No way should he be back on the streets

A VICTIM of rapist cop Stephen Mitchell has told how she tried to take her own life after his release triggered a mental breakdown.

Candice Tote collapsed when police told her the uniformed beast had been freed.

And now she fears Mitchell will track her down and take revenge after her evidence helped convict him.

Mitchell, 50, targeted her in 2001 when she was in the grip of heroin addiction.

He used police computer records to stalk her as she tried desperately to escape his clutches by moving house.

Every time she tried to break free and rebuild her shattered life, the fiend would turn up at her new home. He even raped her while she was pregnant. Candice says she tried to take her own life and was hospitalised by the stress of Mitchell’s release last September.

Anxiety

But after she was discharged, she returned to her flat to discover her partner of 10 years, John Lincoln, 34, dead on the sofa.

It triggered a further breakdown and she spent a another month in hospital.

She has been prescribed a cocktail of medication to deal with anxiety and depression after Mitchell’s release.

Candice, 42, bravely waived her right to anonymity to claim she had been “dropped ONE of the victims Mitchell was found guilty of attacking has told of her shock at finding out he was free in last week’s Sunday People.

The mum, whom we cannot name for legal reasons, said: “I first found out when I read the story in the Sunday People and saw pictures of him with his mountain bike.

“I was completely shocked. I was immediately taken back to the day when he was found guilty and a police officer told me if he was ever released he would never be allowed to come back to the North East.

“I do not believe he would return here to target his old victims, but I think he might find new ones in Scotland. I definitely worry he will attack other

“Even now I feel like he’s crawling over me. I feel like he’s going to catch me and hurt me. “He was released after his first hearing with the Parole Board. How can that be right? “We all thought he would never get out of jail. “He knew how to impress the Parole Board, he knew exactly what to say. “He will be laughing now.” Despite Candice’s ordeal, a Northumbria Police spokesman said: “Safeguarding and supporting vulnerable victims of crime is our top priority. “If someone has been a victim of rape or sexual assault we would urge them to speak to us. “We have expert officers who have been given specific training in how to support victims at every stage, from the moment they report the abuse and through any potential prosecution. “We are committed to putting victims first and for anyone needing support beyond the conclusion of any court case, working with our partners, we can get you the help you need.” women. He had no remorse at the time. He denied it all. He was happy to let his victims go through with the ordeal of giving evidence in court.

“He is incredibly manipulative and given his history I do not think he will have changed at all. There is no way he should be back on the streets.”

The woman, who has now turned her life around, was a heroin addict when she came into contact with Mitchell because of her shoplifting.

She said: “I was very young at the time, and really what I needed was help and protection, the things the police are supposed to provide.

“Him being a police officer, and me being the kind of person I was at that time, I knew I could not say ‘no’ to him.

“If he saw me walking down the street he would say ‘come into my car’. He would always want me to give him a kiss.

“He got me to touch him and he would let me off with stuff, saying, ‘Just get yourself away’.”