Victim Zero by Kat Ward
Kat Ward was the first victim to speak out about the abuse she suffered at the hands of Jimmy Savile. Her shocking testimony was the catalyst for the uncovering of decades of abuse and cover-ups. Kat Ward's childhood was marked by physical, emotional and sexual abuse. She was eventually taken into local authority care to a children's home in Norfolk, and first encountered Savile whilst on a 'holiday' with the home on Jersey. Later, she was moved to Duncroft Approved School in Surrey, a secure unit. Amazingly, Savile turned up there too; he would regularly drive up in his Rolls-Royce and offer sweets and cigarettes in return for sexual favours. Kat's revelations had already appeared in a memoir she'd placed online using Savile's initials, but she first spoke on camera as part of Newsnight's infamous shelved Savile expose. However, it was ITV's Exposure: The Other Side of Jimmy Savile (in which Kat did not take part), that led to his unmasking as a serial sex offender and opened the floodgates for hundreds of other victims to come forward, and for many other offenders to be unmasked.Freddie Starr brought a High Court case against her for libel and slander, seeking GBP300,000 in damages, calling her 'liar' and 'nutter'. It failed spectacularly in July 2015, with costs awarded against him. Although the last few years have been trying, they have ultimately brought Kat vindication after years of being labelled an attention-seeker and liar. Her book, which charts her life from the 1960s to the end of Starr's failed action, is a unique, harrowing and immensely moving perspective on one of the biggest news stories of the last decade.Kat Ward is fifty-six years old and lives on the boundary of England and North Wales, deep in the Shropshire countryside (despite the fact that, having recently survived bowel cancer, she never expected to make it to fifty-anything). Kat had always saw herself as a 'failed person,' in the sense that she was never good at being married or keeping a relationship together, as well as an abysmal and failed mom -- simply because she had no idea how to do it correctly -- and a failure in every manner. Following the publication of her first autobiography, 'Keri,' her confidence has gradually grown, and she has begun to find a few positives in life and to believe in herself, others, and the system. Unfortunately, she was not only diagnosed with bowel cancer shortly after, but she was also pursued by the press and media, who had learned that she had written about a certain celebrity and his abuse of girls at Duncroft. Kat has now become known as the woman who blew the whistle on the great Sir Jimmy Savile, unwittingly and to a large extent, unwillingly -- an honor she would much rather live without if she is honest.
| SKU | Unavailable |
| ISBN 13 | 9781786060297 |
| ISBN 10 | 1786060299 |
| Title | Victim Zero |
| Author | Kat Ward |
| Condition | Unavailable |
| Binding Type | Paperback |
| Publisher | John Blake Publishing Ltd |
| Year published | 2016-07-28 |
| Number of pages | 224 |
| Cover note | Book picture is for illustrative purposes only, actual binding, cover or edition may vary. |
| Note | Unavailable |