Selfie queen Karen Danczuk brands her brother a ‘monster’ for ‘robbing her of her childhood’ after years of abuse as he is found guilty of rape
SOBBING Karen Danczuk revealed how she was repeatedly raped as a child — by her own brother.
The selfie queen, 33, spoke after Michael Burke, 38, was found guilty of eight rapes.
She branded her brother a monster for raping her as a girl — and declared: “He robbed me of my childhood.”
The sobbing 33-year-old bravely waived her right to anonymity to catalogue her schoolgirl horror in a bid to encourage other victims of sexual abuse to come forward.
It came after twisted sibling Michael Burke was convicted by a jury of raping her three times when she was aged between nine and 11.
Burke, 38, was also found guilty of four rapes of a second complainant when he was a teenager and she was 12 and 13 — and of raping a third woman of a similar age to himself between January 2008 and March 2010.
Karen Danczuk said: “My brother’s a monster for raping me. He is sick, I hope he rots in hell.
“He robbed me of my childhood. I was so damaged, my education suffered and I’ve battled anxiety and depression in my adult life.”
After Burke was told to expect an “inevitable” custodial sentence, Karen revealed how the abuse started when he began touching and tickling her during hide-and-seek games in their family’s end-terrace home in Middleton, Gtr Manchester.
She said: “I remember hiding in bed with him and he’d pull the duvet over us.
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“He told me we were in a game but I don’t even think anyone was looking for us. I remember him lying on top of me naked.”
Burke then started sneaking into the bedroom which Karen shared with her sister and climbing into bed with her.
She said: “He’d come in behind me and I could tell he was naked.
“He would lift up my nightie and touch me. Then it eventually developed into him taking my hand and using it to pleasure himself.
“I would always pretend to be asleep and lie with my back to him, facing the wall. I was terrified and confused but I didn’t know what else to do.
“It would always be a Sunday night because he knew I wouldn’t be wearing any underwear as that was our bath night.”
Later the abuse turned to rape. Holding back tears, Karen said: “It was so sore. I remember screwing up my face trying not to cry and wishing for it to be over. I would not dare tell anyone.
“Now I’ve got children of my own that makes me feel sick. I was living in a hell-hole — there was no love in my house. It wasn’t a normal household.”
I was terrified and confused by it all
Karen described how she tried in vain to protect herself from Burke — described in court as a “porn addict” at the time of her rapes.
She said: “I tried to make it difficult for him to get near me by rolling myself up in my duvet.
“But to my horror he would only climb up and would be even closer to me. I tried another tactic by undoing the duvet buttons and getting inside that — but he would find a way to get close to me.”
By then Karen, who is currently coming to terms with the breakdown of her marriage to Labour MP Simon Danczuk, had become a shell of her former self.
“I was anxious and shy. I was bullied at school, they called me trampy Karen,” she revealed.
“It hurt when they made fun of my clothes and greasy hair, but the comments were nothing compared to what I was facing at home.
“I would go to school, it was hell and I’d go home and it was hell.
“There was no way out. It was my life. I just want to give that Karen a hug.”
She recalled when she confronted the brute for the first and only time about what he had done.
Karen said: “I was washing the dishes and we were alone in the kitchen and I plucked up the courage to say, ‘Don’t touch me again’.
“He looked sheepish and said something like, ‘What you on about?’
“It was the first time I had even acknowledged to him I knew what he was up to.
“I think that’s why he never dared come near me again. I was so relieved when it stopped but didn’t know the damaging effect and misery it would bring to the rest of my life.”
Karen left school at 16. At 18 she got herself a flat from the council and bagged a job at Asda.
Life was coming together for her but — as she kept her promise to herself to bury her dark secret — she found it coming back to haunt her as time went on.
These women were objects of pleasure
Prosecutor Peter Wright
She said: “Most people remember their first time with that special someone. My brother took my virginity when I was a child. Imagine having to live with that.”
Karen added: “There must be thousands of people in my position who are too scared to speak out.
“Hopefully, if I do, then others will come out of the woodwork. If I can help anyone, it’s worth it. I want to show others that, with the right help, it’s possible to turn your life round for the better.”
Burke had to be helped from the dock of Manchester crown court yesterday after appearing to nearly collapse as the verdicts were returned after his three-week trial.
He had claimed in evidence that the claims he was a triple rapist were “absolute nonsense” and insisted “none of this is true”.
He also denied he was “a control freak who used sex as a weapon to subdue” his three victims. Instead, he claimed he was the victim of a conspiracy.
But after the guilty verdicts Mr Justice Gilbart told him: “You have been convicted of serious offences and a custodial sentence is inevitable.”
The prosecution had told the jury Burke was a “controlling and domineering man who exploited the vulnerability of his victims for his own sexual gratification”.
Prosecutor Peter Wright said: “These women were objectified. They were objects of pleasure. They were demeaned and abused and for years they remained silent.
“They felt powerless in the face of this man’s conduct, but each of them have now found the strength to speak up and accuse him.”
Karen had spoken of the effects of her childhood torment in harrowing evidence to the court.
The mum of two said: “I have suffered with depression and anxiety through the majority of my adult life. Every night there will be flashbacks or a nightmare. I am aware every single day that someone could hurt me.
“This is something I will have to live with for the rest of my life.
“Even now I can’t sleep naked or with the door open — I can’t even cuddle in bed. I will never love anyone properly, I think.”