"Monster" cop subjected own daughter to years of abuse and left her with PTSD
09.12.2023 - 05:09
/ dailyrecord.co.uk
A woman who was subjected to eights years of horrific sexual abuse by her police officer father has branded him a “monster”. Rhanna Latham was left suffering from complex PTSD after suffering at the hands of former Edinburgh constable Craig Hodgkins between the ages of four and twelve.
She was removed from her father’s care after sexual abuse allegations were made by a third party in 2008 - but he faced no criminal charges. In October this year, the 52-year-old predator was finally jailed at the High Court in Edinburgh after being found guilty of molesting his daughter and another child.
Rhanna told how her agonising 15 year wait for justice also ended with her great uncle, Alexander Philip, 57, being locked up for abusing her and three other girls. Speaking to the Record, Rhanna, 27, who has waived her right to anonymity, explained how her estranged father hid behind a cloak of respectability in public.
She said: “He was very conscious of presenting an image to the world of this amazing single dad, who was doing it all on his own. But behind closed doors he was just a monster.
“He always used to say to me that I couldn’t tell anyone because I deserved what was happening and that no one would believe me because he was a police officer. When you’re a scared kid, you believe that.
Join the Daily Record's WhatsApp community here and get the latest news sent straight to your messages.
“When you’re told that you’re nothing, you’re stupid, you’re mental, you start believing it. I started doubting my own sanity. He had really icy blue eyes and that’s what I still see during my night terrors. There was nothing behind them.
“My earliest memory of anything happening was when I was around four. Sometimes my dad and uncle would be