‘I was watching TV show when it became too much and I was on the phone to the police in floods of tears’

Adam Rainford – sexually abused as a child – has published a book detailing his journey to get justice

05:59, 27 May 2025Updated 06:51, 27 May 2025

Adam Rainford as a child(Image: PA)

A man who was sexually abused as a child by his table tennis coach has said he was “easy prey” following his difficult upbringing.

Adam Rainford was groomed for around three years from the age of 10 by David Mellor. It happened in the late 1970s and 1980s and Mellor is now 90, according to police.

Now 56, the product compliance manager, from Stockport, has bravely waived his right to anonymity to tell his story.

He said he was “easy prey” for Mellor after having a “difficult” upbringing and buried his trauma for around 40 years.

But after seeing other sex abuse cases unfold in the news, he said he was compelled to reach out to police in 2017, causing him to fall “spectacularly to bits”.

Mellor, from Chester, was sentenced to five years in prison at Chester Crown Court on July 3 2019 after changing his plea to guilty for three charges of indecent assault on a boy.

He was also made subject to a Sexual Harm Prevention Order.

Police confirmed Mellor has now been released after serving his time and is being actively managed in the community, but Adam feels “he’s no threat to me anymore” and he has worked hard in therapy over the years to arrive in a “positive” place.

After his therapy sessions, Adam wrote notes detailing his emotions around speaking out and obtaining justice which he later revisited to turn into a memoir, titled The Seventh Magpie, which he published in December 2024 with the aim of helping other victims to come forward.

Adam with his partner, Carolyn(Image: PA)

“Control was the last thing I felt at the beginning but as we went through it, I was more in control and at the end, I was in control completely and he’d lost everything,” Adam told the Press Association.

“I would love it if I can show some people that, yeah, there are going to be tough bits but it will be worth it in the end. There’s a positive outcome you can get, you’ll get help and you’ll get justice.”

In the late ’70s, when Adam was 10, he started playing table tennis in Chester – where his family were based in his childhood.

“I was quite good at it and it was really nice initially to be good at something,” he said. “That’s obviously where I met the coach, David Mellor. I was easy prey in hindsight, not a great family background, not too many friends.”

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Adam said he was sexually abused and groomed by Mellor for a period of three years. The abuse started at the table tennis club before it culminated in taking place in Mellor’s home, as well as locations outside, Adam said. “When things started happening, there’s a fight and flight response but there’s also freezing and flop – I just froze,” he said. “At the time, I knew it was wrong but I was getting all those positive bits that I needed, I was getting attention and presents and trips.”

After going on to play table tennis at a regional level, Adam said “something happened that significantly upped what was going on”.

He added: “I was then being asked and invited, ‘would I be prepared to do this with other people?’ and ‘would I be prepared to take money?’

He didn’t speak about the abuse for years(Image: PA)

“When that activity increased, I just managed to somehow get out.”

Adam said he made excuses to avoid practice and training, before he stopped playing table tennis all together. “And then I just boxed it away, pretended it didn’t happen and it wasn’t a big deal – I went quiet,” he said.

Adam did not speak out about the abuse he endured for around 40 years, but watching high-profile sexual abuse cases unfold in the news resulted in him being “pushed over the edge” in 2017.

“When (Jimmy) Savile was coming out, Rolf Harris, (Harvey) Weinstein – each one was just another drip, another drip,” he said. “It was The Last Leg TV show where Adam Hills recommended anyone who has been a victim of abuse to come forward, it was just too much for me and I was on the phone to the police in floods of tears.”

Adam said the phone call with Cheshire Constabulary was “absolutely brilliant”, but it resulted in him “falling spectacularly to bits”.

“All that stuff you’ve been hiding floods out,” he said. “I was drinking, I couldn’t sleep, it was suggested I had PTSD.”

Despite the challenges, Adam said he remembered feeling “relief” when Mellor changed his plea to guilty for three charges of indecent assault on a boy and was sentenced to five years in prison on July 3 2019.

Adam with police and his book(Image: PA)

“I could only look at him about once in the courtroom but I’m glad I did,” Adam said. “I wanted to be in court, I wasn’t going to hide – that’s a phrase I kept using: ‘I’m not hiding anymore’.”

After making his report to the police, Adam said he was searching for a book which would inform him on what to expect, as told from the perspective of a victim going through the process, but he “couldn’t find it”. Instead, Adam decided to revisit the notes he made following his therapy sessions with Survivors UK to form his memoir, The Seventh Magpie, which details his emotions going through the process of obtaining justice from the moment he called the police.

“I bared my soul in the book, there’s no holds barred,” he said. As a survivor of sexual abuse, Adam said he is now in a “positive” place, and he is also a Lived Experience Advocate for the NSPCC. “At the start of this, I worried what people would think when they found out – there’s a perceived stigma that I’d be judged and made to feel ashamed. “However, it was the complete opposite, everyone was positive and supportive.”

Cheshire Constabulary confirmed Mellor has since been released from prison after completing his sentence and is being actively managed in the community. “He’s no threat to me anymore,” Adam said.

Pc Emma Hughes of Cheshire Constabulary said: “I can’t thank Adam enough for coming forward and helping us to put this man in jail. He went through so much but bravely carried it through to the end. The change from being a victim to becoming a survivor when their abuser is jailed is something to behold. It shows there is hope.”

Adam’s book, The Seventh Magpie, can be purchased on Amazon.