Shame is a true story about overcoming childhood degradation and the hard knocks that followed.
This is an honest and raw account of the troubled life of a young boy as he journeys from a childhood of degradation into an inevitable life of crime, leading to court appearances, borstal and ultimately prison stays. Despite the childhood abuse at the hands of his mother the real story begins when he is sexually abused by a warden in one of the borstals he was sent to – Medomsley.
As you read his story be prepared for a shocking account of humiliating sexual attacks and the aftermath, that for a boy who with no sexual experience of any sort until that point, set the tone for the rest of his life. The title, 'Shame' sums up the overriding emotion that has dominated his life ever since.
Here is what the author Phil Thomas says:
"The shame that I felt about the fact that I had not fought back when I was attacked and that I had given in to the most degrading and horrifying abuse haunts me still. In this book I allow the reader into the life of a victim of abuse and what happens long after the headlines have faded. My abuse at the hands of a paedophile, now dead, who has been described as ‘more prolific than Jimmy Saville’, has coloured every part of my life since I was seventeen.
My story takes the reader from my first forays into crime (climbing out of the bedroom window to steal bread and milk from doorsteps to eat), to the night that I turned up at the home of Neville Husband, my abuser, with a gun, determined to shoot him dead for what he had done to me and to other boys. It is a ‘warts and all’ look at the youth offender penal system and highlights the good and the bad of that system. It covers my escapes from borstal and the harsh treatment I received from the courts.
Without self pity, I explain what happens to a child who is allowed to grow up like a feral animal. Who was beaten in front of the police by his mother as a punishment for his crimes then continually beaten every day by his mother whether or not he had done anything wrong or not.
I share with the reader the loves I had and my eventual marriage to Denise, who is still the love of my life. My story tells of the death of my first son, and my suicide attempt that was fuelled by the all-encompassing shame that has influenced my whole life, and it covers the court case against the Home Office, which includes the experiences of fellow sufferers.
This is an observation of how the world was for a young boy who was abused first by his mother and then by various other people in authority, but who throughout his childhood steadfastly believed that adults were always right."
This is an honest and raw account of the troubled life of a young boy as he journeys from a childhood of degradation into an inevitable life of crime, leading to court appearances, borstal and ultimately prison stays. Despite the childhood abuse at the hands of his mother the real story begins when he is sexually abused by a warden in one of the borstals he was sent to – Medomsley.
As you read his story be prepared for a shocking account of humiliating sexual attacks and the aftermath, that for a boy who with no sexual experience of any sort until that point, set the tone for the rest of his life. The title, 'Shame' sums up the overriding emotion that has dominated his life ever since.
Here is what the author Phil Thomas says:
"The shame that I felt about the fact that I had not fought back when I was attacked and that I had given in to the most degrading and horrifying abuse haunts me still. In this book I allow the reader into the life of a victim of abuse and what happens long after the headlines have faded. My abuse at the hands of a paedophile, now dead, who has been described as ‘more prolific than Jimmy Saville’, has coloured every part of my life since I was seventeen.
My story takes the reader from my first forays into crime (climbing out of the bedroom window to steal bread and milk from doorsteps to eat), to the night that I turned up at the home of Neville Husband, my abuser, with a gun, determined to shoot him dead for what he had done to me and to other boys. It is a ‘warts and all’ look at the youth offender penal system and highlights the good and the bad of that system. It covers my escapes from borstal and the harsh treatment I received from the courts.
Without self pity, I explain what happens to a child who is allowed to grow up like a feral animal. Who was beaten in front of the police by his mother as a punishment for his crimes then continually beaten every day by his mother whether or not he had done anything wrong or not.
I share with the reader the loves I had and my eventual marriage to Denise, who is still the love of my life. My story tells of the death of my first son, and my suicide attempt that was fuelled by the all-encompassing shame that has influenced my whole life, and it covers the court case against the Home Office, which includes the experiences of fellow sufferers.
This is an observation of how the world was for a young boy who was abused first by his mother and then by various other people in authority, but who throughout his childhood steadfastly believed that adults were always right."
