‘Suicide was on my mind for years’: Boxer, 27, opens up about rape ordeal aged 10

Boxer Callum Hancock has opened up about being raped aged 10 by a 14-year-old boy who bullied him, saying that the trauma of the attack brought him close to suicide.

The 27-year-old revealed how Jason Lyttle said ‘this is what happens at big school’ before raping him inside a play den near his childhood home in Sheffield 17 years ago. 

Mr Hancock waved his right to anonymity to encourage other victims to speak out as Lyttle, 31, pleaded guilty in Derby Crown Court to buggery and two counts of incident assault. He is awaiting sentencing. 

Callum Hancock opened up about the attacks as his abuser, Jason Lyttle, pleaded guilty to buggery and two counts of indecent assault

Callum Hancock opened up about the attacks as his abuser, Jason Lyttle, pleaded guilty to buggery and two counts of indecent assault

Hancock said Lyttle had been bullying him for years before the rape, beating him with sticks and even locking him in a garage. 

One day in 2001, he had just crawled under the fence in his garden when he saw Lyttle. 

‘I tried making it back under the fence but he wouldn’t let me and grabbed me,’ he told the BBC Victoria Derbyshire.

‘He was absolutely adamant in helping me make a den, he even got a hammer and nails and helped me make a den, and that’s where he sexually abused and raped me.’

Of the attack, he told The Mirror that Lyttle smirked and said ‘This is what happens when you go to big school… it’s a bit like smoking – everyone does it’. 

The rape was followed by several other sexual assaults before a house move brought an end to the abuse. What followed was more than a decade of pain. 

Hancock told the BBC's Victoria Derbyshire that Lyttle had been bullying him for years before the rape, beating him with sticks and even locking him in a garage

Hancock told the BBC’s Victoria Derbyshire that Lyttle had been bullying him for years before the rape, beating him with sticks and even locking him in a garage

‘I can remember being a child – 11, 12, 13 – questioning whether because I had been with a man it meant I was gay,’ Mr Hancock told the BBC. 

‘I was so confused. Then from 13, 14 to my mid-20s I was filled with so much rage and anger.’

In March 2015, things came to a head when Mr Hancock lost a close friend to suicide. 

‘I stood by his grave thinking “I’m going to join you son”… suicide and murder were what I had in mind for many years. I was so confused inside.’

Aged 23, the middleweight boxer let out his anger on a doorman, who he left with a broken jaw and eye socked. He spent six months in prison for GBH and was suspended from boxing. 

Hancock (right) in action with Nick Blackwell during their Middleweight bout at Hillsborough Leisure Centre on May 12, 2012

Hancock (right) in action with Nick Blackwell during their Middleweight bout at Hillsborough Leisure Centre on May 12, 2012

Around this time he saw his abuser at the shops, where his girlfriend and best friend avoided trouble by taking him home. Mr Hancock insisted on seeing him again, but Lyttle lied, ‘I just can’t remember’.

Eventually, he told the story of his rape to his 49-year-old father, Nigel, who told him to go to the police. 

After a police investigation, Lyttle admitted to three assaults. 

Mr Hancock said the news made him feel ‘like I can keep living again’ and he is now preparing a return to the ring.

For confidential support in the UK, call the Samaritans on 116123 or visit a local Samaritans branch. See Samaritans.org for details.           

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