July 2011 Paedophile stepfather robbed my childhood with 9 years of abuse A WOMAN who suffered nine years of horrific sexual abuse by her stepfather has told how she was “robbed of her childhood”. Tina, 36, has taken the unusual step of waiving her right to anonymity – to allow her to publicly condemn stepfather David Moore for the years of abuse he put her through. Moore, 59, of Tilney Turn, Vange, repeatedly raped Tina between 1981 and 1990. But Tina did not press charges when she was a child and kept the abuse secret for years, because she assumed it was too late to prove what he had done. It was only through studying law at Essex University she realised Moore could still be prosecuted. She reported Moore to police and he has now been jailed for 14 years. Tina said: “I’m so pleased everyone knows the truth about him now. “He robbed me of my childhood, but justice has finally been done and I can move on with my life.” Tina told police everything in November 2009, soon after graduating from university with a 2:1 degree. Currently a care support worker, she hopes to become a solicitor in the future. She said: “I delayed telling police after leaving home because I fell into a bad relationship and then struggled as a single mother. “I had no confidence and wrongly assumed I’d left it too late. Getting the degree made all the difference. “I also had enough support by that time, from friends and my aunt, to get me through the trauma of the case. “I’m so pleased I went through with it and urge other children who are being abused to stand up for themselves. “There is justice out there and you should fight to get it, whether that’s at the time it is happening or 20 years later, as happened to me. It’s never too late.” Moore was found guilty at Southend Crown Court of six counts of indecent assault on a female, three counts of committing gross indecency with a child and three counts of rape. Det Insp Andy Keen, from the Metropolitan Police’s child abuse investigation team, said: “We’re pleased at this conviction. “It shows even several years after a victim has been subjected to such traumatic abuse, the perpetrator can be convicted and jailed. “We hope this encourages other victims of abuse to come forward and have confidence in the police and justice system.”