The victim of known Aberystwyth paedophile Benjamin Griffiths has spoken out for the first time in 28 years after he was sentenced to three years in prison last month.

On 23 September the 83-year-old pensioner of 61 North Parade was sentenced for three years for five counts of indecent assault against an eight-year-old girl in 1995/6.

He was also sentenced to two years for one count of gross indecency against her and seven days for failure to surrender, to run concurrently.

The ex-teacher had already served time for rape of a nine-year-old girl, after being sentenced to 10 years in prison in 2005 – readers may remember the case after he absconded on his last day of trial to Germany.

He was only caught when he applied for a pet passport for his dog.

Having served his sentence, in 2021 another victim, Holly Marie Grady-Ellis, now 36 who moved to Aberystwyth as an infant, came forward.

After 28 years Holly, who has bravely waivered her lifelong right to anonymity, watched her childhood predator be sentenced, having endured severe mental health difficulties following the abuse including self-harm and repeated suicide attempts.

Holly, now a writer, said: “I feel free.

“I feel relieved that he’s where he should’ve been all those years ago.

“He gets to rot in a prison cell for the next few years.

“I’m able to start the next chapter of my life, I can be the woman I always deserved to have been.

“I feel that I now can put some of the past to rest – almost.

“The CPS complaint is still open.”

2021 wasn’t the first time Holly had been to the police about Griffiths – in 1996, Holly bravely went to the police with her mum – but according to her the Crown Prosecution Service (CPS) closed her case.

If she’d been taken seriously, Holly wonders, maybe the next girl, whose case was tried in 2004, wouldn’t have become a victim.

Before Holly had spoken out, Griffiths had threatened to hurt her and her mum.

But when the case was closed, she states her family was offered no support.

Griffiths then painted her family as liars to their community, telling them the abuse in-fact came from Holly’s mums partner, “turning their friends against them” and forcing them to flee into poverty.

Her mum developed an addiction as a coping mechanism, and Holly fell into alcohol abuse “to numb the emotions” and an abusive relationship, thinking it was “what she deserved”.

She said she grew up deeply mistrustful, carrying the guilt of having “ruined” her family’s lives by speaking out.

She had no idea about the other case that had put her abuser behind bars until three years ago.

She became sober on 9 April 2021 and after tracing the start of her troubles back to Griffiths, searched his name on Google and saw the articles covering his 2004 trial: “I was almost sick when I found out.

“Then I felt rage.

“My mum had warned the police that Griffiths had been introduced to another girl, she told them to be careful and to watch him but they didn’t want to know.

“He was free to go on and do what he did to her.

"I need the CPS to be held fully accountable for this."

Griffiths had been introduced to Holly’s family by a family friend as a ‘religious figure’ from the Catholic church.

Holly states that Griffiths started to visit the house often with gifts of alcohol for her mum, and packs of Mars bars for her, offering to babysit to “take the load off” her mum who was caring for Holly and her sister, age two.

Then one day he stayed over on the sofa bed downstairs.

When Holly came down the next morning, he “coaxed her” into the sofa bed with him and sexually assaulted her.

She said: “I felt guilty somehow.

“I felt dirty, like there was a big secret.

“When [the abuse] was happening I felt shame, those are massive emotions an 8-year-old shouldn’t have to feel.”

This was the first of “at least” six occasions of assault and indecency – Griffiths telling Holly he would hurt her if she told anyone: “He said no one would believe me.

“He used religion – saying if I told anyone he would use the wrath of God to hurt us.

“He’s absolutely evil.”

Her mum’s partner noticed something was wrong, but her mum didn’t find out the extent of the abuse until listening to her daughter in the police interview.

After the police paid a visit to Griffiths, Holly remembers him visiting her at school: “He told me I had ruined everything, there would be no more gifts, and we wouldn’t go on holiday.

“He had bought me a bike and planned to take me on a cycling holiday.

“It completely changed who I was as a person – I was free-spirited before, then I had to deal with these big adult emotions before the age of 10.

“I didn’t get any support, no counselling, no after care, I was left to deal with it by myself.”

The recent police case against Griffiths wasn’t straight forward for Holly either – he sacked four of his solicitors and ended up representing himself, which caused the trial to be pushed back.

He missed so many hearings the judge remanded him for months before the trial.

Holly, now a mum to a 10-year-old boy and three stepchildren, testified in person on 9 September, with a screen between her and Griffiths.

Holly said he goaded her mother when she gave evidence, and repeatedly sighed and shuffled his paper to the point where the judge had to call a five minute recess, and tell Griffiths to be quiet whilst Holly gave evidence.

Holly said on speaking out: “I felt like I was starting to get my power back, that young-me has a voice suddenly.

“It’s been gruelling to get to this point.

“It was scary sitting in a room of strangers hoping they’d believe me and they did.

“I’m taking my power back – this is a person who was a predator, he deserves to be named and shamed for this and to show whoever reads the Cambrian News that you can get justice.

“Because of my history I didn't have a lot of faith in the police, but the way the DC in charge of the case handled it with so much compassion was astounding.

“They are an absolute credit to the force.”