Dad who sexually abused his 14-year-old daughter has used 'loophole' to start new life
EXCLUSIVE: Lauren has waived her right to anonymity in a bid to petition for change after her father was jailed for eight years for sexually abusing her as a child.
A victim of child sex abuse is calling for a loophole allowing sex offenders to change their names following conviction to be stopped after she was abused at the hands of her dad. Lauren-Eden Sullivan was groomed and sexually abused as a 14-year-old by her father, Shaun Dallison. Following months of abuse, Dallisson was jailed for eight years after admitting to five counts of engaging in sexual activity with a child and one count of supplying cannabis but served just half his sentence. He also signed the sex offenders' register.
Lauren, now 23, has waived her right to anonymity in a bid to help others and petition for laws around allowing sex offenders to change their identity.
Currently, there are around 67,000 registered sex offenders living in the UK but it is all too easy for them to change their names following conviction by using a deed poll.
Under current laws, if someone is added to the Sex Offenders Register they must provide personal details to the police and inform authorities of any changes.
Speaking exclusively to Express.co.uk, Lauren said: "My Dad's sentence has now concluded, he lives in a new area and has legally changed his name to evade his past, whilst mine is still shaken every day.
"Hundreds of paedophiles legally change their names yearly so they cannot be found, with the loophole allowing them to get a new driver's license, a new passport, and a clean DBS check.
"They then have the ability to re-appear in schools and other settings where they can access children and re-offend."
Lauren said her father made the choice to change his name so "nobody would ever know of his despicable past if they looked".
She added: "Thankfully, the police are aware of his name change, so his details on the sex offenders register will remain up to date for now, but this isn’t always the case with many changing their name by deed poll, failing to inform the appropriate authorities, and using their new identity to get close to children.
"In order to protect our children, this loophole needs to be closed to stop sex offenders from being able to change their names whilst on the sex offenders register."
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Recalling the night the abuse began she said she fell asleep on her father's bed and "woke up to his hand down my pyjama trousers".
She added: "I was completely frozen at this point, and physically couldn't move or process what I had woken up to. I remained dead still, I think partly from shock but did begin to silently cry."
Dallisson was also HIV positive but Lauren said she "buried her head in the sand and couldn't face the reality" before spiralling into heavy drinking and smoking cannabis.
Later on, her father came into some money and took Lauren, her brother and Nan on holiday.
"Little did I know, he would take me to Egypt and take my innocence from me, whilst his son and mother lay asleep in the next room", Lauren said.
Lauren continued: "When we returned home the abuse continued for a few months until one day it suddenly stopped. I realise now that it had probably paused rather than stopped.
"The manipulation and emotional abuse still continued though. He started calling himself a monster, he would sleep on the floor with no duvet and say he didn’t deserve to sleep in a bed, and he stopped taking his HIV medication. I held so much guilt over what he was doing, and that it was all my fault."
Eventually, Lauren's mum became concerned over her behaviour and found a text message in her phone from her dad apologising for what he had done.
She rang Dallisson, who admitted everything straight away.
Lauren was greeted from school by police and social workers who told her she had to undergo HIV testing, which thankfully came back negative.
Lauren struggled with losing her dad again and tried to take her life at the age of 14.
She said: "Although social workers were giving me counsellors I just wanted to be left alone, I didn’t want to talk about it with anyone. I'm now in therapy and working on myself a lot, but I still struggle with my mental health to this day and am diagnosed with borderline personality disorder and complex post-traumatic stress disorder."
Call the Samaritans free on 116 123, email jo@samaritans.org, or call the suicide prevention charity Papyrus: 0800 068 4141.