When police came to arrest Mark because of acts he’d described in a chatroom, it came as a shock to all who knew him. Then it turned out nothing he had posted about was true – and he walked free. With ‘fantasy abuse’ on the rise, can Emily and her mother win their fight to make it illegal?
For the first 20 years of her life, Emily had what she thought was a “completely normal” relationship with her dad, Mark. “He was an ordinary man,” she says. “A good dad. We were really close.” Then one morning, police officers arrived at her family home to arrest him for sexually abusing her. Emily wasn’t there. “I had just moved out to live with friends and start my first proper job,” she explains, “but the police didn’t know that. They were trying to protect me.” Emily is telling this story two years on, with her mum, Fiona, by her side. They are close, supporting each other during this difficult conversation, finishing each other’s sentences.
When Fiona heard the door go at 7am, she had just got up. “I wasn’t even fully dressed,” she says. “It sounds stupid but I had just got on an exercise bike so I was in a T-shirt and pants. I looked out of the bedroom window and saw eight people on the doorstep. They weren’t in uniform but they looked official. They had lanyards on and a dog with them.
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When police came to arrest Mark because of acts he’d described in a chatroom, it came as a shock to all who knew him. Then it turned out nothing he had posted about was true – and he walked free. With ‘fantasy abuse’...
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