Woman tried to kill herself after she was raped by her teacher aged 15, historical sex abuse trial hears

A woman told a court she tried to kill herself after she was raped aged 15 by her teacher at his home.
Christopher MetcalfeChristopher Metcalfe
Christopher Metcalfe

The trial of Blidworth pensioner Christopher Metcalfe, accused of the historical sexual abuse of two nine year old girls and the rape of a 15-year-old girl, continued today.

Metcalfe, 70, of Cross Lane, appeared at Derby Crown Court where a jury was told he raped the girl in the front room of his house in Kirkby.

Hide Ad
Hide Ad

The woman told police in 2014 that Metcalfe had raped her at his house during the time she was a 15-year-old in care at Skegby Hall.

A jury was shown a video of a police interview with the woman after she reported the alleged rape in October 2014.

She said the assault had been interrupted when a man she thought to be Metcalfe’s son had come home unexpectedly.

Today during cross examination, the woman told the court: “I was told to stand there and shut up.

Hide Ad
Hide Ad

“He took me back to Skegby Hall - that’s when I tried to commit suicide.”

The woman told the court she had been taken into care when she was three years old and had been in a mixture of children’s homes and foster care until she was sent to Skegby Hall aged 14.

She said she had dificulties and others had treated her poorly there .

The woman said she hated Skegby Hall and agreed she had been abusive to staff drank alcohol to excess and took overdoses.

Hide Ad
Hide Ad

She said: “I should never have been there in the first place.”

But she said she was not making things up to get back at Metcalfe because he was a teacher.

She said: “I relised a long long time ago you don’t tell people because they don’t listen. I didn’t believe they would listen to me.”

She said she had eventually confided in a relative about the alleged rape in 1997.

Hide Ad
Hide Ad

Metcalfe denies two counts of indecently assaulting girls aged between 9 and 10, two counts of indecently assaulting a girl aged under 14 and one of raping the 15-year-old.

The complaints of sexual abuse are alleged to have taken place when he was a teacher at a primary school in Derbyshire or Skegby Hall when he was in his 30s.

The allegations have made by three women who have told police they have never previously known each other.

The case continues.

Related topics: