TV personality Penney Poyzer has revealed she was sexually abused by a church verger when she was just nine years old.
Penney, a leading environmentalist who presented BBC 2's No Waste Like Home series, was a chorister at the church when the abuse began.
She said the verger "bought her confidence" with money and sweets during a prolonged period of abuse.
The 54-year-old, who lives in West Bridgford, has also told how she was attacked by two other paedophiles at the ages of seven and ten.
She has decided to break her silence now in a bid to "shine a light" on the issue of sexual abuse.
Penney said: "I was left to my own devices a lot as a child. I went to church one day after school and the verger was there and invited me in.
"The conversations started from there and it went from weird hugs to much more serious sexual abuse."
Penney told her mother of the attack and she was taken out of the church, but it was never spoken of again.
Penney had also previously been attacked in a one-off incident by a known paedophile, who was later convicted.
But she said the reaction from the community where she was growing up in Suffolk was not supportive.
She said: "I was beaten up by local kids and a lot of them were told they weren't allowed to speak to me. My mother just couldn't cope."
The final abuse came when Penney started going to a swimming pool in Suffolk and was befriended by a swimmer.
She said: "We kind of struck up a friendship and he gathered that I was a lonely, vulnerable child.
"He abused me over a period of two or three months. His abuse was nothing like as bad as the church verger but it was still abuse."
Penney has kept quiet about her experiences for nearly 50 years after promising her mother she wouldn't speak out until after her death. Her mother died in August.
Penney said: "I was given the confidence to speak out about this after the Jimmy Savile investigation.
"It's about shining a light on it, as it's the only way we're going a make any changes. As a society we need to face up to this issue and see what we can do to change things."
Penney has not yet reported the attacks to police but is in the process of talking to solicitors.
She said: "It's not something I'm looking forward to and it's going to be horrendous.
"But I would say to anyone in my position to speak up – perhaps to a close friend initially.
"If not, the burden is going to affect you for the rest of your life."
Image may be NSFW.
Clik here to view.
