Mandy Holstein thought she was free from fear when the man who abused her as a child was jailed. But now he has been released. Liz Lamb tells her story.

CLUTCHING her duvet close to her chest, the seven-year-old girl cowered in her bedroom, scared of what would happen after dark. Afraid and alone, Mandy Holstein could only pray that tonight was not the night the naughty man would visit her in her bed.

She would pray desperately that he would not climb under the duvet to touch her and tell her that it was their secret, that nobody must know.

But the man who came into her room after the lights went out was not an evil stranger lurking in the shadows but her step-father, a man she trusted.

For eight years Mandy suffered a ritual of sexual abuse at the hands of Garth Valentine-Earley.

The then 40-year-old married Mandy's mother and moved into the family home in Darlington when she was five years old. For the first couple of years they appeared to be a normal family doing normal things. But then Earley changed Mandy's life forever.

The paedophile, the man she knew as dad, would wait until Mandy's mother would go out for the night or was asleep in bed before pouncing on the little girl. Too young to understand what was happening to her, it was only years later that Mandy realised that this was not what dads should do. So prolonged was the abuse - it carried on until she was 15 years old - that it became a way of life for Mandy.

"I was told to keep it a secret," says Mandy, "He blackmailed me and told me that he would take my brother away. Then years later he threatened to take one of my children to stop me from going to the police. The abuse happened so often that it became a part of life. At first I was so young I did not understand but then after a while, when I realised, I could not get out of it. He threatened and blackmailed me."

Scared that Earley would carry out his threats, Mandy kept his sordid secret quiet. Until one day, when she was 14, a school friend confided in Mandy, as they sat in the local park, that she too was being abused.

It was a story with which Mandy was all too familiar.

'I told somebody once," says Mandy. "It was years and years ago. She told me that her uncle was abusing her and I said it was happening to me too. I felt that I could finally tell someone. I told her about it but then she said she was making her story up."

In 1998, when Earley finally appeared before a court charged with raping and indecently assaulting Mandy, that school friend came forward and gave evidence, telling the court of Mandy's revelation years ago.

She was the only person Mandy confided in. Her mother was unaware of what was happening in the family home and when the truth finally emerged, Mandy's mother believed Earley when he told her that Mandy was lying.

"My mother did not know what was going on. She only found out the first time that he was arrested. He told her that I was lying," says Mandy. "My mother and I did not talk for years. She has now realised what he had done. To be honest I don't blame her for believing his lies. He is such a cunning, devious man. It is only recently that my mam and I have got back in touch. We are trying to rebuild our relationship and put the past behind us."

To the outside world Earley appeared to be a family man. "He seemed like a normal OK guy to everyone else," says Mandy. "A few people have said later though that they had suspicions about him. But he got away with it, people did not realise."

It was not until she was 15 that Mandy finally broke free from Earley's clutches. She was able to find alternative accommodation and move out of the family home. But despite the separation between the pair, Earley continued with his threats in a bid to stop Mandy ever telling his secret.

Then finally, after years of torment, in 1997 Mandy broke her silence. Earley had continued to try and dominate her life, he was spotted hanging around her home, but Mandy decided enough was enough.

"He was walking around free and I thought to myself, I do not have to do this anymore. I had seen him outside my house, smirking. I called the police and was screaming down the phone at them," says Mandy, now 29. "I was in a right state."

Earley managed to evade detectives after he faked illness and then tried to kill himself. The first trial in 1997 was halted but then, a year later, in February 1998, Mandy finally thought she had seen justice done.

"That man put me through two trials. He is a very clever man and he knew exactly what he was doing. He has never shown any remorse. In the courtroom he showed nothing. There were no tears," she says. "What he did to me is always with me. My kids are the biggest part of my life and that's what helps me.

"I have told my children that if anybody ever touched them then they should come straight to me and I would believe them. Parents should be made aware of what can happen to their kids. It is no good saying that it could never happen to their kids or their family, because it could happen to anyone.

"I would urge people to come forward and tell someone. And if their child tells them something like this, parents should listen and then go to the police. I am glad that I went to court and spoke out about what happened to me but he should not be free after just four years.

"People who have been abused should come forward. As long as they know they are telling the truth, even if no one else believes them, they should stick with it."

Now that Earley is free after four years in prison and living in a hostel in Middlesbrough, Mandy can no longer sleep easily at night. Instead, she is living in fear that one day Earley may carry out his threats that he imposed on her throughout her life.

"I will never be able to put this behind me," she says. "I thought that he would come out of prison in a coffin but now he is a free man. If he did die I would stamp all over his grave. I hate him and I despise him. He took away my childhood and he ruined my life.

"He has always threatened to take one of my kids and I am scared. I am living my life in fear. He could do this to somebody else's child."

Now Mandy can only pray that the nightmare she suffered as a child does not come back to haunt her and that another child does not lie awake at night afraid of the naughty man coming into the bedroom.