WARNING: DISTRESSING CONTENT: Jake Porter, 30, has bravely spoken out about the abuse he suffered at the hands of his uncle when he was just seven years old, and the horror of living with the secret
A man has courageously waived his right to anonymity to disclose how he was sexually abused by his uncle, with the trauma “almost killing him.”
Jake Porter, 30, has opened up on the horrific abuse he endured at the hands of his uncle, Daniel Orme, when he was just seven years old. Orme was found guilty of the rape of a child under the age of 13 at the end of April following a five-day trial at Liverpool Crown Court.
The victim bravely stood up and spoke about his experiences at the court on July 2 as he read his victim impact statement to the court from behind a screen.
Orme, 37, was sentenced to six-and-a-half years in prison after being found guilty of three counts of rape of a child under the age of 13, one count of causing or inciting a child to engage in sexual activity, and one count of indecency with a child.
Jake told the Liverpool ECHO: “He used to take me upstairs to his bedroom, after we’d played video games he would do these horrific things to me. He used to make me do things to him.”
Jake admits the abuse led him to be a “nightmare” at home. After a year in care, Jake ran away, heading for Birmingham where he says he got caught up in the wrong crowd and began selling class A drugs. He was soon arrested and placed in a young offenders institute for eight months.
Jake said: “I made mistakes when I was younger and that’s it, I put it down to the abuse and the knock on effect it had on me.
“It was mad. I just wanted to get away from Liverpool, get away from home, so I ran away. I started selling drugs for someone, something I shouldn’t have been doing at that age.
“They were class A drugs. I didn’t know what I was doing. I had no morals, I just didn’t know what was going on. I was in fight mode and I hated being around my family so much. I did stuff I shouldn’t have done. I did my time and I have never, ever gone back to that since, I never would. It’s not me.”
After Jake’s release, he headed back to Liverpool where he met his girlfriend at the time and had a child of his own.
He said: “I had a son at 19. I just turned 19 and had my little boy who’s now 11. That’s when it started hitting me hard what had actually happened to me. When I had my own son I just couldn’t believe how anyone could do that to me or any other child.
“It made me sick to my stomach. When me and his mum split up my life just fell apart. I couldn’t comprehend what had happened to me and that’s when the self-harm started.”
Jake said he would often self-harm and has scars on his arms and face, as well as having permanent damage to his face. After years of trying to process what had happened, often blaming himself, he opened up to a friend who encouraged him to go to the police. But the tipping point was when he saw a photo.
He explained: “It was about three or four years ago, what had happened had been playing on my mind for a while so I spoke to my best friend about it. I bottled it up for so long and I spoke to my best friend about it.
“I didn’t go into detail but I said my uncle used to make me do things to him and I just broke down. My friend told me to go to the police but I just didn’t want to. About a year-and-a-half went past and I saw him in a photo with my mum and I just broke down.
“I saw him on this picture with my mum at a family event and I was sat there on my own and I was battling it every day. What he did to me was on my mind, it was killing me. In the end, that was how it came out.”
Jake now has a stable relationship with his parents. Having previously worked as a landscaper, Jake is now off work as he processes what has happened, living between his own home in Wavertree and his parents’ home in Halewood.
“With life right now, I just take each day as it comes, each day I try and get better,” he said. “I thought after this it would be a big weight lifted off my shoulders, I feel a bit of relief but I am just broken.”
