I discovered my partner was a paedophile – the footage I found made me want to rip my skin off
WAVES of revulsion filled the pit of Rosie Nelson’s stomach as she slotted the SD card into her laptop and an image of a blonde little boy flashed onto the screen.
No older than ten, the boy was being forced into grotesque sexual acts by a woman, a sickening sight and one which instantly ripped Rosie’s ordinary life apart.
That’s because horrifyingly, the card belonged to her partner of four years, Peter Loram, a man who she loved deeply and one who had taken on the role as ‘step dad’ to her 15-year old son Ollie*.
Only now, he was far from being the loving partner she was certain she knew – Loram, 42, was in fact a secret paedophile, and he was due to arrive back at the family home at any moment.
Recalling the horrifying discovery, Rosie, 52, says: “A little box popped up and it was a little boy with blonde hair doing something with a woman.
“I must have seen approximately two seconds of the footage and I will never forget it for as long as I live. Ever.
“I felt so disgusting and unclean. If I could have peeled off my skin and bleached it I would have.
“He was extremely young.”
Heart racing, Rosie immediately took the SD card out of the computer.
“I convinced myself I just hadn’t seen it right, that there must have been something else to it and it had to be some kind of joke,” she says.
“I was so shocked and appalled by what I had seen.”
Unable to comprehend what she’d unearthed, Rosie reinserted the card to be certain and that’s when the whole perturbing truth unravelled – her partner had been living an unimaginable double life.
There wasn’t just one photo, the card was packed full with indecent images and videos, but Loram hasn’t served a day behind bars for his heinous crimes.
“I felt physically sick,” says Rosie. “All I could think about was those poor children and I just couldn’t believe I had been with someone like that.”
When divorcee Rosie began exchanging messages with Loram, 42, on dating site Plenty of Fish back in 2016, there were no red flags.
I convinced myself I just hadn’t seen it right, that there must have been something else to it and it had to be some kind of joke.
Rosie Nelson
A lover of animals, Rosie, whose first marriage lasted 17 years, described him as being a ‘gentle giant’, if not a a little too good to be true.
“What attracted me to him initially was his love of the outdoors, I really liked that,” she says.
On Real Life
“He was gentle and he seemed to be a really nice person.
“On our first date we went up to Holden, which is a beautiful area in Devon, for a walk and a coffee.
“I came away with the impression that he was this gentle giant, just a really beautiful nature, loving and kind-hearted soul.”
Rosie recalls the relationship moving “quite steadily from there” and six weeks in, after introducing Loram to her parents, he met her son.
“I didn’t introduce them for quite a long time,” Rosie, a hypnotherapist, adds.
“When they did meet I don’t think Ollie was particularly interested, and Pete didn’t seem particularly interested either.
“It didn’t matter to me, and as far as I was concerned, Ollie had and has got an incredible father already, so he didn’t need another.
“The introduction was more for me, I wanted to find somebody I could settle down with.”
Nine months later, Loram and Rosie talked about moving in together, an arrangement which Rosie says her son was happy with.
I noticed that the card reader was in a box with old chargers and MP3 players, again I found that odd, why would it be in there?
Rosie Nelson
Speaking as part of Life Stories, Fabulous’ new YouTube series which documents the extraordinary lives of ordinary people, Rosie explains:
“Initially it was a very happy relationship.
“But of course we can all say in hindsight, I think that we were still quite separate in a lot of ways but everything seemed perfectly normal.”
That was until May 2020, days after the couple’s fourth anniversary, when Rosie made her horrifying discovery and her life with Loram was crushed.
Recalling the details of that awful day, Rosie says: “I was at home with Ollie and Pete was out at work.
“I had just received a new credit card and in order to activate it I needed to put it into the card reader.
“If I hadn’t gone looking for it I might never know what I know today.”
Usually, the card reader was kept in the couple’s shared office but when Rosie searched their desk drawer, it wasn’t there.
“It struck me as odd,” explains Rosie.
“I noticed that the card reader was in a box with old chargers and MP3 players, again I found that odd, why would it be in there?
“It was when I looked into the back of it that I noticed something inside it.”
Spotting the SD card, Rosie had her suspicions: “My first thought was that he had been looking at pornography,” she says.
‘Some kind of joke’
But the truth was far worse when the image of the blonde little boy came into view.
“I was so shocked and appalled by what I had seen,” she says.
“I convinced myself I just hadn’t seen it right, that there must have been something else to it and it had to be some kind of joke.
“I sat there for a while and I made the decision that I had to put the card back in, I had to know for sure.
“A box popped up, containing lots of different file types all with a different name.
“The titles of the files were just absolutely horrific.
“I ripped the card out of the laptop and I just didn’t know where to go from there.”
Every parent’s worst nightmare
Reeling from what she’d witnessed, it quickly dawned on Rosie that a paedophile had been living under the same roof as her teenage son.
What she had to do next is every parent’s worst nightmare.
“I had to do the worst thing I’ve ever had to do in my life,” she says.
“I had to call my son downstairs and tell him what I’d discovered and then I had to ask him if he had ever been touched or treated inappropriately by Peter.
“Thank goodness he never had.”
Rosie rang the police but with a responder on the way and Loram due to arrive home any moment, she knew she couldn’t let him inside.
She recalls: “I didn’t want to see him and I certainly didn’t want him in the house.
“I locked all of the doors and I told Ollie to stay out of sight.
“Our house has a glass porch so we could see that he had come home.
“We could hear him knocking on the door and he was calling my name and ringing me but I didn’t answer until the police arrived.”
For the week afterwards I was stuck with the image of that little boy in the video.It would go everywhere with me and I just couldn’t get rid of it
Rosie Nelson
Loram was arrested by local officers but after spending a night in jail he was released on bail, forbidden from going anywhere near Rosie or her son.
Officers searched Rosie’s home and found 240 videos and 204 pictures downloaded by Loram from the dark web.
The images were of children aged between two and 15 and they were so graphic, they were classed as “Category A”.
Meanwhile, Rosie says she quickly became a shell of her former self, developing a speech impediment and turning to alcohol to cope.
“In the immediate aftermath, I wasn’t functioning as a human being,” she says.
“I wasn’t sleeping and I developed a stutter.
“For the week afterwards I was stuck with the image of that little boy in the video.
“It would go everywhere with me and I just couldn’t get rid of it.
“The only thing that numbed it a little was alcohol, and so for the first two weeks I just drank in the hope to get rid of those thoughts.”
Son in danger
At the time Rosie was training to be a hypnotherapist and turned to her network of friends in the industry to help her through.
“They worked with me on various therapeutic techniques to help me get rid of the image,” she says.
“I was very lucky to have that network.”
But Loram’s betrayal cut deep and left Rosie with trust issues.
“I didn’t actually think I would be able to trust anyone again,” she admits.
“I certainly didn’t think I’d ever have another relationship.
“Having already put my son in so much danger, it just felt out of the question entirely.”
A bizarre request
Rosie has recently remarried, but admits finding love again was no easy feat.
“I was very reluctant to date again and sort of forced myself back into it,” she says.
“I would sit in front of someone, and they’d appear to be really nice, but Peter also seemed really nice.
“I dated loosely, and I really wasn’t very interested but then I met a really nice guy.
“We started off just walking our dogs together and then four years later he proposed. We married in September.
“Bizarrely Peter friend requested my new husband on Facebook under a different name the day after the wedding.”
Brave Rosie did find the strength to face Loram one last time many months after the arrest.
“I did see Peter again once, before the trial,” she says.
“Our dog had died and he asked me if I wanted to sprinkle the ashes.
“It was a horrendous situation to be in, but I loved that dog and so I went.
“It was really difficult. I was actually quite frightened. I just had nothing to say to him.
“He apologised to me but it’s not me that he needed to apologise to. It felt like it was empty words.”
Suspended sentence
Loram appeared at Exeter Crown Court in July 2021 and admitted to three counts of making indecent images of children – by downloading.
Judge David Evans handed Loram a nine-month suspended sentence and he was put on the sex offenders’ register, and told to take a treatment course.
Loram was also dealt a sexual harm prevention order for ten years, meaning police can monitor his activity online.
“I only found out what happened to him because a friend messaged me on Facebook,” Rosie says.
“It popped up on the sat nav as I was driving, just a really simple message along the lines of ‘Pete’s been convicted but isn’t doing time.’
“I pulled over on the side of the road, I was just a mess.”
‘Justice for these children’
HOW TO REPORT CHILD ABUSE
Child abuse includes physical, sexual and emotional abuse, and neglect.
You can read more about the signs of child abuse. You don’t need to be sure that a child or young person has been abused – it’s OK to report a suspicion.
If you’re worried that a child or young person is at risk or is being abused contact the children’s social care team at their local council.
You’ll be asked for your details, but you can choose not to share them.
Call 999 if the child is at immediate risk.
If it’s not an emergency, you can report the crime online or call 101.
Calls to 999 or 101 are free.
Source: Gov.uk
Rosie feels angry at the sentence and says men like Loram deserve much harsher punishments for their abhorrent crimes.
“These children are worth more than the sentence he got,” she argues.
“We teach our children that there are consequences for their actions and that they must be held responsible for their actions.
“But there didn’t feel like there were any real consequences for Peter’s actions.
“Where is the justice for these children?”
*Name has been changed