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The Guardian - UK
The Guardian - UK
Politics
Diane Taylor

‘We have the same monster’: three women brought down their rapist – this is what happened next

Three women standing in a street, linking arms. They are all wearing dark-coloured jackets, T-shirts and trainers. One has long brown hair, another has shorter brown hair and another has short blond hair combed upwards.
Strength in numbers … (from left) Laura Hughes, Mary Sharp and Lauren Preston. Photograph: Anna Gordon/The Guardian

The three women refer to each other as “the girls”, even though they are in their 40s and 50s, long past girlhood. They have a WhatsApp group called Sister Solidarity, even though they are biologically unrelated.

The unshakeable bond between Laura Hughes and Lauren Preston, both 45, and Mary Sharp, 58, came about for the saddest reason – all three were raped and abused by Martin Butler, a manipulative drug dealer on their estate in London who groomed and coerced them decades ago.

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