'My rapist stole my childhood - but 40 years later I got him jailed'

Lisa Robinson, whose name has been changed to protect her identity, met Ricky Bellion, now 61, at a swimming pool before he went on to attack her.

Bellion was 19 when he met and targeted the then 10-year-old Lisa at St James' swimming baths in Doncaster, south Yorkshire, in 1984.

He groomed her before raping her a year later. Bellion continued to sexually abuse and rape Lisa, who is now 51, for the next six years.

She managed to distance herself at aged 19 - after trying to socialise more with friends and attempting to date - and then moved away from the area.

It was only in 2019, after suffering a breakdown that Lisa had the courage to go to the police.

Bellion was arrested in December 2019 and sentenced to 22 years in February 2025 after he was found guilty of four counts of indecent assault and four counts of rape at Sheffield Crown Court in November 2024.

Judge his honour Peter Hampton said the rape count related to as many as 30 incidents of rape.

Lisa, who works in healthcare, said: "It was amazing to hear the verdict. Honestly I couldn't believe it, sometimes I still don't. It was a final confirmation that things hadn't been bad, they had been really really bad.

"Going through this process and knowing now that he is a serious offender has helped me to realise that I wasn't compliant. I'm still bursting with the joy of that knowledge.

"He groomed me so carefully that I thought everything was normal. I had no idea, not even when I started lying about where I'd been. It's a really evil way because it's so hard to spot the signs.

"It's intentional calculated planning. Even now it's really hard to identify the point in time at which it became abuse. I just thought he was a swimming friend, he never threatened me or anything. He gained my trust.

"He manipulated me in to believing I wanted to see him. When I did work out what he was doing it had gone so far and the secrecy was so embedded that I couldn't tell anyone.

"The severity of the abuse continues to haunt my mind. It has an all-encompassing effect on my life. I am still unable to tell friends and family because of the effect it might have on them.

"So I have kept this locked in my mind, sometimes I have lost the mental battle, like when I had a breakdown."

Lisa said she was a confident, mature, and sensible child so her parents trusted her to go to the pool alone.

After a few weeks she noticed that Bellion was always there at the same time as her.

He spent a year gaining her trust before raping her when she was just 11 years old.

Lisa said: "All the 'stranger danger' videos were of older men in long coats, he wasn't that at all. I had been confident but I became quiet and distant, like a little shy mouse.

"The more isolated I got the more inwards and towards him I was driven."

Lisa said he continued to abuse her over the next six years - and he would pursue her when she was out on her bike or wait outside her home.

"I have no idea how I didn't get pregnant," she said.

Lisa felt that something was wrong, but couldn't pin point what it was, and wasn't able to turn to anyone for help.

When she turned 16, she saw Bellion less while he was serving a six-month sentence for a separate child abuse charge - giving her the opportunity to make friends.

It was only when Lisa reached her 20s that she realised she had been groomed and abused, so she started counselling sessions.

She said: "I think it was petering out because I was getting older, and I started to avoid meeting him. I began to realise that I felt good when I didn't see him, but it took years.

"The more I realised what had happened to me the harder it was to have relationships."

Lisa lived with the trauma, including a breakdown in 2011. She visited the locations where the abuse had taken place to help her understand what had happened to her.

A second breakdown in 2018 led her to go to counselling again, where she was encouraged to write down her story.

In 2019 she filled in a 101 police-contact online form.

"I still couldn't bring myself to say it out loud," she said, "I just wrote an outline. But as soon as my story was in writing I felt like I could hand it over. I knew I had to do something and I've never looked back."

Bellion was arrested just before Christmas 2019, and went to trial in November 2024 after denying all charges.

The case was adjourned multiple times for reasons including problems with technology, Bellion's fitness to attend, and missing documents.

Lisa said: "My story shows that it can happen to anyone. I had a 'normal' family life, nothing to rebel against or escape from. I wasn't more vulnerable than any other child.

"I was intelligent and did well at school, I wasn't unaware, and still it happened to me. Maybe my parents took their eyes off the ball by never meeting me or watching me swim.

"I think in this day and age it might have been picked up - someone might have noticed that he always met me, someone might have said something to my parents.

"I would encourage victims not to worry about making big decisions, just talk to anyone in any way that you can, that's the start of becoming free."

Bellion was also sentenced for a conviction of buggery against another woman.

The court heard that he had previous convictions, including for sexual assault against other children.

Bellion was made the subject of a one-year extended licence period and given a restraining order relating to both women.