My boyfriend kept disappearing, but it was two years before I discovered the terrible truth of what he'd done... By Chelsea Roach, 32
The sun was beating down, but the spray of water was nice and cool.
‘Hey, you missed a spot,’ I teased my boyfriend Mark.
He turned towards me with the hosepipe.
‘Watch it, or you’ll get drenched,’ he laughed.
Mark and I were enjoying a day in the sun, washing the car. We always liked to mess around together.
He was also a great stepdad to my nine-year-old daughter Georgina.
In time, Mark and I had a daughter together, Polly.
But after her arrival, Mark got into moods over tiny things.
‘You can do better than this,’ he’d say, after I’d cooked him dinner.
We would argue, then Mark would storm out. Sometimes he’d be gone several days, mainly over the weekend.
It was upsetting, but I just tried to concentrate on my girls.
When he eventually returned, he’d apologise.
‘I love you, Chelsea,’ he’d say.
But before long, he’d be off in a huff again.
I tried to keep the peace.
With Mark working, I mainly looked after Polly — but one day, I wanted to pop to the shop, so I asked him to keep an eye on her.
‘No,’ he said. ‘You’re not going anywhere.’
He stood up, went to the front door and locked it.
‘Mark…’ I began.
But he rounded on me.
‘I told you — you’re not going anywhere!’ he shouted.
I was frightened, and subtly reached for my phone.
I went into the kitchen and dialled 999.
‘My partner’s locked me in our house and he’s in a state,’ I whispered. ‘I’ve got a baby here and I’m scared.’
'You're not going anywhere'
When a squad car pulled up, Mark finally opened the front door.
‘Sir, your partner called us,’ said the officer. ‘Can we speak to her?’
I appeared.
‘There’s nothing going on,’ said Mark. ‘Just a misunderstanding — really sorry we wasted your time.’
‘I’m sorry. I think we’re OK now,’ I said.
The police left us to it, but a few days later, we had other visitors.
‘I’m from social services,’ said the lady. ‘I’ve come to check everything’s OK.’
‘Well, no, not really,’ I replied.
I explained about Mark disappearing and having mood swings.
They listened intently, and said they could help.
‘We could offer Mark some sort of counselling,’ said one of the social workers.
Soon after, they visited again, when Mark was home, and suggested the counselling to him.
‘Yeah, OK,’ he said.
But when the first session came around, Mark didn’t turn up.
Instead, our volatile home situation continued.
Social services continued to visit and support me.
They kept knocking on my door and we’d have a chat about everything.
This went on for two years.
One day, while Polly was a toddler, I nipped out.
Georgina was with her dad.
But when I returned, five minutes later, Mark had locked me out.
‘Mark!’ I called through the door. ‘Let me in!’
I could hear Polly crying inside the house. I was terrified and got out my phone and called the police.
They arrived and tried to break the door down.
Mark eventually relented and threw it open.
He was sobbing — he looked like he was having some sort of breakdown.
I ran to get Polly, who thankfully was fine.
Then I turned around to see cops putting handcuffs on Mark’s wrists.
‘What’s going on?’ I said.
‘We’re arresting him,’ said the officer.
They took him away.
Next day, social services were back.
‘Do you know why Mark is under investigation?’ she asked.
I didn’t have a clue.
‘No,’ I replied, dumbfounded.
She looked at me and paused.
‘I’ll give you a minute,’ she said.
What’s going on? I thought.
‘No, tell me now,’ I demanded.
‘It’s come to light that Mark has been under investigation for the last two years, for sexually assaulting a 15-year-old girl,’ she said.
The hairs on my body stood on end.
‘Are you being serious?’ I gasped.
She nodded.
My partner, the father of my child, was being investigated for sexually assaulting a teenager?
Suddenly her first words struck me.
For the last two years… rang in my ears.
I couldn’t believe all this time I didn’t know.
I was horrified.
'How could you do this?'
I had two daughters — one was nearly a teenager.
Mark was released on bail, but wasn’t supposed to get in touch with me.
But I had to know the truth, so I rang him.
‘I know what you did!’ I said. ‘You sexually assaulted a 15-year-old girl.’
‘She lied about her age!’ Mark cried.
He told me it had happened on one of the nights he’d disappeared from our home.
‘How could you do this?’ I cried.
Then I hung up. We were done.
Mark was facing a court case, and on the first day, I went along.
I watched as my ex-partner Mark Topps, 33, appeared at Manchester Crown Court.
Despite him telling me he didn’t realise the girl was underage, he pleaded guilty to sexual assault of the 15-year-old teenager.
Then, the full details came to light, and I felt sickened.
On the night it happened, Mark had pretended to play the Good Samaritan. He’d noticed the teenager staggering in the street. She was drunk and alone.
The schoolgirl had been out celebrating a friend’s birthday in Manchester, but was ejected from a bar for being too drunk.
Her friend had put her in a taxi home, but the driver had stopped and removed her from the vehicle.
Mark seemed to be coming to her rescue. He approached her, took her hand and escorted her to the Travelodge, where he’d booked a room.
There, he sexually assaulted her — it was thought he had assaulted her by penetration, rather than full sexual intercourse.
The girl herself woke the next morning, to find she was naked, with a naked man whom she did not recognise lying partially on top of her — that man was Mark.
The victim ran from the bed and got dressed before answering an incoming call from a friend.
She told her friend she didn’t know where she was and ran out of the room.
Mark followed her, and she was still on the telephone to her friend, who heard her say: ‘Go away from me, leave me alone.’
She ran down to the hotel reception and raised the alarm with the receptionist, who called the police.
The receptionist found her shaking and in extreme distress.
Mark was in the reception area, looking extremely anxious.
Hearing what had happened, there was no doubt in my mind that Mark was guilty.
In a statement read out at court, the girl said she was still in ‘great distress’ at knowing what exactly happened that night.
She suffered from recurring nightmares and panic attacks.
The statement added: ‘I also suffer from anxiety, shame, embarrassment and what happened had an adverse impact on my education and I find it difficult to concentrate.
‘My GCSE mock results were not as expected and owing to Covid, these results counted towards my final grades.
‘A recent family holiday had to be cut short as the accommodation reminded me of the hotel that night and it caused me to suffer panic attacks.’
Sentencing Mark, Judge Alan Conrad QC spoke to him.
‘She was 15 at the time, and was vulnerable due to her extreme intoxication,’ he said. ‘She was totally unaware of what she was doing, and that would have been apparent to you.
‘She needed help but instead you acted in a predatory manner by taking her back to your hotel room. The effects of what happened to her are very considerable.’
He jailed Mark for five years and eight months, and ordered him to sign the sex offenders register for life.
I was relieved.
I’ve received hateful messages from people vilifying me, but I had no idea that my daughters and I were living with a sex beast.