I am happy I survived and was able to protect others

RACHAEL WATTS WAS SEVEN WHEN SHE WAS ATTACKED BY BABES IN THE WOODS MURDERER RUSSELL BISHOP. SHE REVEALS HER TERRIFYING STORY IN A NEW DOCUMENTARY. BY RACHAEL DAVIS

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Taking part in the documentary, which involved revealing the extent of her trauma, seeing evidence from her case, and reliving her memories of the awful event, was a difficult experience for Rachael.

“The thing that I had the biggest problem with, and the hardest time processing, was one of the photographs that was taken by the police. This was in the first set of photographs that were taken by them, before I was cleaned up and the blood washed away.

“I felt disassociated from her, as if it were not me but someone else.”

She adds: “Much of that day feels like a real-life nightmare, and that photo seemed to make it more real, while at the same time not feeling like it was me.”

Rachael's part at just seven years old in bringing her attacker to justice is quite remarkable, not least because of the effect it had in also getting justice for Nicola and Karen.

Yet, she says, the weight of what she achieved didn’t even register when she was a little girl.