Warning: This article contains discussion of child abuse which some readers may find distressing.
A woman who spent four years with her partner before discovering his dark secret has opened up about the moment she discovered he was a paedophile.
It's almost impossible to know everything about your partner even when spending several years with them, and that was the terrifying reality for Rosie Nelson when her boyfriend's harrowing sexual fantasies were first exposed.
Rosie had met Pete on a dating app and was impressed with his intelligence, kindness and gentleness, with his persona giving away nothing about the horrific thoughts that were going on inside his brain.
Advert
It was only by chance that she would discover his true self, as she was searching for a card reader in their home office when she stumbled across an SD (memory) card.
After inserting it into her iPad, she quickly saw an image of a small child and after briefly ripping it out, she checked again to see a whole folder of 'horrendous' titles, with her worst fears confirmed.
She told LADbible: "I put it into the iPad and this box popped up bottom left, and there was a small child there so I ripped it out of the [iPad] and sat there and just thought 'of course it's not, that's just absolutely mental that's just ridiculous'. So I put it back in and this time a box popped up with a load of titles, and all of the titles, every single one was something pretty horrendous. I just thought 'oh my God this is actually what I thought it was'. I think I must have clicked on the first one because I mean you just have to know. I clicked on the first one and yeah, another couple of seconds of that and I was like 'God I can't actually believe it'. You can't believe what you're seeing you can't see that and ever forget what you've seen. It never leaves you."
After quickly consulting her tutor to make sure she was making the right decision, Rosie called the police on Pete and locked him out of the house. The police arrived fairly quickly and he left her a voicemail, which she has never listened to.
Following an investigation, police found over 600 category A child abuse images belonging to Rosie's former partner and he was arrested.
She is now focused on raising awareness for this horrific crime.
If you’ve been affected by any of these issues and want to speak to someone in confidence regarding the welfare of a child, contact the NSPCC on 0808 800 5000, 10am-8pm Monday to Friday. If you are a child seeking advice and support, call Childline for free on 0800 1111, 24/7.
Topics: Crime, Mental Health
James Moorhouse