Mum abused from age of EIGHT by paedo uncle recalls how he drugged her, raped her and ‘dressed her up like a hooker’
Brave Carly Harris told how sick Michael Hudson 'ruined her teenage years' and is speaking out in an effort to protect other children
A MUM-OF-TWO who was abused by her paedo uncle has recalled how he used to drug her, rape her and "dress her up like a hooker".
Brave Carly Harris, from Lancashire, said she had no idea at the time that vile Michael Hudson, 55, was grooming her as she "trusted him".
In 2015, the 31-year-old finally reported Hudson to police, after she discovered he had also molested another victim, and in February this year he was sentenced to 13 years in prison.
Now the 31-year-old has waived her right to anonymity to share her story in an attempt to protect other children from going through what she did.
Carly recalled how she used to love going to Hudson's house as a kid as he would spoil her rotten with sweets and days out.
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She was even a bridesmaid when Hudson, a father-of-two, married her mum's sister.
Carly said: "Mick used to pick me up from school or my nan’s and take me over to his house. I thought it was great fun.
"Like all little girls, I loved to sing and dance, so he’d get the karaoke out and take my picture. He was always taking pictures.
"I was too young to know they were indecent.
"I remember one day I was singing and he put these stockings on me. I think they were his wife’s.
"He dressed me up like a hooker and took photos of me.
"He had all these dirty magazines which he used to show me. Looking back he was grooming me, making it all seem normal."
She told how Hudson would often touch her or get her to take her knickers off while in the car on a day out.
Shockingly, she admitted the pervert even used sex toys on her.
Carly recalled being in a sex education class in primary school and wondering why the teacher was telling her things she already "knew all about".
"Even then I couldn’t believe Uncle Mick would do anything bad to me," she said.
"He was my godfather. He’d held me as a baby and promised to look after me."
As the years went on, the abuse got worse.
Carly said Hudson would ply her with drugs and alcohol to make her relax so that he could take advantage.
She recalled: "He would pull out this little bottle and get me to smell it. I’ll never forget that smell.
"It was like a strong vapour. It made my head rush and I felt a bit dizzy.
"I know now that it was poppers, or amyl nitrate.
"I was about eight or nine when he raped me. I’d smelt the poppers and I was lying on my aunty’s bed in her bedroom.
"My head was spinning and I felt sick."
The abuse finally stopped when Carly got her first boyfriend at the age of 12.
She still saw Hudson all the time, explaining he'd visit her family home like everything was normal.
"Everyone loved him," she said.
"He was always having parties at his house and was the centre of attention.
"He was a big man with a big personality- a real people magnet. They didn’t know his secret."
Carly told how she battled with what had happened to her throughout her teenage years, struggling to concentrate in school and doing things with boys that "she would have waited for".
"When I fell pregnant before I’d even sat my GCSEs, it was Mick who took me to the clinic to have an abortion," she admitted.
"Even after everything he’d done, I still trusted him."
One night in 2006, while in a nightclub in Blackpool with her now-husband Ash, she recalled breaking down after smelling amyl nitrate.
"The memories came flooding back," she said.
"Back at the house, it all came gushing out. Ash was so angry. He hated Mick for what he had done and wanted me to report him, but it was my secret.
"In time Ash and I had two kids, now aged seven and three. My little family became my distraction."
Then in 2015, the couple were visited by someone whom Carly had known as a child.
"I mentioned Mick in passing, and she said, 'Why would I want to see him after what he did to me?'
"I couldn’t believe it. It wasn’t just me. He’d done it to her too, ten years earlier."
The women agreed to go to the police, where they were warned that sex offenders rarely admit their crimes.
But the following day, Carly received a call telling her Hudson had admitted everything.
In February, Hudson appeared at Preston Crown Court and pleaded guilty to 12 charges of indecent assault, one charge of rape, two of administering drugs and two of taking indecent photos.
The court heard how he manipulated situations, showing the girls pornography to normalise sexual activity.
He was sentenced to 13 years in prison and forced to sign the sex offenders register indefinitely.
"Some of his family were standing by him but it soon became clear he hadn’t told them half of it," said Carly.
"I know I did the right thing, but I still felt bad.
"The most important thing for me was to tell my parents. I can move on with my life now.
"All these years I have kept it a secret, avoided family gatherings - I even planned my daughter’s Christening for when I knew he’d be on holiday, just so it wasn’t awkward.
"Now everyone knows what he has done.
"It hasn’t been easy and there are people in the family who won’t talk to me now, but I know I have done what I had to do to protect other children.
"That is what it was all about for me.
"Ash and I got married last year. He has been my rock. We’ve still got a long way to go but I am getting counselling and starting to put my life back together with Ash and our two children.
"Now it's all over I want to help other people to understand that it isn’t too late. Even if it happened a long time ago, you can still do something.
"Mick ruined my childhood and my teenage years. He’s not going to ruin this part of my life."
Yesterday we told how a paedo "grandad" who began abusing a girl from the age of 10 tried to buy her off with a fiver when she finally refused to visit him.
In April we told how a mum recalled the horror of being attacked by her pervert uncle at a Premier Inn after he plied her with booze and forced her to share a bed with him.