Multi-millionaire Dragons’ Den star tells of rape ordeal at the age of 12

The multi-millionaire said she was sexually abused as a youngster by a man near her parents’ pub in Accrington, Lancashire.

Mrs Devey, 55, has spoken of the ordeal for the first time in her autobiography.

She recounts how an older girl called Sandra led her to an Italian man, who attacked her and threatened to come after her if she told her parents.

In her book Bold as Brass, Mrs Devey wrote: “He kept me there with him all night – the b****** who thought that raping a child was his due at the end of the night.

“He did it again and again.”

Mrs Devey reveals that she was left alone in a room with the man after sneaking out to get ice cream with the older girl.

She describes how he spoke with a strong Italian accent and started touching her while they sat on a bed.

Mrs Devey wrote: “He just wouldn’t stop and however much I kept trying to push him away, he didn’t take any notice.

“Spots covered his face and he stank of something that I would later learn was garlic.

“I felt fear rise inside me when he started pulling at the school shirt I’d left on after changing my skirt for jeans. ‘Please don’t,’ I cried.”

Despite her cries, Mrs Devey said the older girl never returned to the room as the man began attacking her.

She said she feared that she would die during the ordeal.