Woman's years of abuse by brother

A WOMAN has told of how she suffered years of sexual abuse at the hands of her brother from the age of five.

Sophie Morgan, 27, was raped and assaulted by Thomas Morgan, 32, at their childhood home in Caversham from about 2003 to 2009.

She was speaking after her abuser was sentenced to seven years in prison at Reading Crown Court on Monday last week.

Morgan was found guilty of 21 counts on March 26, including seven counts of rape of a child under 13, three counts of inciting a child to engage in sexual activity and three counts of indecent assault.

He was also found guilty on two counts of sexual assault of a child under 13.

Morgan was aged between 10 and 16 at the time of the incidents, which took place at their home in Conisboro Avenue.

Miss Morgan, who now lives in Yorkshire, recalled being sexually abused by her brother “at least once a week” until she was about 11.

She told the Henley Standard that she wanted to speak out publicly to encourage other women who have suffered sexual abuse to seek help.

Miss Morgan said: “The abuse happened that often that it all merges into one.

“I thought it was normal. When I was that young, I didn’t know that what was going on was wrong.

“It was when we had sex education lessons at school that I realised it was wrong and not everyone was going through it and that that wasn’t what an older brother was supposed to do.

“He forced me to watch pornography on the family computer and forced me into performing sexual acts on each other. Part of my trauma response was to block it out.

“He only stopped assaulting me when I was 11 because I got my periods.”

Miss Morgan reported Morgan to the police at the end of 2019 before police launched an investigation.

In January 2020, Miss Morgan had her first police interview.

She decided to report him after she felt that her mental health was at the “worst” that it had ever been. Morgan was charged by police in January 2024.

Miss Morgan said: “It got to the point where I couldn’t cope with keeping it in.

“My mental health was the worst it had ever been at that point because I was hiding all this pain and trauma. I couldn’t deal with not reporting it because I needed to do it for my own sake of knowing that I’m doing this for other people.

“If I can help someone be safe, then that’s why I did it.”

Miss Morgan feels relieved to feel “heard and seen” as an historic case which had no forensic evidence.

She said: “I want people to know what he was like and so people get a picture of the severity of the abuse.

“It’s quite important to me because I want other people to know that they’re not alone.

“Even though I’ve had support from a charity, which supports female survivors of childhood sexual abuse, none of them have been sibling on sibling.

“It’s about acknowledging that it does happen and it doesn’t matter who you are or what background you come from, it can happen to anyone.

“You’re not alone and there is support out there. You can be believed and you can be heard.

“If there are other victims of abuse out there, my coming forward might encourage them to come forward as well.”

Since the incidents took place, Miss Morgan has been diagnosed with borderline personality disorder (BPD), severe depression and anxiety.

A barrister read Miss Morgan’s impact statement to the court on her behalf.

She wrote said: “The actions you decided to do have completely changed the entire path of my life.

“The impacts and challenges I have faced are catastrophic and I will never be who I could have been. The pain and torment that you put me through will haunt me and stay with me for the rest of my life. I will never recover from this trauma. I don’t know how you have lived knowing what you did to me.

“Brothers are not meant to rape, molest and abuse their sisters, they’re meant to look out for them and care for them.”

Miss Morgan wrote that Morgan had “taken everything away from [her]” and that she struggles to go out in the dark alone for fear of being attacked.

She said that she was no longer living, just was “purely surviving”, branding her brother’s behaviour “evil”.

Miss Morgan said: “I’m 27 years old and I panic when going out and about on my own.

“I really hope I can finally get some justice for the torture you have put me through and that the criminal justice system can see just how much childhood sexual abuse can have impacts on someone’s life forever.

“I cannot allow this to happen to anyone else. There is no aspect of my life that your evil behaviour has not impacted upon in the most detrimental way.”

l If you think something sexual happened has to you without your consent, call the Sexual Abuse Support line on 0808 500 2222 or visit 247sexualabusesup port.org.uk