A woman whose 'monster' mother force-fed her raw potatoes and beat her with a hammer before sexually abusing her has told of her horrendous ordeal.

Erica Gimson, 43, from Liverpool, was abused as young girl by her mother Marie Clarke, a respected bank worker.

Now Ms Gimson has waived her right to anonymity to let people know that her 60-year-old mother, who served two years in jail for the abuse, is not the lovely smiling woman neighbours think she is.

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Erica Gimson (pictured), 43, from Liverpool, was abused as young girl by her mother Marie Clarke, a respected bank worker

One of Ms Gimson's first memories of the abuse was being force-fed potatoes aged five.

After she told her mother she was hungry, she was given a raw potato. She bit into it and winced, prompting her mother to react furiously.

Now Ms Gimson (pictured as a girl) has waived her right to anonymity to let people know that her mother, 60, is not the lovely smiling woman neighbours think she is

Ms Gimson recalled: 'She grabbed my wrist, pulled me into the dining room and sat me on a chair. In front of me was a pile of raw potatoes.

'Holding one to my mouth she yelled: "You told me you were hungry. Now EAT THOSE!" Then she watched as with tears rolling down my face, I ate every one.'

Ms Gimson said: 'When mum became so cruel I can't exactly remember. Dad left when I was a tiny baby and I didn't even remember him. For as long as I could remember it was just mum and me.

'But as I grew older I got to know what would happen if I disobeyed her.'

Another haunting memory for Ms Gimson is the moment her mother smashed her fingers with a hammer and then forced her to clean the house after she 'annoyed her'.

Ms Gimson recounted: 'My fingers were stretched out onto the worktops and then she would find a hammer from a drawer.

'As she hit my fingers with it, I imagined I was in a beautiful garden. The sun was shining, there was an old oak tree and lots of flowers.

'But later that night – lying in bed with just raw potatoes in my tummy – I silently cried in pain in my bedroom. I couldn't let her see me upset just in case I annoyed her more.

'The next day mum woke me. It was the morning but it was so dark I could hardly see. "You need to do the cleaning," she said.

'Handing me a duster she said. "No cutting corners. I'm going to check every room. If you haven't done it properly you'll know about it."

Ms Gimson's 'monster' mother force-fed her raw potatoes and beat her with a hammer before sexually abusing her

'Three hours later it was time to get ready to go to school. But first mum needed to inspect my work.

'I watched in terror as my mother surveyed a glass coffee table.

'Running a finger across it, she held it up and looked at me.

"See that?" she shouted showing me a clean finger, "you haven't cleaned it properly have you… it's still dirty."

'I bit my lip. It would only make her angrier if I cried.

'She began walking slowly towards me. "I'm sorry," I said quietly, "I promise I'll clean it better next time."

'Only I still had to be punished. Beaten until I screamed in agony with a bath brush.'

Another time, after Ms Gimson refused to show her mother her school report in case it wasn't good enough, she was forced to have a freezing cold bath.

She recalled: 'The next thing I knew I was standing in the bathroom. Cold water was running from the bath. Mum said: "Take your clothes off and get in."

'Shivering I lowered myself into the water. Stepping into the bath herself she towered over me. "Where's your report!" she demanded.

'With that she gripped my neck and forced my head under the water.

Another haunting memory for Ms Gimson is the moment her mother smashed her fingers with a hammer and then forced her to clean the house after she 'annoyed her'

'I could feel bubbles of air rising escaping through my nose. Then everything went black.

'The next thing I knew I was lying in a towel in my bedroom. I was stone cold and I prayed she wouldn't come in.

'Years passed. I lived my life in fear that the monster – the nickname I gave my mum – would call me. I never had friends over to play.

'I was beaten regularly – with the hammer, with a cast iron frying pan, with the bath brush. Or my mouth was washed out with soap.

'Other times I would be forced to drink salt water until I was sick.

'Sometimes she'd come upstairs to kiss me goodnight. Then she'd hold a pillow against my face until I thought I was going to die.

'Or she'd sit on my legs so I couldn't move while she beat me.'

Ms Gimson said she couldn't speak out about the beatings because she felt no-one would believe her.

'I wouldn't dare tell anyone such as a teacher what was happening,' she said.

'After all who would believe me? I was always sent to school in a clean and tidy uniform. Mum was always smiling to people we knew and well respected.

It was when she was eight that the sexual abuse started.

'One day aged eight I woke up in the middle of the night,' Ms Gimson recalled.

'Mum was in my bedroom and she was breathing heavily, strangely.

One of her first memories of the abuse was being force-fed potatoes aged five

'She picked me out of bed and sat me on her lap. Then she put my legs in between her legs.

'She lifted up her top and pressed my face to her bare breasts. "Suck my nipples," she commanded.

'Terrified I did as she said. She began rubbing herself against me in a rhythmic fashion. After a few minutes she grunted and went stiff.

'From then on her night visits became more frequent. I dreaded going to sleep in case I was woken up by her.

'Sometimes she would make me stand naked in her bedroom. She'd lie in bed and rub me between my legs. "You like that don't you?" she said.

'But I didn't like it. It made me feel scared and when I said "No mummy don't do it," she flew into a rage.

'Turning on the light next to her bed, she pushed my face against it. I could almost smell the skin on my face burning on the hot bulb.

'When I was ten years old she noticed hairs growing between my legs. "Lie down," she said as she held me down and plucked them out. From then on her violence held no bounds.'

Ms Gimson said that the abuse got so bad she was hospitalised.

She said: 'Once for no reason she held my head and bounced it onto the wall. A searing pain shot though me before I lost consciousness.

'I woke up to find myself lying on the sofa, a doctor standing there. A blanket was over me up to my waist, covering the bruises from a beating a few days earlier.

Her mother told the doctor: 'She went to get a dustpan and brush which was under the bathroom sink and as she stood up, she banged her head against it.'

Ms Gimson as a baby with her mother Marie Clarke who sexually abused her for years

Ms Gimson thought about showing him the bruises on her legs but caught her furious mother's eye and thought against it.

Over the next two years the beatings got even worse.

Ms Gimson said: 'Sometimes mum would bang my head against a wall so many times, I felt punch drunk. I could barely walk.'

Then one day aged 12, she finally plucked up the courage to go.

Ms Gimson recalled: 'The night before mum had punched me and banged my head against the wall. I knew if I didn't leave I would die.

'Mum asked me to run an errand to an elderly lady's house. And as I walked around the corner I decided to never go back.

'My heart thumping I banged on friend's door door. She was the a friend of my mother's and I had no idea if she'd believe me. But as she answered it I fell into her arms sobbing.

Ms Gimson as a baby. She called police on her mother in 2013 and she later admitted abuse in court

'I told her about the beatings. "I believe you," she said. It turned out she'd once seen mum hit me and warned her if she saw anything like it again, she'd call the police.'

The next day Ms Gimson's mother came banging at the door demanding to see her.

A few days later social workers were called and after Ms Gimson told her friend's mother about the abuse, the police got involved although didn't arrest Clarke.

Ms Gimson then went into care and lived with a foster family but after she gave birth aged 16 she felt she had no choice but to go back to her mother's.

She said: 'I thought things would be different. After all, I was an adult now – she couldn't hurt me and she was married.

'Only when I saw the hammer still there all the memories came flooding back.

'And I still lived in fear – I could never leave my daughter with her.

'So when she was two and a half one day I upped and went. I found a flat on the other side of Liverpool and put my daughter into school.'

Ms Gimson then qualified as a personal trainer and by the time her daughter reached her teens she was managing a gym.

But then she was diagnosed with breast cancer and her mother came to visit her in hospital.

Ms Gimson said: 'I screamed in horror at her face. A nurse came running in.

'I pointed at my mum and shouted "I don't want her in here with me!"

'It all tumbled out. All the childhood beatings, the sexual abuse. I was referred for counselling. I wrote down everything I could remember.

'It was then someone suggested I contact Steps, a charity that helps victims of abuse.'

Sentencing her mother to six years and eight months in prison Judge Robert Warnock said that Ms Gimson clearly felt 'worthless, unwanted and not believed'

Counselling made Ms Gimson realise it wasn't her fault that she had been abused.

On 7 July 2013 she picked up the phone and dialled the police. She said: 'I want to report a case of historic abuse.'

In March 2014 she sobbed with relief as at Liverpool Crown Court her mother Marie Clarke pleaded guilty to three sexual assault offences and 12 offences of child cruelty.

Sentencing her to six years and eight months in prison Judge Robert Warnock said that Ms Gimson clearly felt 'worthless, unwanted and not believed. If it is any comfort she is believed now.'

Ms Gimson said: 'My mum was found to be of sound mind. To this day, I have no idea why my mum hated me so much or treated me so badly.

'I was so relieved when she finally went to prison. Only, due to good behaviour in July last year she was released. Today I live in fear that I might suddenly bump into her.

'That's why I want her name out in the open. I want everyone to know Marie Clarke is not the respectable former bank worker and lovely smiling elderly woman neighbours think she is.

'What she did has damaged me forever. I still have nightmares. At night I still wake in a cold sweat convinced she is there, standing over me. She is pure evil.'