Kaitlin pictured aged nine - Heart pounding, Kaitlin Womack stared in shock at a Facebook post on her phone. In that moment, a horrifying memory from her childhood came flooding back. It was 2016, and her former neighbour, Kert Birtwistle, 29, had been convicted of child sexual offences. Seeing his face on her screen knocked Kaitlin, 25, for six. Because what nobody knew was that she’d been harbouring an awful secret since the age of nine. Birtwistle had subjected Kaitlin to three sickening sexual assaults while she played at his house as a child, including touching her privates under her swimming costume. Three years later, in 2019, Kaitlin, from Preston, reported Birtwistle to the police. When she did, six other victims also bravely came forward. In October 2024, Birtwistle, from Blackpool, was convicted of 14 charges, including rape and sexual assault. He was jailed for 12 years at Preston Crown Court. His brother, Jordan Wright, 28, also pleaded guilty to 18 sexual offences and was jailed for over 16 years. Now, Kaitlin is courageously waiving her right to anonymity to help encourage other survivors to report their abusers to the police.
A man who conned tax officials out of £34 million and funded a lavish lifestyle of luxury hotels and restaurants has been jailed for one of the longest sentences in British criminal fraud history .
An American black bear mimics John Travolta’s famous Saturday Night Fever dance move by hurling its arm in the air .
A lazy tree frog, tired of hopping along a branch, chooses the slowest form of transport when it jumps on top of an unsuspecting snail .
A fox takes a tumble and lands on his head when he tries to fend off a pair of eagles in Japan .
HEART-MELTING shots of a French bulldog and a ten-month-old French baby could be the cutest you’re likely to see .
The dog having been pulled from the car - A police officer smashed a window in the blue Chrysler car to free the dog which was in visible distress .
Animal rescue volunteers have told how a cat riddled with cancer was forced to ripped off its own ears after it was abandoned by its owners .
This hungry white tiger has just one thing on her mind - to taste fresh meat .
Families in an Indian slum put their lives on the line by living on top of an ACTIVE railway track .
SOARING through the air, a hungry white-tailed kite prepares to snatch a vole from his mother’s claws .
IN THE not so MISTY MOUNTAINS of Wiltshire, there lies an abandoned hobbit house .
It’s a role reversal in the Visayan Sea as HUNDREDS of tiny, glistening eggs are carried around inside the mouth of their cardinalfish father .