[Margaret Pilkington]

I think it is difficult for those who have not had experience with the victims of abuse to understand the way they(the victims) perceive their part in the events.
In many cases they feel that they were to blame in some way.......but it is embarrassment and humiliation and the fear of not being believed that causes victims to stay silent....and the telling of the event is to relive it and the horrors that were in it.

Those who do come forward have doubt cast upon their claims because there can be no actual forensic evidence because of the historical nature of the allegations.