Woman who was raped held on to ‘guilt and shame’ for years but then took action to ‘show the world no means no’
A rape survivor who held on to “the guilt and the shame” for years before reporting her attacker has told Sky News she has now “passed it on to him” after he was jailed for seven years.
Warning: The following article contains details of serious sexual assault
The woman, who is retaining her legal right to anonymity, was raped by DJ Alisdair Randalls when she was just 18 in December 2015.
She told Sky News that she “never wanted to go to the police” but after years of suffering in silence she realised she had to take action to avoid anyone else potentially being hurt and to “show the world that no means no”.
Randalls, who was 21 at the time of the attack and is now 30, denied any wrongdoing but in April was found guilty of rape following a trial at the High Court in Aberdeen.
He was sentenced at the High Court in Glasgow on 15 May.
The woman, now 27, said: “I just felt like I had to help and put people like him away. You can’t live in fear of these people.
“I held the guilt and the shame and all of that for ages, for years.
“And I’ve passed it on to him. He can take it now. It’s on him to deal with it when he comes out.”
The pair had matched on Tinder and had been flirting for around three weeks before Randalls encouraged the teenager to meet him at his flat in Aberdeen after he had been out drinking.
The woman said Randalls had previously been “flirty and chatty” and appeared to be a “nice boy”.
However, when she changed her mind about having sex, he ignored her pleas to stop and went on to rape her.
During the attack, he seized her by the throat.
The woman, who described Randalls as “a devil and a beast”, confided in her flatmate and a friend over what happened.
She was then forced to seek therapy after being unable to cope with the aftermath of the rape.
‘I didn’t want to be here any more’
The woman said: “I did not know what to do with myself. I didn’t want to be here any more. It was that bad.
“It’s one of the worst things I’ve ever gone through in my life. I could not function.
“I felt guilty, I felt embarrassed, I felt ashamed. I was angry. I was like, ‘why me? Why did he pick me?’
“I cried all the time. It was honestly awful. I can’t really remember a lot of the emotions either, because I’ve kind of blocked it.”
The woman saw Randalls during a night out around a year after the attack.
She said he grabbed her arm and attempted to say hello, but she managed to escape and hid in the toilets.
The woman eventually reported Randalls in December 2021 and he was subsequently arrested and charged.
The woman said: “I felt no one would believe me.”
However, she received support from Police Scotland and the Crown Office and Procurator Fiscal Service (COPFS).
She said: “They were so understanding. They took their time with me. They were all lovely. They made me feel comfortable and not to feel embarrassed about it.”
‘The defence lawyer’s questioning felt personal’
The woman said the lengthy wait for the trial was difficult and in the lead-up to the proceedings she was “all over the place”.
At court, she was even caught off guard when she heard Randalls’ name over the tannoy.
The trial took four days and the woman felt the brunt of the defence lawyer as he attempted to clear his client.
She said: “It was a shock. Everyone warns you, saying ‘oh it’s tough’. But it was brutal.
“It felt like it was personal. They say it’s not and it’s just his job, but it felt personal. It felt nasty and he was trying to discredit me in any way.”
‘I felt like the judge took it seriously’
Following the conviction, sentencing Judge Lord Colbeck said Randalls accepted “no responsibility” for his crime.
He added: “You show little or no insight in to your offending behaviour and the impact this has had upon your victim.”
As well as the seven-year jail sentence, Randalls was also banned for life from contacting the woman and was placed on the sex offenders’ register indefinitely.
The woman said she was “shocked” with the sentence, saying: “I didn’t expect that. I was stunned, I actually was. I felt like the judge took it seriously.”
The woman has dated since the attack, but is still “very, very wary”.
She said: “I genuinely thought he was a nice boy. So, just not knowing people’s true intentions, it does scare me.”
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The woman understands there will be many others who have suffered similar assaults but are too scared to come forward.
She admitted the court process is “not easy”, with some parts “completely out of your control”, but she stressed you “can’t let these people roam the streets”.
‘I have to show the world that no means no’
She said: “It’s a lengthy process, and it can be tedious waiting months and even years in my case to get anywhere. Sometimes I thought it was never-ending.
“Additionally, I thought it was difficult enough to tell friends and family, however, standing up to tell my story to 20 strangers was the part I felt most vulnerable.
“I definitely went through stages of being re-traumatised and it made everything that bit more physically and emotionally draining.
“There were points I wanted to give up. All I could tell myself was that even though I don’t want to do this, I have to do this.
“I have to protect every single woman from him. I have to make this world a safer place. I have to safeguard the future of young girls from monsters like him. I have to hold him accountable for what he has done. I have to show the world that no means no.
“I was not guaranteed a positive outcome, no one is, but all you have to do is try.
“If we don’t try then we won’t get anywhere. It’s so cliché but you don’t realise how strong you actually are. If I can do it, anyone can.”
‘You don’t need to cope alone’
Katrina Parkes, Scotland’s procurator fiscal for high court sexual offences, commended the woman “for her courage” in reporting Randalls and for helping to bring him to justice.
Sandy Brindley, the chief executive of Rape Crisis Scotland, is urging all those who are in need of support to get in touch.
She said: “No matter how long ago it happened, if you have been affected by sexual violence, you don’t need to cope alone.
“When you’re ready to talk, rape crisis services are ready to listen.”
Helplines if you are in need of support:
• Rape Crisis Scotland – 08088 01 03 02
• Rape Crisis England and Wales – 0808 500 2222
• Rape Crisis Network Ireland – 1800 778 888
• Rape Crisis Northern Ireland – 0800 0246 991
Veterans are set to join the King for a VE Day tea party today as the prime minister has paid tribute to the “selfless dedication” of the war generation.
Among them will be a 99-year-old who took part in the D-Day landings and a 100-year-old woman who worked in the Special Operations Executive, known as Churchill’s Secret Army.
Director general of the Royal British Legion, Mark Atkinson, said the charity was “proud” to be taking a place “at the heart of these national celebrations and commemorations” on the 80th anniversary of the end of the Second World War.
He said it would be “one of our last opportunities as a nation to pay tribute to those veterans still with us today”.
Evacuees from World War Two and veterans who were still in active conflict after VE Day are among the other guests set to attend the tea party, which will take place in the presence of the King and other members of the Royal Family.
The Royal Family will watch a military procession and flypast on Monday. File pic: PA
At 12pm, the Royal Family will observe a military procession, followed by a flypast.
It will be the first major VE Day anniversary without any of the royals who stood on the balcony of Buckingham Palace on the day victory in Europe was declared, after the death of the late Queen Elizabeth II in 2022.
‘Not just for Britain’
The celebrations come as Prime Minister Sir Keir Starmer praised veterans for their “selfless dedication” and thanked them for a “debt that can never fully be repaid” in an open letter ahead of VE Day.
He said the stories which will be heard this week from those who fought in the Second World War would be a reminder that the victory “was not just for Britain” but was also “a victory for good against the assembled forces of hatred, tyranny and evil”.
Sir Keir said the WW2 veterans “represent the best of who we are” and that without their service “the freedom, peace and joy that these celebrations embody, would not be possible”.
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VE Day veteran tells Sky News what the atmosphere was like when WWII was finally declared over in Europe
Personnel from NATO allies the US, France and Germany will be among those taking part in the procession in London.
The commemorations will begin with the words of Sir Winston Churchill‘s 1945 victory speech, spoken by actor Timothy Spall.
Thousands of people are expected to line the streets of the capital to witness the celebrations.
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Codebreaker’s ‘special’ encounter with Churchill
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On the anniversary itself on Thursday, marking exactly 80 years since the Allies formally accepted Germany’s surrender, a service of commemoration will be held at Westminster Abbey, to include a national two minutes’ silence.
Pubs across England and Wales, which usually close at 11pm, will also stay open for an extra two hours to allow punters more time to celebrate.
Eight men have been arrested by the Metropolitan Police in two unconnected but “significant” terrorism investigations.
In one operation on Saturday, counter-terror officers arrested five men – four of whom are Iranian nationals – as they swooped in on various locations around the country. All are in police custody.
The Met said the arrests related to a “suspected plot to target a specific premises”.
In an update shortly after midnight, the force said: “Officers have been in contact with the affected site to make them aware and provide relevant advice and support, but for operational reasons, we are not able to provide further information at this time.”
Commander Dominic Murphy, head of the Met’s Counter Terrorism Command, said: “Counter-terrorism policing, supported by police and colleagues from across the country, have conducted arrests in two really significant operations, both of which have been designed to keep the public safe from threats.
“There are several hundred officers and staff working on this investigation, and we will work very hard to ensure we understand the threats to the wider public.”
He refused to say if the plot was related to Israel, but described it as “certainly significant” and said “it is unusual for us to conduct this scale of activity”.
He also asked the public to “avoid speculation and some of the things that are being posted online”.
MI5 director general Ken McCallum said in October that the intelligence agency had responded to 20 “potentially lethal” Iran-backed plots since 2022. He warned of the risk of an “increase or broadening of Iranian state aggression in the UK”.
Read more: Terror arrests came in context of raised warnings about Iran
Children ‘petrified’ by armed police
Rochdale resident Kyle Warren, who witnessed one of the arrests at a neighbouring house, said his children had been playing in the garden when they came running into the house, saying a man in a mask had told them to go inside.
“Obviously, I was a bit worried,” Mr Warren told Sky News’ Lisa Dowd, and so he went into the garden to investigate.
“As we’ve come out, we just heard a massive bang, seen loads of police everywhere with guns, shouting at us to get inside the house.”
Kyle Warren said his children were ‘petrified’
From upstairs in his house, he then heard “loads of shouting in the house” and saw a man being pulled out of the back of the house, “dragged down the side entry and thrown into all the bushes and then handcuffed”.
There were about 20 to 30 officers with guns, he believes.
“It’s just shocking, really. You don’t expect it on your doorstep.”
His daughters were “petrified… I don’t think they’ve ever seen a gun, so to see 20 masked men with guns running round was quite scary for them”.
Mr Warren, who only moved into his house a year ago, said he had “never really seen anyone going in or out” of the house and actually thought it was empty.
One suspect was arrested in Cheadle Hulme, Greater Manchester. Pic: Sarah Cash
One suspect was arrested in Cheadle Hulme, Greater Manchester. Pic: Sarah Cash
Arrests and searches around the country
The Met added officers were carrying out searches at a number of addresses in the Greater Manchester, London and Swindon areas in connection with the investigation.
It said those detained were:
• A 29-year-old man arrested in the Swindon area
• A 46-year-old man arrested in west London
• A 29-year-old man arrested in the Stockport area
• A 40-year-old man arrested in the Rochdale area
• A man whose age was not confirmed arrested in the Manchester area.
A 29-year-old man was arrested in the Stockport area
Terror arrests in separate investigation
Police also arrested three further Iranian nationals in London on Saturday as part of another, unrelated counter-terror investigation.
The suspects were detained under section 27 of the National Security Act 2023, which allows police to arrest those suspected of being “involved in foreign power threat activity”.
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Home Secretary Yvette Cooper said: “These were two major operations that reflect some of the biggest counter state threat and counter terrorism operations that we have seen in recent years.
“This reflects the complexity of the kinds of challenges to our national security that we continue to face.”
Earlier, she thanked police and security services in a statement, and called the incidents “serious events that demonstrate the ongoing requirement to adapt our response to national security threats”.
Last year, the government placed the whole of the Iranian state – including its intelligence services – on the enhanced tier of the new foreign influence registration scheme.
It means anyone asked by Iran to carry out actions for the state must declare it, or face prison time.
UK
Terror arrests came in context of raised warnings about Iran, with ongoing chaos in its own backyard
These are two separate and unrelated investigations by counter-terror officers.
But the common thread is nationality – seven out of the eight people arrested are Iranian.
And that comes in the context of increased warnings from government and the security services about Iranian activity on British soil.
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Counter terror officers raid property
Last year, the director general of MI5, Ken McCallum, said his organisation and police had responded to 20 Iran-backed plots presenting potentially lethal threats to British citizens and UK residents since January 2022.
He linked that increase to the ongoing situation in Iran’s own backyard.
“As events unfold in the Middle East, we will give our fullest attention to the risk of an increase in – or a broadening of – Iranian state aggression in the UK,” he said.
The implication is that even as Iran grapples with a rapidly changing situation in its own region, having seen its proxies, Hezbollah in Lebanon and Hamas in Gaza, decimated and itself coming under Israeli attack, it may seek avenues further abroad.
The government reiterated this warning only a few weeks ago, with security minister Dan Jarvis addressing parliament.
“The threat from Iran sits in a wider context of the growing, diversifying and evolving threat that the UK faces from malign activity by a number of states,” Jarvis said.
“The threat from states has become increasingly interconnected in nature, blurring the lines between: domestic and international; online and offline; and states and their proxies.
“Turning specifically to Iran, the regime has become increasingly emboldened, asserting itself more aggressively to advance their objectives and undermine ours.”
Read more:
Anybody working for Iran in UK must register or face jail, government announces
As part of that address, Jarvis highlighted the National Security Act 2023, which “criminalises assisting a foreign intelligence service”, among other things.
So it was notable that this was the act used in one of this weekend’s investigations.
The suspects were detained under section 27 of the same act, which allows police to arrest those suspected of being “involved in foreign power threat activity”.
Those powers are apparently being put to use.
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