Alleged sex abuse victim of Leeds councillor told court: 'I scrubbed myself in bleach'

The complainant alleges that former Burmantofts and Richmond Hill representative, Ron Grahame, groomed her before sexually touching her over a period of time, and then finally tried to rape her when she stayed at his Leeds home in the early 1980s.

A trial of facts is taking place at Leeds Crown Court this week after it was determined that 80-year-old Grahame was not fit to stand trial after being diagnosed with vascular dementia. However, he has previously entered not-guilty pleas to four sexual offences against the female.

A police video interview of the woman from 2020 was played to the court in which she said the attempted rape by Grahame had affected her life and led to her developing obsessive compulsive disorder (OCD).

She said: “I felt mucky, everything felt mucky. I would clean from morning until night. I started bleaching myself. I would get a scourer and scrape. I was literally raw.”

She said she developed OCD in her 20s and takes medication, saying it still affects her “in waves”.

The court heard that the complainant knew Grahame as Ron Blower and had searched for him over the internet under his previous name, which brought up no results. Days after finally finding out his new name in 2020, she went to the police.

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She said she would regularly go to his home in Leeds, where he lived with his wife at that time and two sons. He had invited the young girl to his house to practice her gymnastics and it is alleged he would tell her to get changed in front of him and he would “stare at her”.

However, the complainant - who cannot be named for legal reasons - said that he would then begin touching her vagina over her leotard on 10 separate occasions. On one occasion though, he touched her underneath her leotard. Then finally, when the girl stayed over at the house, he climbed into bed with her while his wife was downstairs.

The girl said she “froze” and was “curled up like a ball” as he tried to rape her. It was only when he was disturbed by his wife making a noise that he got out of the bed and left the room. She was left crying in the bed, she said.

Grahame, now of Swardale Green, Swarcliffe, was charged in 2020 with two counts of indecent assault, one of attempted rape and one of attempted buggery. The trial of facts continues and is expected to last until the end of the week or Monday at the latest. However, if the injury finds him responsible for the allegations, he is unlikely to be jailed due to his illness.