My evil stepdad broke my ribs, burnt me with cigarettes & forced me to lick dog poo…now Starmer’s releasing him EARLY
A VICTIM who fought for years for justice to see her ‘evil’ abuser behind jail has been left devastated and frightened – after he was released today as part of the government’s controversial early release scheme.
Miriam Lake, 47, from Bradwell, was just nine years old when she was subjected to years of violence and mental cruelty at the hands of her stepdad Michael Egan.
As a child, she was forced to lick dog faeces from Egan’s shoes, burned with a lit cigarette, had cold water thrown over her while she slept and kicked in the ribs.
She grew up being repeatedly told her mum didn’t love her, was dragged to the floor by her hair, kicked to the point she’d coughed up blood and was subjected to horrific verbal abuse, including Egan, now 79, referring to her as a “rape baby” and telling her she should have died in a fire.
Miriam, a mother of four, went to police as an adult in 2017, and reported Egan, only to see him given a suspended jail term in 2022 for historic assault and child cruelty offences.
However, prosecutors subsequently appealed against what they saw as the leniency of the sentence and increased it to four years.
But today, Egan was one of around 1,700 convicts released under Labour plans to ease pressure on prison overcrowding. He has served just 19 months of his sentence.
Miriam said: “My concern is how domestic abuse victims will suffer as a result of this new early-release law.
“It’s the message to perpetrators as well, to say, you can be released. It’s not that serious and most perpetrators, especially in family situations, always, always go back.
“I am so frightened for these women and children who will be feeling scared and the message this sends to the perpetrators and the victims is shockingly dangerous.
“The government said domestic abusers won’t be released if you research the conditions on this new early release scheme, yet they are.
“My abuser is being released – despite my childhood being taken away after the sadist torture and brutality I suffered for years.
“Women are so brave to fight back in the first place and by releasing these abusers, the survivors’ safety is being put on the line.
“They will not put themselves through a trial or come forward and go through all the trauma of reporting abuse because they know a perpetrator will only need to serve 40 per cent of their sentence. They’re going to think that isn’t worth putting their safety at risk.
“Domestic abusers are usually sadistic, controlling, manipulating individuals who will never be reformed and for this reason survivors need not just protection but justice.”
‘Living hell’
Miriam’s mother Naomi Mitchell met Egan through a marriage bureau service in around 1987, and soon after moving into the family home, he made Miriam’s life a “living hell”, until the couple split in 1993.
Miriam was subjected to regular verbal and physical abuse. He would watch her showering and laugh at her, forcing her to lick dog poo from his shoe, and it escalated into “him hitting me”.
What is the early release scheme?
Under the emergency plans announced in July, offenders in jails in England and Wales serving sentences of fewer than five years will be released on licence into the community after having spent 40% of their term in jail, rather than the usual 50%.
The temporary measure was made to make more room in prisons which are overcrowded.
The scheme has exceptions, such as domestic abusers, but some are falling through the cracks.
Sir Keir Starmer has insisted ministers are “doing everything” to make sure domestic abusers are not released early from jail.
The prison population hit a new record high of 88,521 people last week and has surged by more than 1,000 people in the past month.
Isabelle Younane, of leading domestic abuse charity Women’s Aid, said they have concerns the “policy is coming at the price of safety for women and children”.
“The early release of perpetrators will have a detrimental impact on both the physical safety and mental wellbeing of survivors, who have been able to live in safety and begun to rebuild their lives free from fear while their abuser was in prison.”
During the evenings, Miriam would stay at the park as late as she could to avoid Egan.
She said her school teachers reported their suspicions to social services, but the family moved often, so it slipped through the net.
When her mother packed her bags on Christmas Eve in 1993 and took her three kids, Miriam had no idea the trauma of what happened would remain with her for the rest of her life.
She said: “I have a panic disorder, so I can’t drive as it would be a risk to other people. That has affected my life. I have to rely on public transport, so it’s restricted where I go, and the jobs I can do.
My abuser is being released – despite my childhood being taken away after the sadist torture and brutality I suffered for years
Miriam Lake
“I’m on medication, which I’ll always be on. As soon as I come off, my panic disorder just comes back. So it has just left me with a lifetime of fear. That’s how it’s affected my life.
“It’s under control with medication, but it’s something that will always be in me, because it happened as I was a child and a young person and a teenager.”
Miriam, a grandmother of one, didn’t hold the abuse against her mum, Naomi, as she was a victim too. When Naomi died in 2017, Miriam finally decided to report the historic crimes to the police.
Miriam said: “When my mum died, I decided, this is my time now, just to get some closure knowing that this man was still alive.
HOW YOU CAN GET HELP:
Women's Aid has this advice for victims and their families
- Always keep your phone nearby.
- Get in touch with charities for help, including the Women’s Aid live chat helpline and services such as SupportLine.
- If you are in danger, call 999.
- Familiarise yourself with the Silent Solution, reporting abuse without speaking down the phone, instead dialing “55”.
- Always keep some money on you, including change for a pay phone or bus fare.
- If you suspect your partner is about to attack you, try to go to a lower-risk area of the house – for example, where there is a way out and access to a telephone.
- Avoid the kitchen and garage, where there are likely to be knives or other weapons. Avoid rooms where you might become trapped, such as the bathroom, or where you might be shut into a cupboard or other small space.
If you are a victim of domestic abuse, SupportLine is open Tuesday, Wednesday and Thursday from 6pm to 8pm on 01708 765200. The charity’s email support service is open weekdays and weekends during the crisis – messageinfo@supportline.org.uk.
Women’s Aid provides a live chat service – available weekdays from 8am-6pm and weekends 10am-6pm.
You can also call the freephone 24-hour National Domestic Abuse Helpline on 0808 2000 247.
“He got a suspended sentence. So after reliving all the abuse, everything that he had done to us, the judge in court said ‘he’s sadistic, he’s cruel, but I don’t see the point in sending an old man to prison now’ and I just thought, ‘you don’t see the point?!’
“Anyway, the Court of Appeal got involved, and they were like ‘no way, we’re not having this. This is terrible.’ And it went to court again, and he got jailed for four years.”
‘Absolutely horrific’
But in July this year, Miriam received a letter from the Ministry of Justice, stating that the Lord Chancellor had announced plans to introduce a change to the law which would allow some prisoners serving a “determinate sentence” to be released on licence early.
It added that Egan met the criteria for the scheme and would be released on September 10, 2024 – after just serving 19 months of his sentence.
The letter concluded: “I appreciate that this news will be unwelcome.”
Miriam said: “I’ve always felt let down. I’ve always felt the government doesn’t take domestic abuse seriously.
It has just left me with a lifetime of fear
Miriam Lake
“When I received the news that he would be let out I researched and I just thought, ‘this is just absolutely horrific’.
“If I’m feeling this way over historical abuse, all I could think about was all the other abuse victims who are actually in this now, who are sitting at home, while their perpetrators are out of prison, and it’s happening now.
“I just feel so scared and frightened for all these women and children who I know exactly how they’ll be feeling and it’s just dangerous. It’s dangerous, the message it sends, the message it sends to the perpetrators and the victims is just shocking to me.
“Just those poor victims and little children. The government has failed the women and children, it eventually leads to death.”