Bride invited paedo monster who raped her throughout her childhood to her own wedding
Pictures of what should have been Kristy Sutton's favourite day still make her shudder because child rapist George Spooner was among the guests
Most wives enjoy leafing through their wedding album – but for Kristy Sutton it brings a shudder.
Because staring out from the pictures of what should have been the happiest day of her life is the face of a paedophile monster who raped her throughout her childhood.
Her depraved attacker was a family friend, George Spooner.
Such was his grip on Kristy that she felt compelled to invite him to her big day.
Looking back on the incredible decision, she realises the extent to which manipulative Spooner’s reign of fear had dogged her life and crippled her emotions.
Kristy is now 27 and has waived her legal right to remain anonymous. She recalled: “I felt obliged to invite him.
“Everyone would have asked why he was excluded and I just wasn’t ready to tell them yet. The thought terrified me.”
Spooner’s sinister presence at the wedding eventually made the bride realise she had to act to bring him to justice.
The mum-of-three reported Spooner, 54, to police. Today he is awaiting sentence after being found guilty of child rape and indecent assault.
Speaking after the conviction, Kristy told the Sunday People: “My wedding should have been the happiest day of my life but it wasn’t. It was tainted by his presence.
“Now, so many years on, I feel good because I’ve taken a pervert off the streets. But the legacy of what that monster did is with me every day.”
Kristy first encountered Spooner when he moved into her home as a lodger when she was only five.
He was a delivery driver, a family friend who had fallen on hard times. Kristy’s parents took him in, unaware of his perverted interest in youngsters.
Kristy said: “From the start, he made me his special pet. He stood up for me when I was told off. He hugged me and tickled me. Soon when we were alone he was touching me sexually.
“After six months he moved out but his new home was round the corner so he was still in and out of our place all the time.
“Sometimes he would take me to work with him and sexually abuse me in the back of cars and vans. There were other times when he’d ask Mum if I could go to his place for a sleepover.
“The abuse escalated. It’s hard to remember exactly how old I was but each time he moved things up a notch.
“By the time I was nine, George was regularly using me for oral sex and full sex.”
She was too young to understand the seriousness of what was happening.
And Kristy said Spooner even warped her mind to the point where she felt he was a friend. He told her that her parents didn’t love her and he was the only person who did.
Kristy said: “My family was large and chaotic, moving around a lot. George was manipulative, playing mind games to exploit my fears.
“He told me my parents knew everything he was doing and didn’t mind.
“I believed whatever adults said. So I felt there was no point talking to anyone. Sexual activity seemed like a price I had to pay for somebody to take an interest in me and care for me.
“George said it was happening to every little girl.”
At the age of 15 Kristy ended the abuse by leaving her home town of Basildon, Essex, to live with her natural father in King’s Lynn, Norfolk.
She found a 17-year-old boyfriend, got pregnant and gave birth to a daughter, now nine, and son, now eight, before the relationship ended.
But when she was 18, Kristy’s family followed her to King’s Lynn. And with them came Spooner, who was invited to every wedding and christening.
Kristy said: “He acted like the abuse never happened but I just wanted to put that chapter of my life behind me.”
Part of that closure came at the age of 21 when Kristy met her would-be husband Barry in a nightclub.
Soon they decided to marry. And the bride-to-be knew she would have to come face to face once more with the monster.
She said: “My Catholic faith is important to me so I wanted to wed in church.
“I told Barry I didn’t want any wedding reception but my family put me under pressure until in the end I gave in, reluctantly agreeing to an informal gathering at a pub.
“I knew that would mean inviting George. “Otherwise I’d have to tell everyone why he wasn’t welcome.
“At that stage in my life, I wasn’t ready to open that can of worms.”
After taking the heart-wrenching decision, Kristy, in a show of defiance, even dropped off an invitation at Spooner’s home.
“Barry came with me,” she recalled. “When George opened his door, greeting me with ‘Hi, sexy!’ I felt Barry’s hackles rise.
“We stayed only a few minutes before making our excuses and leaving. But afterwards Barry kept saying he didn’t like George and thought he was a weirdo.
“He wouldn’t let it drop. He was like a dog with a bone. Finally I blurted out to Barry that when I was a child, George forced me into sex.
“Barry told me that we had to go to the police. He couldn’t get his head around why I’d felt obliged to include my abuser among our wedding guests. We had a huge argument and he moved out for a while.”
In the end Barry accepted that it had to be Kristy’s decision and their wedding went ahead – her way.
She said: “On the day, I did glimpse George at the back of the church. I managed to blank him out. But when we arrived at our reception he dashed forward and opened the car door.
“Barry yelled at him, ‘What the hell are you doing?’ He gave George a shove then we went in the pub, not wanting a scene.
“I spent the night avoiding George. If he was standing anywhere I moved elsewhere.”
Having got through the day, Kristy felt happy that she’d faced down the demon.
She and Barry had a son, Kristy’s third child. But it wasn’t until Kristy’s eldest daughter turned seven that she found the memories of her childhood ordeal becoming stronger.
She said: “I kept looking at my daughter, and thinking, ‘She is the same age as I was when George made me do such-and-such.’ It brought home the full horror.”
George had sent Kristy several Facebook friend requests, which she ignored.
But in 2013, happily married and able at last to confront him, she sent a private message: “Tell me exactly how old I was when stuff started.”
Spooner denied all knowledge and claimed she needed psychiatric help.
For Kristy, that was the final straw.
She said: “I realised he was doing once again what he’d always done – lying, manipulating me and trying to drive a wedge between me and my family.”
After telling everything to her mum and natural dad, who were horrified and insisted they never suspected, she went to the police.
Spooner was arrested and charged. Her mum and elder sister agreed to appear as witnesses for the prosecution. Spooner, under his alias of Paul Reed, denied the charges.
But police used school records, counselling records, DVLA and housing register records to corroborated his victim’s evidence of where and when attacks happened.
After an eight-day trial at Norwich Crown Court, at which Kristy gave evidence for two days, Spooner was convicted of three counts of child rape and two counts of indecent assault. He will be sentenced a week on Thursday.
Kristy, who fears Spooner may have had other victims, said: “Now everything is out in the open I feel better.
“Norfolk Police’s specialist child abuse unit were very kind and supportive. Overall, the court case was much less traumatic than I’d feared.
“I urge any other victims to go to police. If my experience is anything to go by, you will feel better once you refuse to keep that vile man’s secrets.”
