A woman who had a painful childhood because of her father's sexual interest in her has spoken out about the trauma.
Karen Lockhart
A woman whose dad took her virginity when she was just 11 has spoken out about how he stole her childhood from her.
Karen Lockhart suffered for years at the hands of her vile father Albert Starkie at their family home in Manchester.
She kept the shocking abuse hidden for decades for fear of hurting her mother – but after 45 years, with the encouragement of her daughter and friends, she told police everything.
Speaking exclusively to the Manchester Evening News Karen told about the horrific assaults she endured over five years, from when she was seven up until 11 years old.
These included making her carry out s*x acts on him at a local cinema at the age of nine, him sexually assaulting her when she was ten, and then taking her virginity when 11.
Karen, now 57, of Wythenshawe, said dad Starkie separated from her mother when she was around ten but incidents happened at her home as well as at his house, also in Wythenshawe.
She said her life had been ‘stolen’ by her father.
Albert Starkie
Karen – who waived her anonymity – said: “At the time I thought all dads did that but as I got older I realised what he was doing was wrong. But he told me it was our secret and that if I told anyone I and he would be in trouble so I just kept quiet about it.”
The abuse stopped when she was 11 – and since then she tried to have a ‘normal’ relationship with her father – but said she was indifferent to him.
However, she said they still celebrated birthdays and Christmas together.
She said: “I would get him really ordinary cards, nothing really gushy. It was always ‘best wishes’.”
But something changed when she finally told a friend about what happened.
“I feel like my life has been stolen from me. How could he do those things to his own daughter? He was supposed to love and cherish me, not take advantage of me.”
She described how she suffered with self hatred and bulimia for many years as a result of the abuse she suffered.
Karen with her dad as a child
She said: “I have thought of the abuse every single day of my life. I tried to have a father daughter relationship after the abuse stopped. I felt indifferent to him.
“But now I have spoken about what he did, I hate him. I hate what he has done to me.
“He never treated me like a little princess, or a special girl, only when he was abusing me.
“He has lived in Wythenshawe all of his life and people who know him will say he’s such a nice man but when they find out his sordid little secret they will think differently of him. They will know the man I have known since I was seven years old.”
Starkie, 80, of Denville Crescent, Wythenshawe, pleaded guilty earlier this year to indecent assault to a girl under 14, indecency with a child under 14 and s*xual intercourse with a child under 13.
Starkie, who was in a wheelchair, sat emotionless in the dock throughout the hearing.
He looked his daughter in the eye as she bravely read out her witness statement.
He was remanded in custody for sentence on Friday.
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