One of Kent's most notorious sex offenders, John Williams attacked 23 women over the course of at least two decades.

He was jailed for life but nine years into his sentence was granted a parole hearing where a panel decided not to release the predator. One of his victims sat down with reporter Alex Jee and described how she is serving her own life sentence...

Nine years ago, Anna* sat in the public gallery of Canterbury Crown Court, watching as the serial predator who changed her life forever was jailed.

Standing in the dock days earlier, smirking John Williams had admitted sexually assaulting women over a period of at least two decades, with many attacks taking place near his home in Essetford Road, Ashford.

The predator's 23 victims ranged in age from 50 years old to just 16.

His method of operation was to approach women from behind and put his hand over their mouths before molesting them. He told one of his victims, an 18-year-old girl, that he would rape her if she screamed.

Sitting alongside other victims of his depraved crimes, Anna remembers hearing sobs as Williams was handed down three life sentences for his horrific acts.

Speaking to KentOnline after a two-month wait for a ruling on Williams' parole, Anna – now a mum-of-two and living elsewhere in the country – told of her ordeal and the life sentence of her own she has been suffering.

"It never does go away, I'm reminded of it every day," she said.

"We try to carry on as normal. We try to go around and carry on our everyday lives but it still affects me. It could be when I'm driving, or when I feel the need to lock everything in the house and make sure I'm safe and secure.

"I don’t walk anywhere on my own any more. If I ever have to I’m constantly on my phone talking to my mum or somebody who can talk.

"I am still bothered by it - it never leaves my mind.

"He’s completely ruined part of my life. I don’t have that same independence that I did then. That was taken from me on that day.

"I had to move from where I was, because I lost a lot of my friends, I lost a lot of people. I had to quit my school – I just could not cope.

"It was obviously very well known what had happened to who, and who I was, and I had to just uproot and leave.

"I tried - I think I stayed for a good couple of months and I tried - but it was impossible. I was absolutely miserable."

Anna was attacked by Williams, a married father himself, when on her way to school. Normally, she would have walked with friends, but she had been on her own "in the wrong place, at the wrong time".

Williams admitted 13 charges and told a judge to take another 16 incidents into account when he was sentenced on May 22, 2014.

This included three assaults by penetration, seven sexual assaults, an indecent assault, and an attempted assault by penetration.

He also admitted to a further 15 non-sexual charges, including handbag theft.

Addressing him in court, Judge Adele Williams informed him that the "public horror and revulsion" that his crimes had caused meant that he may never be released.

However, just nine years later, Anna and her family faced waves of all-too-familiar anxiety as they waited to hear if Williams, now 56, would be successful in his second parole hearing in two years.

In the time between her attack and his eventual arrest and trial, Williams carried out a number of other offences.

A subsequent investigation by the Independent Police Complaints Commission (IPCC) found that failings in the police investigation allowed the predator to continue his reign of terror unchecked.

It is understood that he had first been identified as a suspect in Autumn 2012, when a member of the public recognised him in an e-fit released by police.

However, the tip-off was not acted on, and he went on to attack two more women before he was finally caught.

Anna recalled: "It was a route I took every single day – it never changed.

"And it just so happened to be that that day.

"While I would usually walk with my friends - that didn’t happen because of a school trip, so it was just the wrong place at the wrong time, completely random.

"I remember sitting in the court room. I remember that it took me a while to look at him.

"We were at the bottom with the other victims. He was off to our right but higher up.

"His family were opposite us and they did not once look at us. They were constantly shouting out to him, 'we love you, we’ll be here for you', whilst myself and all the other victims and our families were sitting there sobbing.

"It took two or three years to get to that point.

"They were constantly shouting out to him, 'we love you, we’ll be here for you', whilst myself and all the other victims and our families were sitting there sobbing..."

"He had attacked and assaulted other women after me. It was a long long road to get to that day."

According to the Parole Board Decision Summary, Williams – who was instructed to serve a minimum of seven years of his three life sentences – had first been eligible for release on October 18, 2020.

Having been moved to an open prison in 2021, he is said to have "progressed well" with rehabilitation and had been taking periods of day release from jail.

Anna and her mum Laura* said the sentence passed down in 2014 had left them with fears of what was to come – fears that could have been realised last month.

Anna said: "It was a real mix [of feelings]. It was great, that he’s got [life], but then in my head I’m thinking where am I going to be at that point, what if he does get accepted [for parole]?

"I personally think he should rot behind bars forever.

"We don’t want him out, but at the same time when we know that this review is coming, it’s torture waking up day by day and having no idea until I get that email.

"You do want to fall inside of yourself but I can’t, I’ve got two children.

"I've made a life and I have got to be me. I’ve got to be strong enough for them as well.

“It was a relief to hear Judge Williams say what she did at sentencing, and how she hoped he would never see the light of day.

"We don’t want him out, but at the same time when we know that this review is coming, it’s torture waking up day by day and having no idea until I get that email..."

"But when we came out and I thought about it, when she gave that minimum tariff of seven years, actually, it’s nothing.

"Life should mean life because it’s life for us, and I’m sure it is for the other poor women."

The Parole Board decided against releasing Williams after considering all of the evidence, but recommended that he remain in open prison and continue to work with rehabilitation.

However, his reported engagement with programmes in prison has done nothing to relieve his victims of the damage caused to them and Anna is steadfast in her belief he should never walk free.

When asked if there is anything he can do to justify being released, she said: "No, nothing at all."

She added: "People are very good liars. They will show what people want to see. He will adapt to his routine, but people don’t change.

"This time that he’s had, you hear it on the news, people get released and go straight back to doing what they did before.

"He’s had nine years but consider how long he was doing it before he was caught – and that’s just what they know of.

"Nothing he could do could justify him coming out, from my perspective."

Despite, in her own words, living a life sentence of her own, Anna has done what many would not be able to do and build a life for herself.

"Nothing he could do could justify him coming out, from my perspective..."

She says she hopes that other victims will have the courage to be open to those closest to them about their ordeals, in an attempt to take control of their own lives.

"I would just like to say to people who have been through it that they aren't alone. You do feel like that a lot of the time - there are days where I wake up and I feel alone in what's happened," she explained.

"I want them to know that there are always people who they can turn to.

"It is a life sentence of our own, but I don't want them to feel like they have to hide.

"Some people might feel embarrassed but that needn't be the case at all.

"It's okay to talk about it, they're not in the wrong, it's not their fault and I know that a lot of people do that to themselves.

"Don't let it ruin your life. Be strong, carry on as much as you normally can and don't let it bring you down."

*The names of Anna and Laura have been altered to protect their anonymity.