Tina Davis - Daddys Little Secret: Pregnant at 14 and Theres Only One Man who Can be the Father

I hated the thought of his child growing inside me...but at least Id soon have somebody to love and, finally, somebody to love me back.

Tina has never had a stable upbringing. Aged seven, she has a paranoid schizophrenic for a mother and her father is a distant memory. So when Tina gets a new step-dad, who lavishes sweets and cuddles upon her, she feels wanted for the first time ever.

Sadly, her new daddy isnt all that he seems. He begins to sexually abuse Tina, using chilling threats to scare her into silence.

Tina is so terrified, she even gives birth to four of her step-fathers children without breathing a word. Her world becomes so warped the cruelty she endures seems normal. Until eventually, the tragic death of one her innocent children makes her see otherwise...

This is the inspiring true story of how one frightened little girl grew into a fighter and finally found the strength to escape the man who stole her childhood.

Since seeing the man who abused her as a child be sent to jail, Tina Davis has focused on rebuilding her life. She now has five children all together and lives in the north-east of England where she has created a happy home for herself and her cherished family. She urges anybody suffering domestic or sexual violence to contact Womens Aid on 0800 2000247 or visit www.womensaid.org.uk.

I had never been on a train before, but I thought it was brilliant. Sitting by the window, I stared out openmouthed at the houses as they whizzed past. My breath steamed up the window, but I quickly wiped the condensation away with my sleeve. Sitting in the carriage with my mum, two-year-old sister Lisa and baby brother Paul, I felt that I was heading towards an exciting new life.

All too soon, the train pulled into a train station. We collected our bags from where they had been stowed away. It was time to leave the carriage. But as I stood at the doorway, I couldnt move.

A big gap had opened up between the train and the platform and far below I could see the dark, dirty tracks. I was a small child, and I didnt think Id be able to get across without falling into the crack.

That day I was wearing my favourite outfit a pair of pink flowery culottes with a white shirt and matching pink collar. The top and shorts were connected with a pink scarf that tied with a bow at the front. Id also worn my best shoes, which had blue lace bows and little black buttons. I loved those shoes.

What if I fell into the gap? I thought. Id get my outfit all dirty, or lose a shoe. Or worse, I could die!

In my small chubby hands, I clutched my black wheelie bag for dear life and looked pleadingly up at Mum.

I cant do it, I whimpered, shaking my head, which made my pigtails flap against my cheeks.

Come on, Tina, she yelled as she struggled off the train with the pram, holding my baby brother Paul. Toddler Lisa had already made it on to the platform, and if she could, surely a big seven-year-old like me could too. So taking a deep breath I jumped and landed safely on the other side, to my great relief.

Now we bundled down the platform with all our bags and suitcases Mum pushing my brother, my younger sister Lisa on reins and me holding the side of the pram with one hand, and yanking my bag along with the other.

As we walked towards the barrier a man was there to greet us on the other side. He wore a pair of horrible cream trousers, a white shirt and brown shoes. He had thin blond hair in a quiff over a thin face and was grinning from ear to ear.

Mums face lit up with eager anticipation and then she threw herself into his arms for a long embrace. When she finally let him go, she turned to us. Kids, this is Charlie.

I nodded at the blond man and he leaned down to me, eyes wide and full of smiles.

You must be the lovely Tina! he said. What a sweet thing you are! Ive got lots of lovely surprises for you.

I didnt think much of it at the time; he was just another man. And there had already been so many men in Mums life.

But if Id known the destruction and terror Charlie would bring to my world, I would have turned and jumped back on that train, however big the gap.

Life at home had always been difficult and chaotic with Mum. I found out much later on that shed suffered from paranoid schizophrenia, but as a kid all I knew was there were two sides to her.

There was the lovely, bubbly woman who could make everyone smile and laugh, and then there was the horrible woman who hit me, shouted at me and said hateful, hurtful things.

From the word go, I was made to feel like an inconvenience in her life.

Every day shed tell me, I hate you! You were a mistake, and crushingly, I wish youd never been born.

She never made me feel as if I was wanted or loved. Is it any wonder, then, that I grew up thinking that I was unlovable?

As a baby I was in hospital a lot, mainly for bladder infections, but once my mum smacked my head against a door and another time I was pushed down a flight of stairs in my pram. I found out from my social services files that both times my granddad had reported Mum to the authorities but nothing ever came of it.

Despite it all, I did love her. She was my mum but she wasnt very nice to me.

My earliest memory is of my mum telling me that everybody dies someday. I was playing with my dolly on her bed, my legs swinging over the sides, when Mum sat down next to me, clearly upset.

She put her arm around me and leaned against me. I leaned back. It was so rare that my mum showed me any affection, that whenever she did I was so grateful to her.

The thing you have to realise, Tina, is that people die, she said simply. Thats a fact of life. One day youre here and the next day youre gone. Its going to happen to me, to you, to all of us.