FOR more than a decade after being raped, Susan - it’s not her real name - lived in constant fear. She also felt guilty, wondering whether she was in some way to blame for what had happened to her. Then one day, at a meeting organised by charity Remedi, she came face to face with her attacker. And the man admitted he and he alone was to blame. He told Susan: ‘I was a predator’. It came as a huge relief. “I walked out almost euphoric. I feel so much lighter,” Susan admitted.

It took huge courage for Susan to speak out, even under cover of an assumed name. But her message is surely one of hope for all the many women - and some men - suffering under a similar burden of fear and misplaced shame and guilt.