Her brave testimony exposed the dark secret behind Sir Clement Freud's avuncular public image.
Now, as The Mail on Sunday publishes Sylvia Woosley's disturbing first-hand account of his abuse, the tormented victim has revealed how she confronted the MP's wife about his vile behaviour.
And Jill Raymond – now Lady Freud – told her: 'Knowing what I know now, I believe it could have happened.' The tacit, enigmatic admission came in a meeting many years after Freud first abused Sylvia aged ten.
She was living in the South of France when she first came into contact with the man she knew as Clay, who was then working in a plush Cannes hotel. And when her mother's marriage collapsed, 13-year-old Sylvia was taken in by Freud and his wife.
Three decades later, Sylvia confronted the Freuds separately. At first, Jill, now 89, maintained her denial, but in a later meeting finally acknowledged that Sylvia 'could' have been telling the truth.
After an adult life blighted by two failed marriages, as well as drink and drug abuse, mother- of-two Sylvia, now 78 and living in the South of France, says she has exorcised her demons.
Part of that came from writing a manuscript during her adult life, which gives a child's-eye insight into the traumatic experiences she endured, when all she sought was a father figure… (more...)
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