It was the first time the three women had been in a room together. Sipping their drinks nervously in a London bar, it wasn’t long before they were hugging and crying and clasping each other’s hands as they talked about the decades-long battle that had brought them there. In an extraordinary act of teamwork, the evidence of Mary Sharp, Laura Hughes and Lauren Preston had secured a conviction for rape and buggery against Martin Butler, a convicted drug dealer living in Stevenage. All three women have chosen to waive their right to anonymity.
Until the trial concluded earlier this month with a majority verdict at Truro crown court, the women had not been allowed to discuss the case. Hughes and Preston, both 42, grew up in the same area as Sharp, 54, but did not know her and were not even told what her name was. Once Butler, 61, was convicted of his crimes against Sharp, which had taken place in the summer of 1988, the first thing they wanted to do was get together.
