A BRAVE young mother has spoken out about the vile sex attack she was subjected to by her uncle in a bid to encourage other victims to come forward.

Mum-of-two Jemma Llewellyn was 20-years-old and seven months pregnant when her uncle Richard Wallace acted on his sick urges to assault her in her sleep.

Yesterday the Echo reported how Wallace was jailed for three years and eight months after he admitted one count of sexual assault by penetration and will be on the sex offenders’ register for the rest of his life.

Now, 22-year-old Jemma has bravely waived her legal right to anonymity to share her story.

On a night in June 2016, Jemma was staying on the sofa at her mum Sharon’s home in Southend after a girl’s night in and Wallace was staying in Sharon’s spare bedroom temporarily.

At about 4am, she woke to find Wallace had begun to sexually assault her as she slept.

Reflecting on her ordeal, Jemma said: “It was horrible. I went to scream but he wouldn’t let me.

“He put his hand over my mouth and kept saying ‘please don’t tell your mum’.

“Eventually he went to the kitchen. I started having a panic attack and I thought he was going to grab a knife or something - I feared for my life and I was scared for my unborn daughter.”

Wallace came back from the kitchen empty-handed and then went back to his room.

“It was fight or flight at that point. I left most of my things and ran out of the house then called my sister.”

Wallace was arrested days later and initially denied the charge.

After examining his phone, police found searches for uncle and niece related porn including search terms like ‘uncle raping niece’, ‘finally alone with niece’ and ‘how to take advantage of someone in their sleep’.

Jemma said: “That was really hard to hear when it was read in court. I didn’t know they had found that on his phone.

“He wasn’t supposed to be there that night because he had made comments before. He was clearly fixated on me.”

READ MORE: Man jailed for sex assault on pregnant niece

The matter was listed for trial but Wallace failed to attend and five days before a second trial finally admitted what he had done.

She said: “For me, I was dreading giving evidence – that was the biggest thing for me.

“Where it was so close to the trial, I really had to psych myself up to give evidence.

“I was really prepared to face him and his defence barrister.

“So it was a relief when he pleaded guilty because I didn’t have to go through that but there was a part of me that was disappointed because I had psyched myself up and had so much I wanted to say.”

The traumatic assault had a devastating affect on Jemma.

She still suffers from violent nightmares and battles depression and anxiety.

“I didn’t cope very well at all. I’ve had mental health issues in the past and his kind of aggravated them,” she added.

“I didn’t leave the house at all until I went into labour with my daughter which obviously made things really difficult.

“If I didn’t have my kids, I probably would have killed myself.

“They are the only thing that stopped me.

“My daughter was born not long after it happened and so she was also very isolated as well because I wouldn’t go out.

“That affected her development but I’ve been working on it already and she has made a lot of progress.

“She’s doing really well.”

But the affects also spilled further afield because her attacker came from within her own family.

She said: “I didn’t know which family members I could trust – who believed me and who didn’t so in that sense, it had a catastrophic affect on our family and friends. People that did find out took sides so it was very isolating.

“My mum was as supportive as she could be but she couldn’t travel much and I didn’t feel I could go back to her house so it did affect us.

“I’m glad he’s behind bars but the fact he will be out in half that time is really unsettling.”

Jemma says she is hoping by sharing her story, others will know they are not alone.

She said: “I want people to know what he did to me and I also want any other victims to come forward. I want to give people who may be going through the same thing a voice and hope sharing my story can help them.”