A woman groomed as a teenager by an ice hockey player has bravely spoken out about her ordeal as her abuser is prepared for release from jail.
Charlotte Flanigan was just 13 when she first encountered Great Britain under-20s star Tom Squires, then 19 and on duty at an ice rink as a first-aider in his spare time.
He befriended Miss Flanigan after her friend fell over while skating, breaking her arm.
Charlotte Flanigan, aged 15, with her abuser, former professional hockey player Tom Squires, who began grooming her when she was just 13
Over the next three years Squires – who played professionally for Sheffield Steelers and Hull Stingrays – persuaded her to exchange ever-more intimate pictures.
When his victim turned 16, Squires had sex with her once at his home, but then dropped her off at a tram stop and told her he didn’t want a relationship.
The pervert, who groomed four other girls after meeting victims while coaching juniors, was jailed in 2017 for five years, four months after admitting one count of sexual activity with a child and four of inciting sexual activity with children.
Now 29, he is eligible for a Parole Board hearing later this year.
Talking for the first time about the grooming, Miss Flanigan, 24, said: ‘It gets to me that someone manipulated me that much.
‘He’s affected me a lot – I find it hard to trust now.
Charlotte, now aged 24, said she has battled with anxiety for years since realising she was groomed by Squires
‘I’m always second guessing and searching for the negatives in things and people.’
She spent four years battling anxiety and went through two years of counselling.
But she said she has emerged ‘a stronger, wiser person’ – and waived her right to anonymity to raise awareness of predatory adults and reassure victims they can ‘come out of the other side’.
She said: ‘I know there are a lot of other girls out there who are in my situation. It has ruined my life but I don’t want to sit back and be quiet about it.’
Miss Flanigan, from Rotherham, South Yorkshire, was targeted by Squires from 2010.
Recalling the accident which led to her first encountering the predator, she said: ‘One week, my friend fell and broke her arm.
‘The first-aider was nice and helpful. He told us about how he played ice hockey and suggested we come and watch.
‘We were excited – he was older than us and thought he was cool. When I got home, I received a Facebook friend request. It was the first-aider, Tom Squires. And that was the start of the grooming cycle.’
It led to messages being exchanged on a daily basis.
She said: ‘I was 13 and he was 19, and I was so excited that someone older was interested in me. When the ice hockey season started, me and my friends went to watch Tom, like he’d suggested. It was fun.
‘The more I spoke to Tom, the more I liked him… it was my first real experience with a guy.’
The grooming began to get more serious when Squires asked Miss Flanigan to pretend she had fallen so he could take her to the first aid room.
She said: ‘When we were in the first aid room, he kissed me. Over time it became more intense. It went from inappropriate texts to asking me to send him inappropriate pictures.
‘I thought this was normal and what happened when girls and boys were involved.’
At 14, Squires told her: ‘Nothing could happen between us until you’re 16.’
Miss Flanigan said: ‘So when I was 16, he turned up at the end of my street and picked me up. He took me back to his house and we had sex. ‘
Former Sheffield Steelers and Hull Stingrays player Tom Squires was jailed in 2017 five years, four months after admitting one count of sexual activity with a child and four of inciting sexual activity with children
Afterwards he dropped me off at a tram stop and drove off. Later, he texted me saying how bad he felt because he was on and off with a girl and didn’t want her to find out.’
Once the grooming ended, Miss Flanigan still encountered Squires after getting a job at the ice rink herself.
‘I didn’t have anything against him because I didn’t think he’d done anything wrong at that point,’ she said.
But she was later contacted by police after other girls came forward to make complaints.
‘I realised how naive I’d been,’ she said. ‘I blamed myself for so long, but after a while it clicked that it wasn’t my fault.’
Miss Flanigan said she hopes Squires has ‘changed’ after jail but added: ‘I will never forgive him.’
Squires, of Sheffield, was sentenced at the city’s crown court, where the judge David Dixon said: ‘The grooming was dangerous and continuing.’
A Parole Board spokesman confirmed that a parole review of Squires has been referred to them and said it was ‘following standard processes’.