A WOMAN who was held hostage as a sex slave in a North Yorkshire cottage told today how she has managed to rebuild her life.

Tracey Birkett, speaking publicly for the first time since she fell victim to sadistic predator Christopher Dearman in the 1990s, said she had refused to let him ruin her life.

But she feared that other vulnerable women could be at risk from similar men, who might offer "psychotherapy" to help them while secretly pursuing their own perverted gratification.

Dearman imprisoned Tracey for a month in his secluded bungalow at Wass, near Helmsley, whipping and raping her while posing as a Good Samaritan who wanted to help her beat her drug addiction.

The 54-year-old sadist was jailed for eight years in 1998 for the humiliating and terrifying attacks, which left her black-and-blue.

But Tracey, 32, revealed today that, to her relief, Dearman had since died in prison of natural causes.

"He would have been out by now, and I would have been worried. He would have been ordered not to come near me, but I was worried he might come looking for me to seek revenge."

She said her life had been transformed over the years, helped by her partner, her seven-year-old son, Jack, and two-year-old daughter, Nina. She said she was now the strong, independent person she had always wanted to be.

"I have refused to let him ruin my life," she said. "I went through a kind of grieving process afterwards, but I've come through it.

"We are a happy family. When I was in his grasp, I was barely alive. Now I know how wonderful it is to love and be loved."

Tracey, 32, who has waived her automatic right to anonymity, said it was only now that she felt strong enough to speak out about her ordeal.

She said she was writing a book about her extraordinary life, including her treatment by Dearman, which she has provisionally titled: Who Am I?

During Dearman's trial, the court heard how he had lured Tracey, then a heroin addict, to the bungalow by saying he could help her break her habit.

He gave her drugs which made her confused, forced her to drink his urine, claiming it would speed up her detoxification. He tied her up and caned her, telling her it was a way of relieving her guilt.

She said today: "I have hazy memories of him reading from the Bible and telling me the only way I could recover was to repent. I had to do exactly what he said to be cleansed."

She said Dearman had carefully groomed her "until he knew every single little thing about my life".

Tracey, who now lives in South Wales, said he had always been very calm and placid - until the night she finally escaped. "That night I saw anger in his eyes, and something clicked and I knew it wasn't right."

She was worried about what Dearman might do to her son, then a baby, and fled into the night.

Later, she was found battered and sobbing by a policeman in the village telephone kiosk, and her complaint brought to an end his sordid reign of terror.

Updated: 10:36 Thursday, May 06, 2004