I was just 14 when I started singing lessons with my dream teacher but he had sick motive… a sinister text exposed him
AS A 14-year-old Annie Holland dreamed of becoming a singer and looked forward to her youth club music lessons.
But the innocent teen had no idea her perverted teacher, Matthew Bell, was using their practice sessions as a disguise to groom her.
After earning her trust, Bell, now 32, began a two-year-long campaign of abuse against Annie, now 25, from Dorset.
During his assaults, Bell often forced Annie to wear her school uniform and made her play out his twisted fantasies.
The paedophile, then 22, also used cable ties on the teen and would attach her to office furniture for hours at a time.
Speaking out after Bell was sentenced to nine years and two months, Annie is bravely waiving her right to anonymity to share her story and raise awareness for other victims of grooming.
Annie, who owns a hair company, says: “For many years I blamed myself for everything that happened.
“But now I know I was a vulnerable child, while Matthew was a grown adult and he was in a position of trust.
“I want others to know it’s never okay for someone so old to take advantage of you as a young girl. I promise you, you will be believed and justice will prevail.”
In 2012, Annie, then 14, was in Year 9 at school and joined a local youth centre in her hometown in Daventry, where she met club volunteer, guitarist and music teacher Bell.
She’d always been an aspiring singer, and had heard the club had a rock band.
Annie says: “On my first day at the club, I found the band playing in one of the studio rooms.
“I knew the drummer and one of the guitarists from school.
“But the eldest one was Matthew. He worked as a volunteer there but he was also a music teacher at school nearby.
“He smiled, introduced himself and asked if I wanted to practise in a different room.
“I began singing and he reassured me I had a great voice and made me feel at ease. He was very kind.
“After practising alone, we joined the others and I sang my heart out. It was amazing.”
‘Shoulder to cry on’
From then on Annie visited the youth club every Thursday after school.
Bell mentored the kids there and was often looked up to.
He began practising alone with Annie every week and used their alone time to build her trust.
Annie says: “Weeks later, Matthew added me on Facebook, to discuss anything music related.
“But as time went on he began to feel like my friend. Soon I was confiding in him about school and my mental health issues.
“I’d had problems with self-harm and Matthew became my shoulder to cry on.”
Secret meetings
Months later Bell admitted he’d fallen for the teen, and she told him she thought she was too young for him.
Annie says: “Matthew said it was fine, we didn’t need to tell anyone, and he made me feel really special.
“Later that week, he convinced me to meet him in secret.
“As he used to be a cadet, he had a key to an old RAF base and snuck me into some offices.
I fell madly in love. Matthew made me feel like we were Romeo and Juliet and that our love wasn’t accepted by society
Annie Holland
“He stripped off my clothes and everything happened so fast. But he made me feel safe and loved.
“Afterwards he said if I told anyone he’d lose his teaching job and his position at the youth club. So I promised to keep it quiet.
“After that I fell madly in love. Matthew made me feel like we were Romeo and Juliet and that our love wasn’t accepted by society.”
Soon Bell used ‘music practice’ as a disguise to assault Annie at his home or the club.
Forceful
At night he continually took her to the RAF base where the abuse would occur.
He showered her with gifts and would message her all day while she was at school.
Annie says: “At first he made me feel so loved. But after a while he became very forceful.
“He started asking me to wear my school uniform to meet him at night and it made me feel uncomfortable.
“He’d then call me his ‘naughty schoolgirl’ and that he was my ‘teacher’ and he was going to ‘punish me’.
“I kept trying to tell myself it was normal, but I had a bad feeling inside of me.
“Soon he started bringing cable ties and he’d tie me onto the office furniture for hours. It was awful.”
Meanwhile the rest of their band dropped out and it was just Bell and Annie left.
The pair would play together at local festivals and to everyone in the town, they looked like teacher and student.
Controlling
As time went on, and Annie was approaching her 16th birthday in 2014, Matthew became controlling.
He isolated her from her friends and tried to tell her what to wear.
Annie says: “He told me dangerous things would happen to me if I ever came clean to anyone.
“Things got really bad and I broke it off. I escaped out his window one day, and I ran into the youth centre in a flood of tears.
“I told them everything and they called the police. Officers told me my relationship wasn’t morally right but I was hysterical, saying I loved Matthew still.
“They tried to get me to press charges, but I refused because I didn’t want to get Matthew in trouble.”
He told me dangerous things would happen to me if I ever came clean to anyone
Annie Holland
After that Annie and Bell lost touch and she finished her GCSEs.
As Annie grew older she tried to push the abuse to the back of her head, but her mental health deteriorated.
She was admitted multiple times to hospital for suicide attempts.
Annie says: “Years later, in 2020, when I turned 22, I realised I was the same age as Matthew was when we met.
“I thought about being with a 14-year-old boy and I felt sick to my stomach. For the first time, I realised he was a predator who had groomed and preyed on me.”
Confession
Annie came clean to her mum and a therapist, and the next week she reported Bell to the police.
The police found a text from Bell to Annie from years before that read: “I’m risking a world of trouble and could be charged with grooming and paedophilia.”
In November 2022, Matthew Bell, previously of Daventry, was found guilty of two counts of penetrative activity with a child against Annie at Northampton Crown Court.
He was sentenced to nine years and two months.
Annie says: “In court it was humiliating being cross-examined. But I kept my head held up high.
In court it was humiliating being cross-examined. But I kept my head held up high
Annie Holland
“When it was Matthew’s turn, he tripped over his words and changed his story constantly.
“Thankfully, the jury saw Matthew for the monster that he was.”
Upon his sentencing, Northamptonshire Police’s Detective Sergeant Cory Wise said: “This woman can be proud that her bravery has seen justice done and I hope she can now move forward with her life following the conclusion of this case.
“Northamptonshire Police takes cases like these extremely seriously – we will believe you and we will do everything we can to bring your offender to justice.”
Annie says now Bell is in prison, she’s “never felt so liberated and free”.
“I blamed myself for so long but I’m 25 now and I know none of it was my fault,” she says.
“If you’ve been groomed, please don’t be ashamed and reach out to someone like I did.”
Contact the Samaritans
If you have been affected by any of the issues raised in this article, contact The Samaritans on 116 123.
They are available for free at anytime.
Or email https://www.samaritans.org/