Anger at secrecy over rapist’s letter to victim

Prison chiefs have sparked anger after claiming it is NOT in the public interest to reveal how a rapist was allowed to send a love letter to his traumatised victim from behind bars.

Darren Myhill’s victim has been left stunned by the Ministry of Justice decision not to reveal details of how the serious blunder happened.

Jemma Myhill has slammed the decision, which follows a Freedom of Information request from The Sunday Post, as “appalling”.

The 19-year-old, who was raped by Myhill her uncle when she was as young as eight, said: “How can they say it is not in the public interest? It is just wrong.

“They need to release the full details of how he sent this disgusting letter which has just added to the trauma of what he did to me.”

Jemma, of Newcastle upon Tyne, was raped and sexually abused by Myhill, who was jailed in March 2013. Myhill admitted 22 charges of rape, indecency with a child, indecent assault and incitement against five children.

But only a few weeks after he was jailed following a hearing at Newcastle Crown Court, Jemma received the letter hand-written by Myhill, 44, from his cell at Holme House Prison in Stockton-on-Tees, County Durham.

In the letter, he told her he loved her, leaving Jemma reeling and feeling “sick to the stomach”. He is also said to have sent other threatening letters detailing Jemma’s movements.

Now, in response to a Freedom of Information request from The Sunday Post, the National Offender Management Service (NOMS) has refused to reveal any details of the error. The reply said it was not in the public interest to reveal the findings of the prison investigation.

Jemma, who bravely waived her anonymity to speak out against her uncle, said last night that she has still had no explanation from NOMS.

“I’ve not heard anything from them,” she said. “I think it is appalling the way I’ve been treated.”

The reluctance to reveal details of the investigation has also sparked fury from the former Labour solicitor general Vera Baird, now the Northumbria Police commissioner.

She said: “The message this sends out is that the authorities are not capable or not willing to protect people who are abused from their abuser.”

Jenny Chapman MP, Labour’s shadow prisons minister, said Jemma deserves an explanation.

“The prison service and the ministry of justice should take steps to reassure other victims that this doesn’t happen again in the future,” she said.

Prisoners have a legal right to send and receive letters in jail but their communications are supposed to be checked.