A long wait for justice
Life Changing
BBC
4.6 • 804 Ratings
🗓️ 24 December 2025
⏱️ 29 minutes
🧾️ Download transcript
Summary
When Jess Martinez was just thirteen, she was sexually abused by her sister's much older boyfriend. No charges were brought at the time, but the impact it had on Jess's life was dramatic, causing lasting damage. Many years later, when Jess discovered her abuser had been jailed for another case of child abuse, she took the courageous decision to tell her own story, waiving her right to lifelong anonymity. Speaking to Dr Sian Williams, Jess describes the challenges of bringing an old case to court and praises the police and lawyers whose efforts provided her longed-for Life Changing moment.
Producer; Tom Alban
Transcript
Click on a timestamp to play from that location
| 0:00.0 | BBC Sounds, Music, Radio, podcasts. |
| 0:07.0 | My Christmas Mix is pure 90s festive nostalgia. |
| 0:11.1 | You know, the Christmas songs you listen to on repeat. |
| 0:14.0 | Ho! |
| 0:14.3 | Ho! Ho! No, no, no. |
| 0:17.5 | I'm all about the big hitting Christmas anthems. |
| 0:20.4 | Come on, guys. What about those tunes that really slay? It's Christmas kitchen disco season, surely. |
| 0:26.4 | Give me hip-hip-christmas bangers every day. Those Christmas tracks that are straight out of lapland. |
| 0:30.9 | Get all kinds of Christmassy. Just search Christmas music on BBC Sounds. |
| 0:35.5 | You're about to listen to life-changing. |
| 0:38.1 | Episodes will be released weekly wherever you get your podcasts. |
| 0:41.8 | But if you're in the UK, you can listen to the latest episodes first on BBC Sounds. |
| 0:48.4 | Hello, childhood is rarely a simple, straightforward time. |
| 0:53.4 | There are bumps in the road for many of us, |
| 0:55.5 | but for some there's an experience so shocking it affects everything. |
| 1:00.7 | The way we live, love, trust, and fundamentally the way we see ourselves. |
| 1:06.8 | Jess Martinez was sexually abused as a child by someone known to the family. |
| 1:12.4 | Many of those experiencing what she went through carry fear and shame for decades and choose to stay silent. |
| 1:20.3 | As did Jess until something happened that made her look back at her past |
| 1:24.7 | and she decided to do something different, something she wanted to share |
| 1:29.0 | with us and she's here. Hello, Jess. Hi. Thank you very much for coming in and for writing to us |
| 1:35.5 | in the first place. And before we start, I just want you and our audience to know, we're not going to |
... |
Please login to see the full transcript.
Disclaimer: The podcast and artwork embedded on this page are from BBC, and are the property of its owner and not affiliated with or endorsed by Tapesearch.
Generated transcripts are the property of BBC and are distributed freely under the Fair Use doctrine. Transcripts generated by Tapesearch are not guaranteed to be accurate.
Copyright © Tapesearch 2026.