WOMAN WAIVES RIGHT TO ANONYMITY AFTER FATHER AND PARTNER JAILED FOR SEXUAL ABUSE
A young woman who suffered sexual abuse by her father and his partner has publicly waived her right to anonymity as they face imprisonment.Demi Howes, now 18, moved in with her father, Matthew Ward, and his partner, Sophie Eason, at age 15.
After turning 16, Ward told her he was free to engage in sexual activities with her, and he began having sex.
Eason was also involved in the ongoing abuse.
Police investigations led to the seizure of Ward’s phone during an unrelated incident, which uncovered messages where Ward attempted to arrange sexual encounters with Demi and a third woman.
Additional messages indicated Eason’s involvement in the victimization.
Ward, 37, from Boyer Street, and Eason, 30, from Teasel Grove, Derby, were arrested in March 2025 and subsequently charged.
They initially denied the allegations but changed their pleas during a September court hearing to admit several counts: Ward pleaded guilty to three counts of non-penetrative adult sexual activity with a girl aged 13-17 and five counts of penetrative sexual activity with a female child of the same age.
Eason admitted to two counts each of non-penetrative and penetrative sexual acts involving a girl aged 13-17.
At Derby Crown Court on 12 June, Judge sentenced Ward to 15 years and four months’ imprisonment and Eason to two years and eight months.
Both received indefinite Sexual Harm Prevention Orders, Restraining Orders prohibiting contact with Demi, and are required to register with police forever.
In court, Demi shared her Victim Personal Statement, disclosing that she learned at age 15 that Ward was her biological father.
She found him via social media through Eason and chose to live with them after fleeing her tumultuous, abusive home life.
The case also covers offences committed after she turned 18, including engaging in non-penetrative sexual acts with a girl aged 13-15 and creating and distributing indecent images of a child, amounting to two counts each.
In her Victim Personal Statement, which she read in court, Demi talked about how she found out Ward was her biological father at the age of 15.
She tracked him down on social media via Eason and went to live with them, after escaping a chaotic and abusive home environment.
“I was excited to meet my father and thought that I might have finally found somewhere I could be safe and belong.
“I thought I might have a chance at a family and being able to be a normal teenager.
“I wasn’t sure how to respond when [Ward] started flirting with me.
When he started to sexualise me saying ‘I looked fit’ and I was ‘sexy’ I thought that maybe they were compliments.
Maybe that was a normal thing dads do.
“I didn’t know what to do when he came into my bedroom when I was 15 and kissed me.
“When I turned 16 my dad told me I was 16 now and he could do what he wanted.
That’s when he started to get Sophie involved and she would join in the abuse.
“It’s sick to think about, my own dad having sex with me and the woman I called mum joining in.
“At the time I thought it was dad and Sophie just being dad and Sophie, they made me think it was normal.
“I get teased about what Sophie and Mathew did to me.
“Some people still don’t believe me and that’s worse sometimes, even though I have told the truth about everything some of my family have rejected me over this.
“I think it’s easier to blame me sometimes than admit what the defendants actually are.” Addressing the pair directly, Demi went on: “I have night terrors and PTSD from what you did to me.
I wet the bed and physically lash out and scream in my sleep talking about what you did.
“I can still feel what you did when I go to sleep it’s impossible to escape the trauma you have put me through… “Neither of you should be allowed near children because you are dangerous paedophiles.”
