Scottish actor Matthew McVarish was sexually abused by his uncle as a child and, as a consequence, suffered years of psychological torment.

He is now in Malta as part of his quest to walk 16,000 kilometres and visit 32 capital cities across Europe to help stop the scourge of child sexual abuse.

Mr McVarish was greeted yesterday by British High Commissioner Rob Luke and spoke of his role as the European ambassador for the NGO Stop the Silence: Stop Child Sexual Abuse.

He pointed out that, in Europe, one in every four girls and one in every six boys were abused before the age of 18.

He will be meeting the Ombudsman and the Commissioner for Children to discuss what is known as the statute of limitations, a law restricting the time within which legal proceedings may be brought. 

“This law should be repealed because it puts children in danger by preventing the authorities from acting upon evidence of known offenders. It upholds the rights of the criminals over that of their victims,” he stressed.

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