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Woman raped by her brother at 12 asks her daughter for 'forgiveness' after she is taken into care

Tressa Middleton has now turned her life around - but understands if her daughter can never forgive her

Rose Troup Buchanan
Friday 15 May 2015 14:17 BST
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Tressa Middleton has asked her daughter's forgiveness: 'I hope she doesn’t blame me'
Tressa Middleton has asked her daughter's forgiveness: 'I hope she doesn’t blame me'

A woman who gave birth at 12 after being raped by her brother has asked her daughter for forgiveness after she was taken into care.

Tressa Middleton, now 21, told This Morning how following the birth of her daughter Annie she fell into drugs and alcohol abuse but has slowly pieced her life back together.

Ms Middleton, from Broxburn in Scotland, told presenters: “I just hope one day she does forgive me.”

“I hope she doesn’t blame me for not telling people what actually happened when it happened and for drinking and going off the rails.

“I hope she understands. I’ll leave it up to her but I hope she does forgive me,” she added.

Ms Middleton, who is presently engaged and has published a book on her traumatic experiences, was taken into care early in her childhood as her mother was homeless.

But after her mother got herself back together, she and her older brother Jason went to live with her in the Scottish town of Arndale. It was then that she says she started associating with a much older crowd and drinking heavily.

“I was like a 20-year-old – even though I was only nine," she said. "I also started to drink at eight or nine. It got too much and I was taken back into care because of my drinking.”

Shortly after being returned to her mother in 2005 she was raped by her 16-year-old brother on a building site where they would “go to play with our bikes” near their home.

“One minute he was absolutely fine and the next everything is different,” she told This Morning presenters.

As her 11-year-old body started changing, a friend of Ms Middleton realised she might be pregnant and convinced her to take a pregnancy test. When it came back positive, Ms Middleton said she never considered having a termination because “I didn’t believe in abortion even at that age.”

The truth over Ms Middleton’s child eventually came to light and her brother was jailed for four years in 2009 after DNA tests proved he was the father.

“If anything like this happens – you must speak out,' Ms Middleton told viewers. “I wish I had someone to confide in when I was younger.”

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