British Woman Claims She Was Held as a Sex Slave

A British woman has published a new book detailing the alleged abuse she suffered at the hands of an abductor for 13 years. Anna Ruston claims she was kidnapped at the age of 15, beaten, and held as a sex slave by her captor. Ruston was reportedly subjected to abuse and torture before having each of her four babies stolen from her while she was in captivity. Eventually, she escaped with the help of a health visitor to the home. “I can still see that bedroom, the corner where I would rock in pain,” Ruston writes. “And I can smell it—the can I used as a toilet, the garlic he reeked of. I got to the point where I didn’t know what life was.” Her harrowing tale recalls the stories of kidnap victims such as Natascha Kampusch, Jaycee Lee Dugard, Elizabeth Smart, and Elisabeth Fritzl. British authorities came in for criticism Thursday after it emerged the woman was taken to hospital with injuries on a number of occasions, but was never left alone with doctors or nurses. She eventually escaped after being told the family were taking her to Pakistan, where she feared she would be “stoned to death” or sold. Anna’s name has been changed in the book, and she never pressed charges against her captor.