A VICTIM of prolonged child abuse has spoken to the Review of her relief after seeing the man who abused her jailed for four years on Friday.

Tracy Lawrence, 37, who has waived her right to anonymity so the Review can tell her story in full, was repeatedly sexually abused between the ages of eight and 14 by her mother's cousin, Colin Wray, of Gorham Drive, St Albans.

Before the hearing on Friday she was afraid he would escape prison because of health problems, but Wray, carried into St Albans Crown Court on a stretcher, was jailed for four years by judge Stephen Warner.

Mrs Lawrence, who was brought up in St Albans but lives in Hatfield, told the Review: "I had gone into court thinking it wasn't going to happen, he wasn't going to get a jail sentence.

"My friend was sitting next to me and I grabbed her hand. I couldn't tell you what was said, but when the judge said four years I was elated.

"Eight years would have been better, but to get four years was justice."

Between 1980 and 1986, Wray continually abused her. Mrs Lawrence recalls: “None of it felt wrong at the time “It was as if it was normal. The police call him the perfect groomer.

“At first it was just tickling - then it started to go further.”

Mrs Lawrence, a married mother-of-five, told the Review of the psychological impact of the abuse. She said: “You feel degraded.

“I protect my children so much – I am over-protective. I have taught my children to be careful. “They have to know you can't trust everyone.

“I have to be one step ahead all the time. “I have to be in control – I can't have anyone making me do anything I don't want to do, even when my husband holds my hand.”

Although she told her husband many years ago and has discussed the abuse with her children, she did not go to police until January last year.