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lEon Towers grew up without knowing what love meant. Born in 1975, he was six weeks old when he was found in his cot near his father’s body. His mother was arrested for the death, and Leon was imprisoned until it was discovered that his father had taken his own life. foster care,
That brief beginning was the last time he saw anything like home. From there, The system is meant to protect Gave something else entirely.
In the foster home where he grew up, under rules designed to crush him, Leon spent the first 14 years of his life in torment: beaten, psychologically tortured, and told that his mother had murdered his father. When he was just eight years old, he was forced to stand naked for 14 hours in a cold coal chamber as punishment for taking a piece of bread without asking.
He was forbidden from speaking and would spend entire weekends without speaking a single word, fearing that he would eventually lose his voice, ruining the entire school week.
Every mirror in the house was covered with towels so that he could not see his reflection, with his foster parents telling him that this was because he was ugly. Every morning on the way to school, Leon was forced to fix his hair in the wing mirror windows, with no other way to see what he looked like. Leon became a child no one wanted to hear or see,
This was the era when widespread cuts in the public sector were introduced Thatcher The government, coupled with increased demand for social services, left local authorities unable to keep up. already underfunded and poorly maintained care system means easily vulnerable children fell through the cracks And the people who protected them failed.
“I was held captive there, I couldn’t escape… I was just living in this torture, this prison, this hell, and I couldn’t escape it,” he said. Independent,
donate Here Or text SAFE to 70577 to give £10 missing people -Enough to receive a child support.
Independent The aim is to raise £165,000 to help launch secure call – a free new service that will provide children in crisis With a path of confidential support, guidance and protection. About 70,000 children go missing Each year in the UK.
As one of those kids, Leon was confident he would be better than disappearing Rather than remain in care, even if it means killing him. One night, he slipped into the Cumbrian darkness.
When a man approached him on a park bench to offer him a place to stay, Leon thought he was finally being shown mercy. In fact, this was the beginning of unimaginable horrors.
Four days later she was kidnapped and taken to London, where she was trafficked into a pedophilia ring. She was told she needed to keep moving forward to avoid going back into foster care. Over the next three months, he was taken to 17 homes across the country.
She stayed at each location for no more than a week, being raped by older men before being taken to the next home where the abuse would be repeated.
Nearly three decades later, Leon remembers every place he stayed. They were never home; They were flats with a bed and sometimes a sofa, rented solely for this purpose.
He was too young to understand what sex was, he believed these people were his friends. He was taken to nightclubs and made to feel like a celebrity. Her abusers bought her clothes and played tapes in the car between houses to make her feel like she was on “vacation.”
Even when she was pushed against a wall and strangled, or when a married man with children told her he would be killed if she ever spoke about the rape, Leon still felt in a distorted way that for the first time she was being taken care of.
She didn’t realize she was raped until she was 29.
She later learns that the man who kidnapped her killed someone who had earlier taken her to London and abused him in the same manner.
After three months, Leon ran away and lived with another boy in the same trafficking network. A few days later, he trusted adults again and went to the police station for help, surely this would be a turning point.
“After I escaped that pedophile ring, I went to the police station… It was about five o’clock. It was dark, raining, and I was completely drenched. I went to a police station in Newcastle, and I said, ‘My name is Leon, and I think you’re looking for me.’
“He basically said, ‘I can’t figure out who you are. You’ve come to the wrong place, you need to go to social services. You better hurry, it closes at five-thirty.'”
The panic of walking through an unfamiliar city in the dark to find social services before closing time never left him.
“I had just moved out a few days before I went to the police. I was having to eat out of a trash can. I remember eating a half-eaten burger out of a trash can because I was starving.
“I had nowhere to go. I only had the clothes I was standing in. I’m 14 years old. I’m terrified they’ll find me again and catch me, and I didn’t know what to do.”
Beating down the doors of social services in the pouring rain, Leon was let in and placed in night care. The next day, she was taken back to her original foster home. For the first time, he was not afraid of his caregivers. A few days later, he relapsed and went into full-time residential care.
He spent the next two years erasing every memory: stealing cars, shoplifting, taking drugs.
His turning point came at the age of 18, when he became a father for the first time.
In 2009 he wrote Leon: a lost childhoodA book about his life. His mother, Audrey, bought it that year and read it without knowing it was written by her son. Afraid that he wanted nothing to do with her, she never dared to approach him.
As a child, Lyonne convinced herself that she was Audrey Hepburn, an idea that arose after watching Breakfast at Tiffany’s.
He said, “I had created this story in my mind that she was making movies in Hollywood and when she made enough money, she would come back and get me.” “That’s what helped me get through all that trauma.”
She was always sure that she would receive a birthday card from him on her eighteenth birthday. When nothing came, he was most troubled by its absence.
After posting an appeal on Facebook for information about her father, she learned that her father had abused her mother and sold her to men for gang rape to pay off his gambling debts.
Leon messaged her in March 2020. “I’m so sorry for what you’ve been through and what you’ve been through, and I’m contacting you to say that I never knew about this. I’ve always loved you, you’re my mother. I always wanted to find you, but I didn’t think you were looking for me.”
He replied within three minutes. They talked every day until they met in person in May.
On her 45th birthday, he sent her 45 birthday cards.
“We’ve talked every day since then, and it’s five years later… We’re a big part of each other’s lives.”
Lyon is now a strong advocate for children. He runs a YouTube channel, Let’s Talk Trauma TV, which discusses issues including child sex trafficking, domestic and sexual abuse. Next July, he will begin a series examining ten unsolved cases of children disappearing from care homes.
“Someone needs to be their voice…being brought into the care system [I realised] When people go missing, no one actively searches for them.”
Leone, who will soon become the Ambassador for Missing People, says it is important to break the cycle of children going missing and reminds people that no child goes missing without a reason.
Please Donate Now The Independent and Missing People’s SafeCall campaign, which aims to raise £165,000 to create a free, nationwide service to help vulnerable children find safety and support.
If you or a loved one is missing, text or call the charity Missing People on 116000 for advice, support and options. It’s free, confidential and non-judgmental. or visit www.missingpeople.org.uk/get-help
If you are experiencing feelings of distress, or struggling to cope, you can speak to Samaritans in confidence on 116 123 (UK & ROI), email jo@samaritans.org, or visit Samaria website to get details of your nearest branch. If you live in the United States, and you or someone you know needs mental health support right now, call or text 988, or go to 988lifeline.org To access online chat from 988 Suicide and Crisis Lifeline. This is a free, confidential crisis hotline that is available to anyone 24 hours a day, seven days a week. If you are in another country then you can go www.befrienders.org To find a helpline near you.
If you are a child and you need help because something has happened to you, you can call Childline free on 0800 1111. If you are an adult and you are worried about a child, you can also call the NSPCC on 0808 800 5000. The National Association for People Abused in Childhood (NEPAC) provides support for adults on 0808 801 0331.