CEMETERIES are enough to give anyone the chills, but for Courtney Thompson they are a reminder of the worst moments of her life.

At the age of 10 she was raped in a cemetery by her own uncle Robert Wiles, now 50, who had been abusing her for years.

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Wiles has been incarcerated for 20 years and now Courtney bravely gives up her anonymity to speak exclusively to Fabulous about the “house of horrors” she lived in as a child.

Courtney, now 27 and from Peterborough, says: “After 20 years, the dark cloud hanging over me finally disappeared.

“I’m proud of myself for putting my monster in prison so he can’t hurt another child.

“I want to urge others that it is never too late to get justice for yourself.”

“He put his hand in my pajamas”

In 2004, aged seven, Courtney moved from her hometown of Leicester to Peterborough under the care of her uncle, Wiles.

Courtney, a warehouse employee, says: “My parents couldn’t take care of me anymore and gave him guardianship.

“Uncle Robert was my mother’s brother and lived at his mother-in-law’s house.

“Robert’s partner and his mother, Pauline Carr, 72, were friendly at first. They told me that my mother would return in a few years.

“But I felt abandoned and full of fear, thinking it would be forever.”

Carr’s home was a three-bedroom house in Peterborough, and they also lived with Wile’s baby and his partner.

At first, Courtney was treated well and Carr bought her magazine subscriptions.

But the following year, in the summer of 2005, Courtney woke up in the middle of the night to Wiles abusing her.

She says: “He put his hand in my pajamas. Afterwards I was confused, wondering if that was what guys did.

“I thought it was normal and I didn’t tell anyone.

“Months later, when I turned eight, I had eight teeth pulled out. I came back from the dentist under anesthesia.

“Barely conscious on the couch, my uncle hurt me with his fingers.

“Then he warned me that it was our secret and that if I told anyone they would put me under guard.”

Terrified, Courtney lived in silence, afraid of being separated from even more of her family.

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Wiles then took advantage of her at every opportunity, abusing her in the house.

In 2006, Wiles raped Courtney in his and his partner’s bed while the family was away.

Courtney says: “In agony, I burst into tears when he took my virginity at just nine years old.

“Later that year, I finally moved into a new house with Mom.”

But Wiles continued to visit Courtney in her new home.

Courtney says, “When no one was home, he would make me come into the house.

“He always told me that he loved me and that what we had was special. I started to believe that we were in a relationship.

“He showered me with gifts and money, which I normally never received.”

The abuse tormented me so much that I couldn’t stand to be around a man.

Courtney Thompson

In 2007, when Courtney was 10 years old, the twisted Wiles took her to a cemetery.

Courtney says: “Uncle Robert pretended to take me to the shops. But he took me to a cemetery in the local area.

“He raped me behind a hut, a few meters from the tombstones of the deceased.

“By then, the abuse was happening so frequently that everything became normal to me.

“Finally, when I was 11, I tried to kill myself and left a note saying, ‘I don’t want him to do this again.’

“Still, no one noticed. The abuse finally stopped when I got my period and I think he got scared.”

Life went on and, as the years went by, Courtney also found a partner.

Courtney says: “Taking all this in slowly killed me. I felt dead inside.

“I developed deep, debilitating anxiety and mental problems.

“The abuse tormented me so much that I couldn’t stand being around a man.

“I turned to women instead, but even then I couldn’t bury the abuse in any of my relationships.

“I didn’t like being touched and I had problems with intimacy.

“I later discovered that my uterus was tilted as a result of the abuse, which prevented me from having children.

“Still, I thought I would die with the secret of what happened in that cemetery and all the abuse that came before.”

But when the family’s young children began visiting Wiles over the years, Courtney was terrified.

In December 2018, she went to police to report historical child abuse.

In March 2024, Robert Wiles, now 50, of Orton Goldhay, Peterborough, was found guilty of two counts of assaulting a child by touching, three counts of assaulting a child by penetration and five counts of raping a child against Courtney.

On that day, he was jailed for 20 years at Peterborough Crown Court.

Courtney says: “In court, my new partner, Amy, and my family listened to every horrible detail, while sobbing.

“While I still regret the childhood I didn’t have, the love I didn’t receive, and the apologies I never received, I’m relieved that our monsters are in prison.

“For any other survivors, call a helpline or reach out to a loved one and be free like I did.

“My only regret is that I didn’t do it sooner.”

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