Jake Porter has bravely spoken out about the abuse he suffered at the hands of his uncle when he was just seven years old
Jake Porter(Image: Liverpool Echo)
A man who was sexually abused by his uncle has shared his story. Jake Porter, 30, has bravely waived his right to anonymity and spoken to the ECHO about the horrific abuse he was dealt at the hands of his uncle, Daniel Orme.
Orme appeared in Liverpool Crown Court on Wednesday, July 2, after he was found guilty of the rape of a child under the age of 13 following a five day trial at the end of April. Jake, again, bravely stood up and spoke about his experiences as he read his victim impact statement to the court from behind a screen.
Orme, 37, was sentenced to six-and-a-half years in prison after being found guilty of three counts of rape of a child under the age of 13, one count of causing or inciting a child to engage in sexual activity, and one count of indecency with a child.
Jake told the ECHO: “He used to take me upstairs to his bedroom, after we’d played video games he would do these horrific things to me. He used to make me do things to him.”
The abuse led Jake to spiral out of control as he became a “nightmare” at home. He explained he was unaware of the trauma the abuse had left, but he now looks back knowing it completely changed his life.
Daniel Orme, 37, was sentenced to six and a half years in prison
After a year in care, Jake ran away, heading for Birmingham where he says he got caught up in the wrong crowd and began selling class A drugs. He was soon caught and placed in a young offenders institute for eight months.
Jake said: “I made mistakes when I was younger and that’s it, I put it down to the abuse and the knock on effect it had on me.
“It was mad. I just wanted to get away from Liverpool, get away from home, so I ran away. I started selling drugs for someone, something I shouldn’t have been doing at that age.
“They were class A drugs. I didn’t know what I was doing. I had no morals, I just didn’t know what was going on. I was in fight mode and I hated being around my family so much. I did stuff I shouldn’t have done. I did my time and I have never, ever gone back to that since, I never would. It’s not me.”
Following his release, he decided it was time to return to Merseyside where he met his girlfriend at the time and had a child of his own.
He said: “I had a son at 19. I just turned 19 and had my little boy who’s now 11. That’s when it started hitting me hard what had actually happened to me. When I had my own son I just couldn’t believe how anyone could do that to me or any other child.
“It made me sick to my stomach. When me and his mum split up my life just fell apart. I couldn’t comprehend what had happened to me and that’s when the self-harm started.”
Jake Porter has bravely waived his anonymity to speak out about what he endured as a child(Image: Liverpool Echo)
Jake said he would often self-harm and has scars on his arms and face, as well as having permanent damage to his face. After years of trying to process what had happened, often blaming himself and feeling embarrassed about it, he opened up to a friend who encouraged him to go to the police. But the tipping point was when he saw a photo.
He explained: “It was about three or four years ago, what had happened had been playing on my mind for a while so I spoke to my best friend about it. I bottled it up for so long and I spoke to my best friend about it.
“I didn’t go into detail but I said my uncle used to make me do things to him and I just broke down. My friend told me to go to the police but I just didn’t want to. About a year-and-a-half went past and I saw him in a photo with my mum and I just broke down.
“I saw him on this picture with my mum at a family event and I was sat there on my own and I was battling it every day. What he did to me was on my mind, it was killing me. In the end, that was how it came out.”
Jake now has a stable relationship with his parents. Having previously worked as a landscaper, Jake is now off work as he processes what has happened, living between his own home in Wavertree and his parents’ home in Halewood.
“With life right now, I just take each day as it comes, each day I try and get better,” he said. “I thought after this it would be a big weight lifted off my shoulders, I feel a bit of relief but I am just broken.”