Chesterfield rape victim shares story to help others

Lisa Brough has put her harrowing story down in a self-published book, Lucky Me – Everything I’ve learned from Life’s Misfortunes.

In it, she tells how she began self-harming when bullied at school, was raped at the age of 17, robbed, attempted suicide and became trapped in a abusive relationship which saw her ex attack her and set fire to her mother’s car.

Lisa says: “I decided to tell my story, because when I told people about what had happened, they used to think I was making it up, but people who did know said I should write a book.

“I just want to help someone else in a similar situation.”

Addressing such people in her preface, Lisa writes: “Hopefully you will realise you can get through anything and live the life you want – just stay strong.”

In the book, Lisa tells how she was a shy and quiet girl at school, but began to be bullied when she refused to go out with a pal of her best friend’s older boyfriend.

She says: “Eventually my whole group of friends and then the entire class started to pick on me. I had no friends, no-one to turn to – I felt so alone.”That’s when I started to self-harm, I would sit in class and scratch my hand or arm with the end of anything sharp. It was like a release. Maybe, deep-down, I was punishing myself.”

She also relates how she was raped several times at the age of 17 by a shopkeeper she worked for.

Writing about the aftermath of the attack, she says: “I remember feeling dazed and weak. I told him I would go to the police. He laughed and said no-one would believe me because I was asking for it, plus he had friends in the police force.”

She was robbed while working in a service station on Newbold Road, Chesterfield, in March 1992.

Lisa, of Hanbury Close, Holme Hall, writes: “The man demanded the money from the till. He was very agitated and had his hand in his pocket as though he had a weapon.”

She admits she told everyone she was okay, but it was a lie.

She says: “In October 1992, everything got too much for me. One day, I came home and took lots of tablets. I’d just had enough. I lay down on my bed and started to cry.”

A year later she met “Gary” – names in the book have been changed - while working at the service station.

He had just come out of prison after serving a two-and-a-half year jail term for assault.

“He said he was a changed man and I believed him,” says Lisa. “When he asked me out, I said yes, as I believed everybody deserves a second chance.

“At first everything was all right. But he gradually started to change. Slowly he started to be possessive, jealous and agressive.”

In her book, Lisa, mum to NHS call handler Daniel, aged 23, recalls how Gary controlled her life, demanding to know what she was doing and who she was talking to at all times.

She tells how he attempted to drown her in the bath, hit her in the face with a squash racket, threw things at her, pinned her against the wall by her throat and dragged her about by her hair, as well as trying to throw her down the stairs and punch her in the stomach after learning she was pregnant.

Lisa, 48, writes: “You might be wondering why I didn’t leave him. One of the threats he drilled into me was if I ever left, he would kill me and my family one by one. I believed he would do it too.”

Eventually, it got to much and she fled, ending up back at her mum’s – but Gary kept turning up, even, Lisa says, firebombing her mother’s car on one occasion.

Lisa holds nothing back in her story, as she talks about failed relationships, the death of loved ones and how she began a relationship with a counsellor – which led to an apology from Derbyshire Healthcare NHS Trust for her care.

However, she admits sharing her inner-most secrets has been tough.

“I have always kept a diary so the dates were fairly easy, but to sit down and actually write it – there were tears when the book came out,” she says.

“It’s emotional to see it. I’ve hidden it for so long, but now I know everyone is going to know it.

“I was worried about what people would think – even some of my family didn’t know very much about what I had been through. You worry people are going to treat you differently.

“Writing down and reliving my life again has not been easy, it has brought a lot of sad and horrible memories back.

“But, if only one person finds the strength and courage, or gets the help and support they need from reading it, I will have achieved my aim in telling my story.”

And there is light at the end of tunnel for Lisa in the shape of husband Paul, a 52-year-old security guard.

The couple, who met through the Badoo social network, married on February 29, 2016 – and are planning a trip to Gretna Green for a blessing on their “first” wedding anniversary next year.

She says: “Paul has supported me through it.”

Paul says: “She was a bit upset that I was going to find out everything, so on the second date, we sat down and she told me everything.

“She has had a tough life and she needs to have a better one.”

The book is available from Amazon for £8.99, while the ebook is available for £2.99.