A 52-YEAR-OLD woman has spoken of the years of torment she experienced at the hands of her brother who raped her when she was a teenager.

Sheryl Jones has waived her right to anonymity in the hope that it will urge other sexual assault and rape victims to report the crimes.

Yesterday, her brother Stephen Davies, who was convicted in June of raping her twice in the 1970s, was jailed for five years.

Mrs Jones believes that if she had spoken about it at the time, then she could have sought help and her pain and torment would have been somewhat lessened.

She said: "I feel like I've had a life sentence as what happened when I was 14 and 16 has affected my whole life. I wish I had come forward sooner. It doesn't just affect you, but your whole family."

But, the mother-of-four added: "I now feel I can move on."

She said that throughout the years she had not told anyone about what happened to her and had unsuccessfully tried to block it out, leaving her with feelings of self-loathing, shame and anxiety.

"It's like a DVD player going off in your head. I'm there in the room. You can see it, smell it and hear it. How can you explain that to people?"

Derby Crown Court heard how Davies, of Hall Farm Road, Newhall, had raped her at home on both occasions.

The first time was in autumn 1971, when she was 14 and he was 17, their mother was in hospital and no-one was in the house.

The second occasion was when Mrs Jones was 16. Davies had been on leave from the Royal Marines, where he served as a chef for about 12 years.

He had forced himself on her while the rest of the family were asleep in their Chestnut Avenue home in Newhall.

Mrs Jones had a pregnancy terminated in February 1972 which could have been her brother's.

Sentencing Davies, Recorder Gregory Dickinson QC said: "She doesn't know whether or not you were the father, as she had a boyfriend at the time, but she has lived all these years thinking her own brother might have made her pregnant.

"She has been haunted by this for 30 or more years."

Years later, after getting married, Mrs Jones went into labour with her first daughter on February 9 – the same date on which she had the termination.

She finally broke her silence in the late-1990s to her husband, whom she described as a "great support." It was in 2000 when she finally plucked up courage to tell the police.

Mrs Jones, who now lives with her husband in South Wales, said she was pleased with the outcome of the trial and was relieved it was now over.

She is about to start counselling and hopes that in time she can help other rape victims by working for victim support.