Broken

Shy wasn’t meant to survive her childhood.

Her mother beat her so severely that Shy was deaf and partially blind by her first day of primary school.

And virtually every day from the age of four, Shy was raped by her stepfather, Stan.

When she was ten she was attacked so viciously by the gang of pedophiles Stan had sold her to that she was left for dead in a field, her skull fractured.

Six years ago, her testimony secured the imprisonment of Stan and his associates for a catalogue of crimes against children. But it was only after a journey fraught with horror – stealing to survive on the streets of London, prison, and a suicide bid.

Today, Shy is the internationally admired chief advocate for Phoenix Survivors, the campaigning group she founded with Sara Payne. They have worked tirelessly for justice for victims of child sexual abuse.