Tanya's Story: My husband Mark was falsely accused of sexual abuse in 2004 by my younger sister. When my younger sister first made the allegation, my mother immediately telephoned our house. She told me what my sister alleged.

She refused to go to the police and insisted that Mark and I come to her house. My sister wanted to tell me face-to-face what she accused Mark of. When we arrived at the house, she refused to speak to me in front of Mark and our Mother. They left the house. When I finally got her to talk to me, she would not look me in the eye. She stared at the floor. Every time I challenged her, she refused to look at me. After a period of time elapsed, I questioned her about what she was alleging, but she then proceeded to tell me a completely different version of the events.

This went on for some time. Eventually, Mark and my Mother returned home. I told Mark that we were leaving. I told my Mother that, if she believed my sister, then she should contact the police. My mother told me that she was leaving that decision to Elizabeth, who at the time was 14 years old.

I was disgusted. I was sexually abused by my father when I was 9 until I was 11. The first thing my Mother did when she found out about my being was abused was to contact the police. I told my mother that, considering Elizabeth was only 14 years old, it was up to the adult to phone the police. It was apparent that my Mother did not want the police involved. What was she hiding, I asked?

Later that evening, Mark and I walked into our local police station and gave a statement to the police, informing them that an allegation of sexual abuse had been made against Mark. Several months later, we received a phone call from the police asking that Mark attend the police station with a solicitor to be questioned. When Mark returned home, he told me that Elizabeth had given the police a completely different version of events, compared to what she told me. Yet again, her story changes.

After nearly a year of going to-and-from the police station, Mark was eventually charged with several counts of indecent assault and attempted rape. The case was finally heard in Derby Crown Court in November of 2004. Mark was found guilty on the indecent assault charges. He was found not guilty of attempted rape. He was sentenced to a 3-year custodial sentence with parole after 18 months. He received a 3-year suspended sentence and an extended license to end in 2010.

All of this (the verdict, the sentence) was based on her word against Mark's. There was no evidence whatsoever. She even refused a medical examination. And my mother refused to consent to one on her behalf. Again, what do they have to hide?

I have stood by him. I am still fighting to clear his name. He was recently re-called back to prison for apparently obstructing his license conditions. We also have two children that have been through this battle as well. When Mark was first released in 2006, I was told that I could supervise his contact with the children. Mark was not allowed directly home. I supervised Mark's contact with the children two full days a week at the family home.

After a year, social services were informed that they were required to carry out an assessment of my ability to protect the children from harm. As a result of this, contact was then cut to two two-hour sessions a week at home under supervision of a family support worker. One of the workers accused Mark of groping our daughter, just because we allowed her to sit on his knee and climb on her daddy's back while he was laying on the floor. Mark and I made a complaint. As a result of the complaint, contact was then moved to a contact centre, where contact was taking place right up until Mark's recall to prison.

Now I have a new fight on my hands. Social Services refuses to consent to my taking the children to the prison where Mark is currently being held. They explain that I must await the decision of their assessment on my ability to protect the children.

Mark may be released on November 7th, 2010, unless his appeal comes through first. His appeal will help clear his name and allow us to live together as a family once again. Even so, the appeal cannot give us back the years we have spent apart. It cannot give Mark back the missed years of seeing his children grow up.

This whole ordeal has had a severe impact on both children and has affected Mark's relationship with them. Our son refuses to allow any one to get close to him, as he is afraid that they are going to get taken away. And he also suffers from anxiety problems and hates change, even if the change is for the greater good. Our daughter is very emotional and thrives for male attention all the time. She desperately misses her daddy. My outlook on life has changed too. I do not trust any one around my husband, especially young girls, even his own nieces, as I am so frightened that the same thing is going to happen all over again.