Sheanna had sat down to watch a BBC documentary about Football's Darkest Secrets when it dawned on her that the relationship she'd had with her Scout leader at the age of 14 wasn't right.
She was 24-years-old when the programme aired - roughly the same age her leader was when she claims he groomed her, before sexually assaulting and raping her multiple times.
Horrified by how similar her story was to that of the abuse shown in the documentary, she knew she needed to come forward to stop anyone else enduring the same ordeal.
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Her alleged abuser died before a decision about whether to charge him could be made by the police or the Crown Prosecution Service - meaning her day in court will never come.
Instead, Sheanna Patelmaster, who is now a trustee for the NSPCC, has chosen to waive her right to anonymity to share her story, in the hope of encouraging other people affected by abuse to come forward.
She also wants to highlight what she says were missed opportunities by the Scout organisation to safeguard her, and other members.
The pair first met through the youth movement in around 2009, when Sheanna, who was then aged 13, was invited to take part in an international Scouts camp in Japan.
She recalled him taking an interest in her, and before they left on the trip she claims he suggested she move to his group in the Greater Manchester area.
Sheanna remembered thinking he was a 'nice person' and wasn't like some other Scout leaders at the time, who were said to be strict and draconian at times.
"We spent quite a lot of time together on the trip and before that," she said.
"The grooming started before we left. He was really observant in a way that other people weren't. I had a lot of stuff going on and I think he just noticed that."
Sheanna claims he asked her to be one of his 'patrol leaders,' meaning she'd be in charge of a small group of teenage Scouts - something that took her by surprise due to her young age.
It also meant the two of them would naturally spend more time together. She said he would ask her about issues she was having outside of the Scouts, and gradually persuaded her to open up to him in ways she hadn't with anyone else.
"I started trusting him more because he kept asking. It was super gradual. Then the boundaries started blurring," she said.
"When we got back from the trip it was the summer holidays and he asked me to meet up with him outside of the weekly Scout meetings so I did.
"He sent me instructions on how to get there but it was in his car outside of his office. Later that night he started messaging me on MSN messenger.
"It was still the summer holidays and Scout meetings weren't on so he kept messaging me and we kept meeting up in his car. At first he was just giving me books and DVDs.
"Eventually he gave me a webcam. I know that at some point - it was really random - he just joined an MSN chat one night without his shirt on."
Sheanna claims they carried on meeting his car, and that when she used to get upset he would hold her hand or hug her. But then his behaviour escalated and the hugging turned to kissing and touching.
"He would get me to do stuff to him and it was just really gradual so it felt like it was completely normal and then it just flipped. He pushed it further every time," she said.
"I knew it wasn't okay and I knew I couldn't tell anyone about it. It was tricky because I already knew we shouldn't be meeting outside of Scouts.
"Everything else he did just got layered on top of it all and got put into the same camp. It didn't feel right and I didn't like it but I didn't have anyone to talk to about it."
After a while of meeting up in his car, Sheanna said he suggested she stay over at his house one night a week - which she claims went on for several months.
It was during those visits that she claims he sexually abused her and raped her. Shortly after she turned 15, Sheanna said he told her he couldn't meet up with her anymore.
"I felt like he had been using me but I definitely didn't appreciate what he had done," she said. "I was quite upset about it but I didn't really understand how bad what he had done was."
Sheanna didn't tell anyone about what had happened to her until a decade later, when two triggering moments made her realise the way her Scout leader had treated her wasn't normal or acceptable.
"The first one was in 2020. I was in Australia and I was 24 which was the same age he was when I first met him," she recalled.
"I just had this moment, I think because I was the same age. I always thought it had happened very gradually and he never meant it to happen, I never thought he had pre-planned it.
"I got to 24 and I just thought I would never do that. If a 14-year-old had come to me I wouldn't do what he did. I messaged him because he hadn't spoken to me about it since.
"I asked him why he did it and he apologised a lot and said he didn't know how it happened and that he hadn't and wouldn't do it again. At that point I was naive enough to believe him."
Sheanna said she tried to put everything to the back of her mind until a year later when she was in an NSPCC board meeting, where a documentary 'Football's Darkest Secrets' was discussed.
"I thought I should watch it. It was very close to home because a lot of it happened in Manchester and the MO was so similar. I thought it was very unlikely he'd done it without thinking about it first.
"He had been working with kids the whole time and was still working with kids. I couldn't just trust him not to do it again.
"I went back through the messages from the year before and he had deleted all of his part of the conversation. At that point I realised I had to do something."
Sheanna was reluctant to speak to police and decided to tell her friend. They in turn reported her allegations to the national Scouts HQ.
"The Scouts came back to them and said they couldn't do anything about it unless this person is willing to come forward and is willing to talk to the police," she said.
"I spoke to the police and he was arrested and bailed. He wasn't allowed unsupervised contact with children whilst on bail. They started an investigation and he was on bail for three months."
Before a charging decision could be made by the Crown Prosecution Service, the man Sheanna alleged of abusing her was found dead and the investigation was closed.
Sheanna says she is now dealing with the fact that she will never be able to prove what happened to her in a court of law.
"I didn't do it because I wanted him to get into trouble, I did it because I didn't want it to happen to anyone else," she said. "But as much evidence I have, I am now dealing with the fact that it will always be my word against a dead man's.
"With that comes a lot of baggage. I have lots of friends I can't talk to anymore because it's not public. I got a message from some of them asking if I was going to his funeral."
For Sheanna, she now feels it is important to make public what she alleges happened to her during her time at the Scouts, in the hope it will encourage other people who have experienced abuse to come forward.
"I want to share my story to stop it from happening to anyone else and because he may have done this to other people," she said.
"Then there is the broader point that it's not just him and it's not just the Scouts. It's how youth organisations in general can do better at safeguarding and helping people come forward."
Sheanna says she is disappointed with the way the Scouts handled her case, and is calling for them to do more to protect members.
"The Scouts were aware of what was going on when he died and it is their discretion about whether to have a uniformed guard of honour," she said. "They knew it would end up happening and didn't say anything.
"I didn't get any support from the Scouts after I came forward. I didn't hear anything from them after he was suspended. They just passed the buck to the police.
"The Scouts never asked me any questions about how this actually happened and how to stop this happening in the future. How do they learn for the future if they haven't asked me anything about how it happened?"
In October 2020, Sheanna became a youth trustee for the NSPCC, and has channelled her experiences as a child to ensure young people are properly heard.
"I used Childline as a kid and I don't want this to happen to other kids. I don't want anyone to have nowhere else to go," she said.
A spokesperson for the Scouts said: "Nothing is more important than the safety of the young people in our care. Any abuse of a young person is abhorrent, and we are deeply sorry for anyone who has been a victim.
"What happened to Sheanna was deeply distressing and she showed great courage in coming forward. We have spoken with Sheanna and offered an unreserved apology and have listened fully to her concerns.
"Scouts cannot right the wrongs of any adult volunteer who offends, but we are committed to learning, and seeking to prevent those occurrences from happening again.
"We would like to take this opportunity to again sincerely apologise to Sheanna for what happened to her."
Helplines and websites
Childline service provides a safe, confidential place for children with no one else to turn to, whatever their worry, whenever they need help.
Young people can contact Childline 24 hours a day, 7 days a week, 365 days a year on 0800 1111 or via 1-2-1 chat on www.childline.org.uk
The free NSPCC helpline provides adults with a place they can get advice and support, share their concerns about a child or get general information about child protection.
Adults can contact the helpline 365 days a year.
