Abused girl’s letter to God before her death

By Gareth Rose and Gordon Currie
Published on Monday 30 January 2012 00:00

THE mother of a young woman who died just days after a man who sexually abused her was sent to prison, has revealed a “letter to God” her daughter wrote pleading for help.

Rachel Crawford, 22, was found dead on her bedroom floor in Craigour, Edinburgh, on Thursday. A post mortem examination was due to take place today. She had epilepsy and her family believe she may have suffered a seizure. However, her mother, Sandra Turpin, said she held her abuser partly responsible for her daughter’s death.

John Smart, 48, a former Scottish Conservative candidate for the Holyrood seat of Edinburgh East and Musselburgh, was sentenced to eight years in jail on 17 January for abusing three children – two boys and Miss Crawford – between 1987 and 2002.

Mrs Turpin said her daughter had forgiven Smart, but wanted him to own up. Her letter shows how was struggling to come to terms with what had happened.

In it, she pleads: “Please give me the strength I need to help me get through the days. I feel alone. And please help me get the professional help I need to get over my sexual abuse.

“I’m starting to find that more and more difficult to overcome, and I don’t want these emotions to take control cause they tear me to shreds.”

Miss Crawford, who gave evidence against Smart at the High Court in Perth last month, was discovered when police broke into her flat after her family became concerned they had not heard from her.

Last night, her mother said she holds Smart partly responsible and believes the abuse may have triggered her seizures.

“I can’t comprehend that I will not see my daughter again and my heart is breaking in two,” she said. “I can’t help but ask myself questions such as where is the justice in it? She had just won her sexual abuse case and Rachel dies nine days after sentencing, three months from her 23rd birthday.

“John Smart is alive in prison and Rachel is dead. I can’t help but hold John in part responsible. It’s very strange that her seizures started around the same time as her sexual abuse started.

“I want John Smart to know that Rachel is dead. I want him to search his conscience and own up to what he has done and ask forgiveness. Rachel had already forgiven him in her way but desperately wanted him to own up.”

Mrs Turpin said she found a book of poems and letters, written by her daughter over the past few years, and would choose one to have read out at her funeral.

She said: “I want the people who believe John is innocent to read this ‘letter to God’ and search their hearts and know that John is indeed guilty of all that he was accused and found guilty of.”

Smart, a lay preacher, abused children through the Edinburgh City Mission. One of the boys was just three at the time.

Sentencing, Lady Dorrian said: “These offences were intrusive and involved a significant degree of planning. Your victims were vulnerable. You pose a sufficiently significant risk to children to merit a lengthy sentence.”

She also ordered him to be monitored in the community for three years after his release.