Police failed me for decades, says abuse survivor

A woman who was drugged and raped from the age of 15 has spoken publicly for the first time about police failures she said allowed her abuser to evade justice for more than 30 years.

Tina Duggan sought help from authorities during and after years of abuse by Frederick Allchorne, but says her allegations were not properly investigated.

In 2023, Allchorne was jailed for 22 years after admitting rape, administering drugs with intent, indecent assault and bigamy offences against her.

The Metropolitan Police has since paid her compensation after settling a civil claim over its handling of her original complaint, and acknowledged more should have been done to protect her.

Tina was 15 when she met Allchorne - who is 10 years older - while visiting her father after his release from prison in 1984. She says she was held at a shared house in Sutton, south London, for six years.

Allchorne, 62 when he was sentenced, lived at the house with his brothers. He was already married when he went through a marriage ceremony with Tina, who says she knew nothing of his first wife.

She had her first child at 16 and a second soon after. She says she was extremely vulnerable.

"From the age of 15, after I ate or drank something, I was gone, as if you're going to go into an operation," she said.

"One minute you're there, and next minute you're gone."

At 17, she was taken to A&E at St Helier Hospital in Carshalton at risk of swallowing her tongue, an effect she says was a result of the drugs. A doctor asked what she had taken.

"I didn't even know what he meant by drugs. He had to explain to me in detail that it was a form of tablet," she said.

"From that day to this day, I can't understand why I was sent back to the perpetrator to continue his abuse."

Tina says other men came in and out of the house, and believes one of Allchorne's brothers - now dead - also raped her while she was drugged.

She says she tried to escape but was caught or had nowhere to go, and that her family offered no refuge. Her GP, she says, turned her away several times.

"What more evidence could you want? I felt like they just couldn't be bothered."

In 1991 she reached a women's refuge with her two children and reported Allchorne at Sutton police station.

She says officers told her there was not enough evidence despite her account, her hospital records and indecent photographs taken of her. The case was closed within a fortnight.

Tina says she told no one for years.

In 2009, the Crown Prosecution Service asked Tina for a character statement about Allchorne, then accused of sexually assaulting three children. He was convicted. Tina says the Met still declined to reopen her case.

In 2018, Tina was admitted to hospital after a severe panic attack, which she says began the process of disclosure.

Tina still does not know what drugs she was given. She has complex post-traumatic stress disorder and several physical conditions.

"I've suffered all my life, and I'm still suffering now. I'm haunted by what's happened," she said.

Iftikhar Manzoor of Hudgell Solicitors, who represented her in her civil claim against the Met, said the force's attitude to vulnerable women in the 1990s was very different.

"It's absolutely staggering that Tina was there, crying out for help and assistance, raising her complaints and not being taken seriously, not once but twice," he said.

The claim was brought in negligence and under Article 3 of the European Convention on Human Rights, incorporated by the Human Rights Act 1998, which bars inhuman or degrading treatment.

"The civil claim was not only about financial redress," Manzoor said.

"It was also about accountability, some answers." He said time limits created legal obstacles but the Met had agreed to negotiate.

The Met said officers had met Tina and acknowledged "that more should have been done at the time to protect her".

The civil settlement, reached on 19 March, was made without any admission of liability.

A review by the force's Directorate of Professional Standards examined its handling of three reports she made against Allchorne between 1991 and 2018. It found no misconduct by the officers involved.

A spokesperson said there had been "learnings for the Met" and that it had since changed the way it investigates rape and sexual offences, adding: "Every woman and girl in London deserves to feel safe."

The force says arrests and charges for rape in London have more than doubled in the past year.

Now, Tina wants others to come forward, however long ago the abuse took place.

"The perpetrator got punished for what he did, for all the years that he damaged me. So it's never, ever too late. People have got to do the right thing. It's hard but they're not alone," she said.

"I do think people like myself speaking out loud is important. If I can help one person, then it's all been worth it."

For sexual abuse support, visit the BBC Action Line website here.

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