At 20 years old, Lisa Turner knew she had to escape. She had been held captive for five years by a man who she first met as a pre-teen – with their meeting setting in motion a cycle of control, manipulation and abuse
A woman held captive by her paedophile teacher for five years has told how she escaped his clutches with the help of her mum, who said four words changed her life.
Lisa Turner, now 56, was not allowed to leave her house for anything other than school by her abuser, who controlled what she ate, what she could wear and who she could speak to.
The man, who she met aged 12 when he was her music teacher, began pressuring her for sex when she was 13 and even manipulated her parents to let her move to the UK from Australia with him when she was 15.
While living in London, away from her parents, he was able to take further advantage of her and subject to her regular punishments such as locking her in a claustrophobic back room of the house.
But when she told her mum of the horrific abuse she was suffering when she was 20, she said just four words that helped Lisa turn her life around: “What do you need?” And over the following six months, Lisa was able to plan her escape.
First she opened a bank account, then found a safe place to live on her own where she could move all of her belongings and then finally be free of her abuser.
Lisa said: “Just before my 15th birthday, he started to send me threats that he was going to kill himself if I didn’t go to England straight away.
“My mum was in a really difficult situation, because she could see how manipulated I’d been by him. She didn’t think it was a good idea. People ask me, ‘What was your mum thinking?’
“She thought, if I don’t send her, she’ll probably run away and figure out a way of getting there anyway. She thought it was better that I went – with a begrudging agreement that I stayed in touch. This proved to be a lifeline later on.”
Lisa considered taking legal action, but realised this would not change the past and would subject her to a devastating lawsuit with no guarantee of success.
She said: “I met with a barrister who warned ‘every decision you ever made before, during and after that relationship will be scrutinised’.
“He said, ‘it will consume you and no one there will be saying, ‘how awful.’ Instead, the underwear you wore that Thursday in November when he raped you will be questioned.”
After escaping her horrific life with her abuser, Lisa qualified as a therapist and works with others who have escaped abusive relationships to help them heal and move on from their trauma.
Now married, living in Cornwall and a proud grandmother, Lisa added: “People have attacked me, saying, ‘He could still be abusing other people’. I say I can do far more good now sharing my work and training others.”
For the latest breaking news and stories from across the globe from the Daily Star, sign up for our newsletter by clicking here .