The woman, just 19 when she was raped, is now a grown mum-of-three aged 37 who says she felt ready and determined to see the case through when police finally revealed her attacker had been caught.

Read more: Face of a nightmare

"I had been waiting for that knock at the door for 18-and-a-half years," she told The Star.

"About three years ago I read on Teletext about DNA matching and I knew someone who was capable of doing what he'd done would do something else one day and get caught.

"When they asked me if I wanted to carry on through with it I was determined I was going to take it all the way.

"When you know there's somebody like that out there you can't just leave it.

"The next time it could have been my daughter he attacked, or someone else who might not have got away."

After jurors at Sheffield Crown Court returned their guilty verdict they heard a victim impact statement from the woman, who cannot be identified, about the effect of the attack.

She said from the night of September 15, 1989 onwards, her life changed completely.

"I changed from a confident, happy, fun-loving young woman into a frightened, pessimistic, shell of a woman," she said.

"The girl I was vanished off the face of the world. I didn't know what happened to her or where she went. I have looked for her but I don't know if she'll ever come back."

Immediately after the attack she felt "vulnerable and unworthy." A string of abusive relationships followed, and she eventually began to self-harm.

"I was so numb it was a relief to know what was going to happen," she said.

In turn the attack has impacted on the lives of her own children, she said.

"I was very over-protective – I didn't want them to find out the hard way what a big, bad place the world is," she said.

When that news came that Shaw had been found, she said she felt drunk with relief.

She admitted the trial had been "horrendous" but added: "I knew I was telling the truth and I hadn't done anything wrong. Women in a similar situation must go for it. You have to keep the faith. The truth will out."


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