Mum ordered to pay abuser £35,000 and let him return to home where it happened
A woman has been ordered to pay £35,000 in damages to the man who sexually abused her for more than a decade – and let him come back and live in the home where it happened.
Kirsty Easthope, 52, was also saddled with her own and convicted sex offender Arthur Hepple’s legal fees which are thought to amount to more than £100,000.
The ‘devastating’ ruling follows a court battle over the will left by her mother, Irma Barnett, which stated that her partner Hepple, 84, should be allowed to live in the £300,000 bungalow for life.
Kirsty says her mum wrote the will back in 2000 – 13 years before she died suffering with dementia – and was oblivious to the abuse.
Hepple was convicted of attacking Kirsty, who has waived her right to anonymity to speak about the ordeal, and an underage girl in 2014 and was handed a suspended sentence.
He was then jailed three years later for similar offences against another woman and girl.
When he was released in October 2018, Hepple insisted on returning to the detached bungalow in York, prompting the legal battle.
Kirsty, an estate agent, had rented the property while he was in prison but after he took the case to Leeds County Court she has had to make her tenants homeless.
She said: ‘I don’t understand how he doesn’t feel ashamed and how he can want to go back and live where he isn’t welcome.
‘I have been a victim throughout all of this but there has been no compensation for my suffering, but catastrophic financial consequences, and my mental health has suffered immensely.
‘I’ve felt so devastated and hopeless that at times I felt life wasn’t worth living.
‘With no remorse for his crimes, including the mental and physical anguish he had put me through, he decided to take me to court.
‘I was totally distressed, unable to sleep or eat.
‘Had my mum known of Hepple’s actions, I fully believe she would have changed her will and removed him from her home.’
Kirsty said her mother started to develop dementia in 2003 and no longer had the ability to understand and change her will before she died aged 81 in 2013.
The property was empty when Hepple was sent to prison and Kirsty said she was advised by solicitors that she should rent it out.
They also said not to let him inside once he was released and to instead offer alternative accommodation.
She claims to have made three such offers, each of which were turned down.
Kirsty added: ‘He just wants to cause me as much hurt as possible.’
Her dad Alan Barnett and Irma purchased the three-bedroom property in 1983, but he died at the age of 71 in 1996.
Irma then met Hepple through friends and introduced him to Kirsty in 1998, before he moved into the bungalow in 1999.
Kirsty said that her mum and Hepple were a normal couple and often went on holidays and out for meals together.
She went on: ‘I don’t know what gives these evil men the gift of a long life.
‘My dad died and never saw his grandchildren grow up but he was such a good man.
‘He worked hard all of his life and didn’t drive so battled on his bike in all weathers to go to work to provide a nice home.
‘He hated paedophiles and now he has got one living in it after everything he worked for and it’s just wrong.’
The mum-of-three’s family and friends have rallied around her and have even set up a Go Fund Me page to help Kirsty raise the money she needs.
She said: ‘It was amazing when it was set up as I wouldn’t have even thought of it myself.
‘I had lost all hope to be honest and when it was set up, I just started to feel a bit more positive again.
‘I just thought what if there is light at the end of the tunnel and that I could raise the money because they want it as soon as possible.
‘How on earth do you just get your hands on that amount of money?’
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