, but each had stayed silent about what had happened to them – each believing they were his only victim.

The abuse only came to light when, after months of deliberation, one of the victims decided to tell police what had happened, and an investigation was launched.

In the Post’s exclusive, one woman, who later learnt her sister had been abused by the same man, said: “We both thought it had just happened to us and didn’t tell each other.”

Another of the women said: “He used to give us chocolate bars and goodie bags full of sweets. We told other children and they went round to his house. You could have anything when you went to see him.

“He abused me and I stopped going to see him. I didn’t tell anyone what happened. When I got married, I didn’t tell my husband. It all came out when the police came to see me last year.”

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