Sexual abuse survivor who was drugged and raped as a child condemns Labour as she fears prison cuts could see her attacker released early

By JAKE HOLDEN, UK NEWS REPORTER Published: 08:26, 14 July 2026 | Updated: 08:26, 14 July 2026 A sexual abuse survivor has told the Daily Mail how she was left 'broken' after learning her rapist could be freed from prison early under Labour. Jade Belgrove was just 14 years old when she was groomed, drugged and raped twice by family friend Simon Tyler in 2010.  Earlier this year, the mother-of-five received a 'generic' letter informing her that Tyler could be released from prison two years earlier than 2030 as planned. The Sentencing Act 2026, which was passed in January, enables criminals to be released early to ease overcrowding in jails. Ms Belgrove is urging Labour to halt the early release of rapists like hers over fears setting them free will 'continue this epidemic'.  The 30-year-old, from Coventry, has bravely waived her legal right to anonymity and launched a petition calling for sex offenders to be exempt from Starmer's early release scheme, with over 64,000 signatures to date. She told the Daily Mail: 'Labour is so focused on fighting the Conservatives and playing tit-for-tat, rather than actually fighting for the people of this country.' She met with Kemi Badenoch and several other senior Conservative MPs in Parliament on Tuesday to discuss the issue. However, she was not able to meet any high-profile Labour politicians, despite them being responsible for the planned changes. She continued: 'I don't think Labour is listening.'  Mother-of-five Jade Belgrove, 30, received a letter saying the paedophile who raped her aged 14 could be set free after serving just half of his nine-year sentence Paedophile Simon Tyler raped Ms Belgrove twice when she was 14 after plying her with drugs and alcohol and even joked about it with her. He was jailed in 2024 Ms Belgrove was alerted to her attacker's potential early release in a 'completely generic' letter from the Ministry of Justice informing her prisoners serving a minimum of two thirds of their sentence - including Tyler - could have it slashed to half. She called the totally impersonal message 'disgusting'. 'It broke me,' Ms Belgrove said, 'I just felt such fear and vulnerability, but I also got this massive feeling that I need to fight this. 'I can't let this happen - for the safety of myself, for the safety of my family, and for the safety of future victims.' Whether Tyler's sentence will be reduced under the Act, and by how much, is yet to be decided. An MoJ spokesperson told the Mail it was still determining the scale of sentence cuts, with a decision to be made by the end of August. But the possibility has shaken Ms Belgrove to the core. Tyler - a close family friend who was even made her godfather after the rapes by her unwitting parents - plied Ms Belgrove with alcohol and drugs at her family home until she passed out on the sofa while her father and her heavily pregnant stepmother were in bed upstairs. She said: 'He gave me a line of… I'm pretty sure it was cocaine, but I don't know 100 per cent. But, he gave me a line of something, and then I woke up on the sofa to him raping me.' Tyler struck again just a few months later when he was invited along on a family holiday to Wales and raped her in a bed beside her sleeping 13-year-old cousin. 'He was trying to entice me to drink again, but I was already very aware of what had happened to me before,' she said. But her younger cousin did drink the booze on offer, and the boy quickly passed out in the bed beside Ms Belgrove's in the room they were sharing. 'Tyler knew that he was passed out and asleep. He then came in and raped me,' she said. She added: 'It's these kinds of people who are going to be released if this goes ahead.' Despite the terrifying nature of Tyler's offending, the MoJ is still considering his sentence for reduction - along with those of more than 7,000 other offenders. In a statement earlier this week, it said: 'Offenders who a judge has deemed the most dangerous are automatically blocked from early release.' It is understood that this refers to prisoners serving life sentences and extended determinate sentences, given to criminals deemed to pose a significant risk to the public at large. Ms Belgrove believes ministers are still weighing up whether he is not dangerous enough to be kept inside. The campaigner explained: 'It just completely invalidates what happened to me. It's unfortunately what the judicial system does to us as victims. 'It's just a complete disregard for the fact that it's ruined my life and so many other victims who are all facing the same thing.' She now suffers from PTSD and is 'absolutely petrified' for the day he walks free.  Ms Belgrove has started a petition to reverse the early releases of rapists and sex offenders mandated in the Sentencing Act and was keen to say that this was to help 'thousands of women' like her. It has quickly gained more than 64,000 signatories. A copy of the 'generic' letter that was sent to Ms Belgrove. She said receiving it 'broke' her but instilled a desire to 'fight' against the early release of sex offenders leading her to start her petition The Victims Commissioner and the Domestic Abuse Commissioner have added pressure, penning a rare coordinated plea to the Government to pause planned early releases of offenders convicted of crimes against women and girls. Labour MP Jess Phillips, who resigned as safeguarding minister in May, has led a revolt by raising concern about the early release of sex offenders. She said this week: 'They need to halt all releases related to violence against women and girls until they can prove that proper risk assessments are being done in every case. 'Without the correct victim support systems in place, the state is leaving the responsibility of the prison crisis in victims' hands. That cannot be right.' Ms Belgrove kept the attack a secret for 12 years, eventually finding the couraeg to report it in 2022 when she learned Tyler had returned from abroad and had met up with her father.  At trial, she unspooled how 'the grooming started years before' he raped her. She said: 'When I was about 12 or 13, he used to say, "Do you want a bit of alcohol to take to that sleepover? Do you want any cigarettes?" And he'd give it to me. 'It was just Smirnoff Ice, but at 12 years old, you think it's the best thing in the world. So he'd worked his way in to gain so much trust with myself that I could trust him with things that teenagers hide from their parents.' Her father later asked Tyler to be her godfather, unaware of what he had done - something she said Tyler found 'hilarious'. He has already served 18 months of his nine-year sentence, and the Sentencing Act could mean he will be out after serving less than five years. Ms Belgrove added: 'I still walk down the street, and if someone resembles him in any kind of way, shape, or form, I have panic attacks - and I know he's locked up at this point, so the fact he will actually be out soon, I don't know how I'll cope. 'It's a battle that doesn't stop, to be honest. And now we've had this further insult of this coming out. 'As a victim, all you can think is "What's going to hit us next?"' For now, Ms Belgrove, who works as a relationship manager with an accountancy firm in the Midlands, is putting her efforts into the campaign and is hellbent on reversing the Sentencing Act from releasing rapists and sex offenders. Overwhelmed by the support it has already received, she concluded: 'If I can make a difference with this petition, then I will do whatever is needed.' A Ministry of Justice spokesperson said: 'This is a horrific case and our thoughts remain with Jade. 'This Government is fixing the prison crisis it inherited by building 14,000 new prison places and reforming sentencing so we can always lock up dangerous criminals.  'We understand the distress victims will feel but without this action, prisons could run out of space as early as November, leaving the justice system unable to jail serious offenders at all – which would be the worst possible outcome for victims. 'Public and victim protection is our priority which is why we are toughening community punishment, investing more than half a billion pounds in victim support and have driven convictions for child sex offences to record levels.' To sign Ms Belgrove's petition, please follow the link here.