Crime commissioner reveals she was raped aged 15 but won't go to police because she has 'lived with it for so long'

  • Julia Mulligan, PCC for North Yorkshire, said she had spent years blaming herself
  • Said she was speaking out partly because of alleged ‘bullying’ towards staff
  • Mrs Mulligan said more must be done to help victims of rape and sexual assault 

By Eleanor Hayward For The Daily Mail

Published: | Updated:

Julia Mulligan (pictured), police and crime commissioner for North Yorkshire, said she had spent years blaming herself for the attack

Julia Mulligan (pictured), police and crime commissioner for North Yorkshire, said she had spent years blaming herself for the attack

A crime tsar has revealed she was raped as a 15-year-old but has lived with it for so long she does not want the crime investigated.

Julia Mulligan, police and crime commissioner for North Yorkshire, said she had spent years blaming herself for the attack.

‘Just over 36 years ago, aged 15, I was raped,’ she said. ‘I have never said this publicly before. Up until last month, I hadn’t told my family or my closest friends.

‘Those conversations, over 30 years on, have been some of the hardest I’ve ever had. But I decided that I can’t keep this secret any more.’

The 51-year-old mother of two said she did not want to give specific details for fear police might become involved.

‘I have lived with this for so long now that I don’t want to go there,’ she said.

‘I’ve spent years pretending my assault didn’t happen, boxing it off in my brain. Locking it up, full on blaming myself. No longer. I want to help those who have experienced what I went through.’

Mrs Mulligan (pictured), who lives in Skipton with her husband and daughters, grew up in a North Yorkshire village and was elected as police and crime commissioner for the Conservatives in 2012

Mrs Mulligan (pictured), who lives in Skipton with her husband and daughters, grew up in a North Yorkshire village and was elected as police and crime commissioner for the Conservatives in 2012

Mrs Mulligan told the Yorkshire Post she was speaking out partly because a panel ruled in October that she had displayed ‘bullying behaviour’ toward four members of staff – and told her she should tackle the issue.

She said: ‘I am far from perfect, indeed I am my own harshest critic. After all, I have spent 36 years beating myself up for a situation that I still think today was partly of my own making.

‘But those characterisations hurt. I can’t hide that – and they brought everything back I’ve hidden away for so long.’

Mrs Mulligan said more must be done to help victims of rape and sexual assault and that she wanted other victims to know she would back them.

‘I have spent time with children who have been exploited, and I know in different circumstances, that could have been me,’ she said. ‘Like many others, my past is material to who I am today, and what I do today.

‘So, when I listen to these people, I feel it might make more of a difference to say that not only am I on their side, but I am also by their side.’

Mrs Mulligan said she wanted to reform services for sexual assault victims, adding: ‘Had such services been available when I was 15, perhaps things would have been different, but I am yet to be convinced that society has moved on as much as we would like.’

Mrs Mulligan, who lives in Skipton with her husband and daughters, grew up in a North Yorkshire village and was elected as police and crime commissioner for the Conservatives in 2012.

Last year she took over responsibility for the fire brigade as well. 

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