Rape victim 'finally free after years of hiding'

Jasmin Mae Grindley has spoken out after her former partner was convicted of raping her and subjecting her to coercive control

A woman who was raped and subjected to controlling behaviour when she was a teenager by a former partner has said she now wants to have her voice heard.

Waiving her legal right to anonymity, 24-year-old Jasmin Mae Grindley told BBC Manchester: "I've been kept silent for five years - I deserve for my truth to be out, and for people to know how dangerous he was."

Michael Ball, now 31, was convicted at Bolton Crown Court in September of multiple counts of rape and coercive control between October 2020 and January 2021. He was jailed for 19 years.

"I hid for so long - I'm finally free and I'm not hiding from him any more," Miss Grindley said. "I want him to know he will never hurt me again."

Miss Grindley was 19 when she met Ball, 26, at a pub in Wigan on the way home from her job as a carer

This article contains details of sexual, physical and emotional abuse. The BBC Action Line has details of a range of advice and support for anyone affected by the issues raised.

Miss Grindley said she was 19 when she met 26-year-old Ball at a pub in Wigan while on the way home from her job as a carer.

"He never let me leave from that first day really - I went home once or twice throughout the whole five months," Miss Grindley said. "But he covered his behaviour with charm, saying he missed me and didn't want me to go."

Within weeks of their first encounter in October 2020, Ball forced Miss Grindley to quit her job, and began to physically abuse her.

"He made me call in sick, saying I had Covid for two weeks," she said.

"I went back for one shift and had to leave early due to him ringing me so much and I never went back.

"It became very intense very quick, but I was naive. I was very, very vulnerable."

By November, Miss Grindley said her mum had contacted the police.

"I wouldn't give evidence - they just took photos and they left it at that," Miss Grindley said.

"He told me he'd kill me because my mum had reported me covered in bruises.

"I don't think anybody noticed how bad it was because I wasn't ready to speak - I was besotted by him.

"I was very blinded."

Miss Grindley said she hoped things would change, but Ball's behaviour continued to deteriorate

Ball continued to abuse Miss Grindley, controlling every aspect of her life, until his arrest in January 2021.

Miss Grindley said she was barricaded in a bedroom most days, often without food, water, or access to a toilet.

She said: "I kept hoping things would change and go back to how I met him, I think.

"I was so broken down as a person - he stripped everything from me and made me believe that only he could love me, only he could want me."

Ball took out loans in her name, smashed her phone, and took her sim card to message her family, posing as her.

With no way of telling even what day it was, Miss Grindley remembered noticing one day that it was snowing outside. She said she asked Ball if it was nearly Christmas.

Ball told her that it was 5 January 2021 - meaning she had missed Christmas, New Year, and her mum's 40th birthday.

'Jasmin can spell'

Later that month, the abuse turned sexual.

Miss Grindley said she woke up to Ball raping her.

"That was where I turned and I decided I was doing everything in my power to get out of it the safest way I could," she said.

Despite her best efforts, Miss Grindley said "nothing worked".

"I was tackled, I was knocked out, just pinned down, barricaded in, you name it," she said. "He said he'd kill me if I left.

"When he was finally arrested it was my nan who phoned the police, because she realised that it wasn't me texting.

"The police said 'How do you know for certain it's not Jasmin?' and my nan said, 'Jasmin can spell'.

"And that sentence saved my life - it really did."

Following the report from her grandmother, 12 police officers entered the property to detain Ball.

'Not hiding any more'

Despite getting out of the house, Miss Grindley said her freedom from Ball only really came four-and-a-half years later.

She said after he was released on bail, she was "terrified", and lived her life hidden away.

"He was able to live his life freely in my opinion and that was heartbreaking because I had to hide," Miss Grindley said.

"So I worked night shifts, I slept all day, I avoided town centres, I wouldn't go on public transport.

"I broke myself down to nothing, I really did.

"That did sort of made me give in a little bit and that's what broke me down a lot, not knowing where he was, what he was doing, what area he was in.

"But I think that's what pushed me to waive my anonymity, because I'm not hiding from him any more."

(From right to left) Jasmin with her grandmother, mum and sister after the trial

Miss Grindley said: "It's only recently I've been able to bring myself to talk about it and explain it.

"I don't think I was ready to come to terms with how dangerous it was, how close I was to dying.

"And now I am ready to talk about that and get past it."

Miss Grindley refused an offer to give her evidence from behind a screen in court.

"No way, I told them - I've waited five years for this.

"I will stand in front of him and I will smile because I'd finally made it.

"I didn't smile because I was happy, it was about finally being free."

Miss Grindley said gaining her freedom after such a long ordeal had been "unreal".

"I feel like I'm on the moon, I really, really do," she said. "I feel on top of the world.

"Before him I was confident - I loved my body, I had a hell of a lot of friends, a big friend circle.

"I went out, I was spontaneous.

"Whereas now I'm still quite spontaneous and I do try to be, [but] it's taken me a hell of a lot of time, almost five years."