{"id":135294,"date":"2025-05-27T07:05:20","date_gmt":"2025-05-27T07:05:20","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/135294\/"},"modified":"2025-05-27T07:05:20","modified_gmt":"2025-05-27T07:05:20","slug":"i-was-watching-tv-show-when-it-became-too-much-and-i-was-on-the-phone-to-the-police-in-floods-of-tears","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/135294\/","title":{"rendered":"‘I was watching TV show when it became too much and I was on the phone to the police in floods of tears’"},"content":{"rendered":"

Adam Rainford – sexually abused as a child – has published a book detailing his journey to get justice<\/p>\n

05:59, 27 May 2025Updated 06:51, 27 May 2025<\/p>\n

Adam Rainford as a child(Image: PA)<\/p>\n

A man who was sexually abused as a child by his table tennis coach has said he was \u201ceasy prey\u201d following his difficult upbringing.<\/p>\n

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.<\/p>\n

Now 56, the product compliance manager, from Stockport<\/a>, has bravely waived his right to anonymity to tell his story.<\/p>\n

He said he was \u201ceasy prey\u201d for Mellor after having a \u201cdifficult\u201d upbringing and buried his trauma for around 40 years.<\/p>\n

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 \u201cspectacularly to bits\u201d.<\/p>\n

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.<\/p>\n

He was also made subject to a Sexual Harm Prevention Order.<\/p>\n

Police confirmed Mellor has now been released after serving his time and is being actively managed in the community, but Adam feels \u201che\u2019s no threat to me anymore\u201d and he has worked hard in therapy over the years to arrive in a \u201cpositive\u201d place.<\/p>\n

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.<\/p>\n

Adam with his partner, Carolyn(Image: PA)<\/p>\n

\u201cControl 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\u2019d lost everything,\u201d Adam told the Press Association.<\/p>\n

\u201cI 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\u2019s a positive outcome you can get, you\u2019ll get help and you\u2019ll get justice.\u201d<\/p>\n

In the late \u201970s, when Adam was 10, he started playing table tennis in Chester \u2013 where his family were based in his childhood.<\/p>\n

\u201cI was quite good at it and it was really nice initially to be good at something,\u201d he said. \u201cThat\u2019s obviously where I met the coach, David Mellor. I was easy prey in hindsight, not a great family background, not too many friends.”<\/p>\n

Join the Manchester Evening News WhatsApp group HERE<\/a><\/strong><\/p>\n

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\u2019s home, as well as locations outside, Adam said. \u201cWhen things started happening, there\u2019s a fight and flight response but there\u2019s also freezing and flop \u2013 I just froze,\u201d 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.\u201d<\/p>\n

After going on to play table tennis at a regional level, Adam said \u201csomething happened that significantly upped what was going on\u201d.<\/p>\n

He added: “I was then being asked and invited, \u2018would I be prepared to do this with other people?\u2019 and \u2018would I be prepared to take money?\u2019<\/p>\n

He didn’t speak about the abuse for years(Image: PA)<\/p>\n

\u201cWhen that activity increased, I just managed to somehow get out.\u201d<\/p>\n

Adam said he made excuses to avoid practice and training, before he stopped playing table tennis all together. \u201cAnd then I just boxed it away, pretended it didn\u2019t happen and it wasn\u2019t a big deal \u2013 I went quiet,\u201d he said.<\/p>\n

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 \u201cpushed over the edge\u201d in 2017.<\/p>\n

“When (Jimmy) Savile was coming out, Rolf Harris, (Harvey) Weinstein \u2013 each one was just another drip, another drip,\u201d he said. \u201cIt 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.\u201d<\/p>\n

Adam said the phone call with Cheshire Constabulary was \u201cabsolutely brilliant\u201d, but it resulted in him \u201cfalling spectacularly to bits\u201d.<\/p>\n

\u201cAll that stuff you\u2019ve been hiding floods out,\u201d he said. “I was drinking, I couldn\u2019t sleep, it was suggested I had PTSD.\u201d<\/p>\n

Despite the challenges, Adam said he remembered feeling \u201crelief\u201d 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.<\/p>\n

Adam with police and his book(Image: PA)<\/p>\n

\u201cI could only look at him about once in the courtroom but I\u2019m glad I did,\u201d Adam said. “I wanted to be in court, I wasn\u2019t going to hide \u2013 that\u2019s a phrase I kept using: \u2018I\u2019m not hiding anymore\u2019.\u201d<\/p>\n

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 \u201ccouldn\u2019t find it\u201d. 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.<\/p>\n

\u201cI bared my soul in the book, there\u2019s no holds barred,\u201d he said. As a survivor of sexual abuse, Adam said he is now in a \u201cpositive\u201d 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 \u2013 there\u2019s a perceived stigma that I\u2019d be judged and made to feel ashamed. “However, it was the complete opposite, everyone was positive and supportive.\u201d<\/p>\n

Cheshire Constabulary confirmed Mellor has since been released from prison after completing his sentence and is being actively managed in the community. \u201cHe\u2019s no threat to me anymore,\u201d Adam said.<\/p>\n

Pc Emma Hughes of Cheshire Constabulary said: \u201cI can\u2019t 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.\u201d<\/p>\n

Adam\u2019s book, The Seventh Magpie, can be purchased on Amazon.<\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"Adam Rainford – sexually abused as a child – has published a book detailing his journey to get…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":135295,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[8813],"tags":[748,393,4884,2465,1288,16,15],"class_list":{"0":"post-135294","1":"post","2":"type-post","3":"status-publish","4":"format-standard","5":"has-post-thumbnail","7":"category-manchester","8":"tag-britain","9":"tag-england","10":"tag-great-britain","11":"tag-manchester","12":"tag-stockport","13":"tag-uk","14":"tag-united-kingdom"},"share_on_mastodon":{"url":"https:\/\/pubeurope.com\/@uk\/114578530957418705","error":""},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/135294","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=135294"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/135294\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/135295"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=135294"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=135294"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=135294"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}