Roald says that just because abuse happened a long time ago, ‘it doesn’t mean it doesn’t matter’
All names and identifying details have been changed.
Participants have given us permission to share their experiences.
Roald kept the abuse he went through to himself for 50 years before he approached the police.
He feels very angry and upset at their response.
Roald was ‘quiet and shy’ as a young child, but he became strong and athletic as a teenager, and he enjoyed sport at secondary school, particularly football.
One day, after a games lesson, the PE teacher, Mr Jay, asked if Roald could help him with a job. Roald remembered feeling ‘chosen’ and agreed.
Mr Jay took him into a room and shut the door behind them. While Roald was cleaning footballs at the sink, he noticed Mr Jay remove his tracksuit trousers and put on some tight shorts.
As they stood together at the sink, Roald became aware that Mr Jay’s penis was out of his shorts and making contact with Roald’s hand. Roald could see the teacher was aroused but was pretending to be unaware of what he was doing.
After a while the teacher put his trousers back on and led Roald out of the school, through a side exit. Roald describes how confused he felt. When he got home, he didn’t tell his parents what had happened.
A couple of weeks later, Mr Jay asked him again if he wanted to help him do a job. Roald refused, and he remembers that this took a lot of effort and nerve. He was not sexually abused again, but his refusal had significant consequences for him.
Mr Jay’s attitude towards Roald completely changed. Having been one of the teacher’s ‘stars’, he was never chosen for the football team again. He wondered if Mr Jay was trying to scare him to ensure he would not tell anyone about the abuse.
Roald continues that Mr Jay became aggressive, bullying and dismissive towards him, and he wondered whether the teacher was trying to scare him to stop him talking about the abuse.
It was a very difficult situation for Roald as he had to see Mr Jay every day at school. He feels that he did not do as well as he could have at school as a result, and did not get a place at university.
Roald recalls that he ‘heard rumours’ about the PE teacher from other children and he was aware that Mr Jay took boys from the school on camping trips when he was the only adult. However, he did not talk to anyone about his experience with Mr Jay because he was afraid of ‘being called names’.
Nearly 50 years passed, until Roald saw some publicity about the Truth Project. He decided he wanted to speak to someone who had experience of hearing others who had been abused. He adds that seeing publicity and demonstrations outside courts about high-profile child sexual abuse cases made him realise ‘I was not the only one’.
Roald says he also felt concerned that the abuser could still have contact with children and he began to feel guilty for not having reported the abuse previously.
However, when he went to report the abuse to the police, he felt dismissed. He says the police officer showed him no empathy and insinuated that he might be looking for compensation.
Roald waited nine months for a response from the police. He chased them up to be told there were no records available from 50 years ago and no one else had come forward.
Roald feels strongly that the police should follow up every report of child sexual abuse, no matter how long ago it was. He also recommends that teachers should not be alone with children.
He concludes by saying that when he shared his experience with the Truth Project, it was the first time he felt warmth and empathy shown to him, and this enabled him to share information he hadn’t told anyone previously.