Sex abuse victim's 'tears of relief' as attacker - who was due to be released - dies in prison

dailyrecord.co.uk:

A sex abuse victim burst into tears with relief after being told her attacker who was due to be released had just died in prison.Holly Hamilton was only 15 when carer Gordon Collins began abusing her while she was living under his watch at a council-run children’s unit in 2006.Opportunities to catch him failed at the time and it wasn’t until 2014 that police approached Holly - now 33 - about the historic abuse after someone read her teenage diary.Collins was jailed for six years in June 2016 after being found guilty of historic sex offences against four underage girls but his sentence was later increased to ten years following a Crown appeal.Holly said she wept with relief after she received a call last week to say Collins, who was due to be released within a year, had died in prison.She said: “I’d have expected that when I was told he was dead I’d have jumped around the room but instead I burst into tears.“It was a very odd feeling.“I’m not sad or sorry but I think it was the sheer shock and relief that this is finally over.“It’s been nearly 20 years since the abuse and ten years since he was sent to prison.

I’ve lived for two decades knowing that he is still there.“I knew he was going to get out one day and I’ve been terrified he would find out where I live.”Prison sources confirmed Collins had died in the last few days.Holly, from Hamilton, who has bravely waived her right to anonymity to talk about her ordeal added: “Because of the abuse, I suffer hallucinations and once I spent fifteen minutes frozen to the spot in ASDA as I was convinced Collins was in the bread aisle.“So to know this huge chapter is finally over, gives me some closure.”Collins abused his victims, including Holly, between 1995 and 2006 at two