'I was raped at my birthday party by friend's polite grandson': Mum's terrifying ordeal as daughter slept nearby

A mum has shared her story of being raped at her own birthday party by a friend’s "polite grandson".
Catherine Gwynne was attacked by Arron Murphy shortly after hosting a meal to celebrate her 39th birthday.
The attack took place after she had said goodnight to guests, but when getting ready for bed she heard someone in the kitchen.
He pounced on her when she came through in her dressing gown, dragging her into the bedroom to rape her.
The traumatic assault took place while her young daughter McKenzie, who is now ten, was sleeping just metres away.
But she has now made the decision waiver her right to anonymity to encourage other victims of sexual offences to come forward.
“I thought his grandmother must have left something at the party and he had come back to get it for her,” Ms Gwynne, now 40, said.
“I started to say hello but he launched himself on me. It was horrific.”
“As he dragged me from the kitchen I was petrified – I didn’t recognise him.”
After raping Ms Gwynne, Murphy ran off.
Mrs Gwynne called her boyfriend Shaun Phillips, now 39, and he contacted police.
Murphy was arrested the same evening on suspicion of rape but was released on bail.
He was free to walk just metres from Ms Gwynne’s home and attended the same pub as Mr Phillips.
He was tried at Cardiff Crown Court in September 2014 but the jury could not reach a verdict on a count of rape so it was sent for retrial.
Afterwards Ms Gwynne heard that Murphy had claimed he’d “won”.
“When I heard this I was absolutely disgusted,” she said. “But it just made me more determined to achieve justice.”
“I knew what had happened and my family and the police believed me.”
On March 10 this year Murphy appeared for a second time at the same court where he again denied a count of rape.
The court was told on the night of 1 December 2013 he had drunk heavily before returning to Mrs Gwynne’s home in Ebbw Vale, South Wales.
Robin Shellard, defending, claimed Murphy had not returned to Ms Gwynne’s house with the thought of having sex but might have changed his mind when she came in wearing a dressing gown.
He described him as not having much confidence.
Murphy, 23, of Ebbw Vale, South Wales, who claimed the sex was consensual, was convicted of rape.
He was jailed for seven years and also ordered to sign the sex offenders’ register for the rest of his life.
Now Ms Gwynne is appealing for other victims of sex attacks to go to the police, advising: “You can get justice.”
She said: “The whole process has been so trying, but when the judge said he was guilty I knew my fight had been worth it.”
“When he was first arrested he was released on bail. I’d see him everywhere, and my partner Shaun would see him at the pub. It was horrendous.”
“Then he originally appeared at Cardiff Crown Court in September 2014 after nine months of living in hell.”
“I thought after the court case it would all be over, but it ended in a hung jury – meaning the jury couldn’t reach a unanimous decision.”
“It was then I felt like giving up. But when I heard that Arron had boasted that he’d won, I knew I couldn’t let that monster get away with it.”
“So I gave evidence via video link four months later, and finally a jury saw through his lies. I could breathe again.”
Murphy’s grandmother lived on the same street as Ms Gwynne, and they had been close friends for three years when she told Ms Gwynne that her grandson was coming to stay with her.
Ms Gwynne remembered: “She was quite a bit older than me, but we hit it off. I saw her as a mother figure and my daughter McKenzie used to call her ‘Nana.’
“We’d go on holiday together, confide in one another.”
“It was over a cuppa one day she told me that her grandson Arron had been having a tough time at home and was going to live with her for a while.”
“She told me he was a bit of a wild child, so when I met him I was pleasantly surprised.”
“He was polite, and I spent a lot of time with him and his grandma. That’s why I invited them both to my 39th birthday party.
“I had an afternoon dinner party at my house, and all the guests had left by nine o’clock. That’s when I tucked my daughter into bed, and got into my dressing gown.”
“My boyfriend Shaun wasn’t there. We’d had a silly fight ten days before, but had been texting during the day, and we’d arranged for him to come round after the party.”
But when she heard the back door go at 11pm, it was not Mr Phillips that had let himself into her house, it was Arron Murphy.”
She says: “I was shocked to see him. I noticed he was drunk, but assumed he must have come round as his grandmother had left something.
“Only then he said to me, ‘I know you want me.’
“At first I thought he was just being silly so I went along with it. I told him to come off it, that he was young enough to be my son.
“Then he launched himself at me and forced his tongue in my mouth. I tried to push him away, out the back door.
“But he grabbed me, dragged me to the bedroom and whacked the back of my legs so I fell on the bed.”
“Then he began to rape me. I was petrified, all I could think about was my precious daughter sleeping next door, praying she hadn’t heard anything.”
“Less than a minute later he rolled off me, and I seized my chance. I grabbed my phone from the bedside table and ran to the bathroom, locking myself in.”
Murphy left the property and Ms Gwynne phoned Mr Phillips, who waited with her for the police to arrive.
She says: “From that day it took 14 months for me to get justice, but now I hold my head up high.
“I’m no longer friends with Arron’s grandmother, too much has happened, but I bear her no ill will. It was him who committed this horrendous crime, not her.
“We’re planning on moving away, where I live now holds too many painful memories.
“If it wasn’t for my partner and daughter, and support from the Sexual Assault Referral Centre (SARC) I couldn’t have got through it.”
“It was them, and the thought of him attacking someone else that kept me going.”
“I didn’t know my own strength.”
“But I know I’ll never be able to celebrate my birthday again without thinking of that monster.”