Mum bravely describes 'relentless' sexual assault as attacker jailed

A sexual assault survivor has bravely described the brutal attack against her which included being strangled and slapped as she encourages more victims to come forward. Her attacker has now been jailed for more than five years.

She described the attack as leaving her 'humiliated' and 'degraded' as well as 'physically and emotionally hurt'. It left them fearing for their life.

Christopher Higham, 35, of Wigan, was working in Suffolk as a prison officer when he was first accused of sexually assaulting a woman at a party on September 29, 2019, to which he pleaded not guilty to the accusation of sexually assaulting two women. On February 9 he was found guilty of three counts against one woman, including, sexual assault, assault by penetration, and assault occasioning actual bodily harm. He was cleared of one count of sexual assault against a second woman.

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Higham has now been jailed for five years and 10 months, and was ordered to sign the sex offenders’ register. The woman has now courageously told the LiverpoolECHO about the attack and the lasting effect it has on her life.

"On the night when I got out of that house it was pitch black, I was obviously in an absolute state," she said. "I can just remember running through a rabbit warren of houses and managed to get back to my car.

"I called my mum straight away. It was very unfortunate because my mum at the time had my children and this was at ridiculous o'clock in the morning so in order for her to come, my children had to attend as well. There was a cover story for the children, they just thought I had hurt myself. When my mum got to me that's when we contacted the police."

From there the mum was taken to a