Father-of-four repeatedly attacked by vigilantes who mistake him for convicted paedophile
An innocent father has spoken out after suffering a string of attacks – because he is constantly mistaken for a convicted paedophile.
Terry Edwards, 33, has been dragged from his home by knife-wielding man, beaten up, had his car windows smashed and has even been pulled from his car and assaulted by two men.
Even his own 10-year-old daughter has begun asking him what the word “nonce” means as passers-by continue to hurl abuse at him.
Mr Edwards from Kent has suffered seven years of abuse after an older man with the same name but from the next town was jailed after having sex with a 14-year-old girl.
The unemployed dad-of-four said: “It’s a nightmare. I’m scared to pick my kids up from school because I don’t know when I’m going to get attacked.
“My little girl has only just turned 10 and she is asking me what a nonce is.”
The first sign of trouble came when a brick was thrown through the living room window of Mr Edward’s East Malling home just after the sex offender was jailed in 2011.
Three months later his Peugeot car was set on fire.
Terry Edwards, 49, from Snodland, was jailed for four years after admitting one charge of sexual activity with a child.
A court heard how he had “slowly but surely” wormed his way into the younger girl’s life, professing his love and even offering marriage.
Before that conviction, Edwards had already been put on probation on 1987 for indecently assaulting a boy and was jailed in 1993 for a series sexual offence against a young boy.
The paedophile has been released from jail and Mr Edwards is repeatedly a victim of mistaken identity.
Describing the attacks Mr Edwards said he was woken at 2am by a knock on the door from a man claiming to be from Kent Police.
He said: “I heard a bang on my front door and I answered it but there wasn’t anyone there.
“I opened the door and a man dragged me outside and have me a good kicking and called me a nonce. He tried stabbing me.
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“The next day I was driving down the road and a Mercedes pulled up and two blokes got out and beat me up.”
Mr Edwards’s Vauxhall Cavalier was also targeted last week and all four windows were smashed, forcing it to be scrapped.
He said: “I’m scared to go out anywhere.
“I just worry all the time and I have had to tape up the letterbox because I’m worried something is going to come through it.
“There are people just pulling up outside the house and sitting there.”
Officers from Kent Police are continuing to investigate both attacks on Mr Edwards.