A young grandmother who was abused for years by her cruel stepdad said she can finally "make peace with my past" after he was jailed for four years today.
Miriam Lake said she was in "disbelief and shock" after the Court of Appeal ruled Michael Egan's initial sentence - two years' suspended - imposed on October 17 was unduly lenient. Instead, they imposed the heftier term and ordered he be sent behind bars.
The 77-year-old defendant did not attend the hearing this morning, with Lord Justice Singh - alongside Mr Justices Spencer and Goose - ordering he surrender to his nearest police station by 4pm.
He had pleaded guilty to one count of assault and two charges of child cruelty before being sentenced to 18 months and two years in prison, concurrent, both suspended for two years.
The case was sent to appeal after Ms Lake wrote to the Attorney General's office.
The first charge was increased to 30 months taking Egan's sentence beyond the threshold for it to be suspended, so he must serve time in prison as part of his new overall 48-month sentence.
Ms Lake, 45, told the Mirror after the hearing: "I am just so happy, so grateful for them taking it seriously this time because now I can go back to the little me and actually put her to rest because I never ever got a childhood, it was just taken away from me.
"Now I can just go back and say look I did it and I’m just in disbelief and shock, finally I just hope this gives people that come forward in the future the confidence never ever to give up.
"Just keep trying, no matter what."
She said as Lord Justice Singh concluded the hearing at the Royal Courts of Justice: "I was holding my breath, I could feel my anxiety soaring and that’s probably why I was sick actually, because of all of the stress.
"At the end when they said he has to surrender I just burst into tears.
"The affects of abuse - people don’t really understand. It lasts your whole life.
"Whereas most people can look back on their childhoods and go yeah, I had this to remember, that was nice. I don’t have anything, just fear and I can make peace with that now just to know that he’s paid the price, so to speak."
Referring to the fact that Egan failed to attend the hearing, she said he was probably thinking "I’ll be let off again so he didn’t even bother turning up".
She added: "At least now he can sit in his cell and realise that actually he’s not going to be laughing at me.
"I do not in any way feel for him, he’s got what he deserves."
The court heard the offending had taken place between 1988 and 1993.
On one occasion Egan had told Ms Lake he wanted to "test her pain threshold" and so burned her with a cigarette, leaving her with a permanent scar.
On another he dragged her to the floor by her hair and kicked her in the ribs while wearing boots causing her to cough up blood after she took an ice lolly without permission.
He had also subjected her to horrific verbal abuse, including referring to her as a "rape baby" and telling her she should have died in a house fire, as well as regularly waking her up by throwing cold water on her.
Lord Justice Singh said Egan had previously been convicted of GBH against Ms Lake in 1992 after smashing a drinking cup against her face.
He suggested one possible reason for the leniency of the original sentencing at Norwich Crown Court was it was particularly busy and the judge ruled to sentence Egan the same day without waiting for a pre-sentencing report.
Ian James, defending, had argued that while he considered his client's conduct despicable, he had not re-offended since and had gone through a certain degree of rehabilitation, including a long-standing marriage.
He said the judge was in his rights to suspend any prison term.
Paraphrasing the original judgement, he said "it was not necessary to send an old man to prison".
Ms Lake was just nine when in 1987 or 1988 her mum Naomi Mitchell met Egan through a marriage bureau service - an early incarnation of today's dating sites.
He quickly moved into the family home in Bedford, and Ms Lake's life became a "living hell" until her mum finally left Egan on Boxing Day in 1993.
Ms Lake waited until her mum died in 2017 to contact the police about Egan's historical crimes.
The legal process took four years and she said the original judgement felt like a "kick in the teeth".
The grandmother-of-one and mum-of-four said she and her younger brother stayed awake all night the Christmas Eve before they fled, out of fear.
Asked if Egan being locked up during the festive period is the best Christmas present, she said: "It has been."
