Dorothy smiles fondly at the photograph of her daughter, Carolyn. The image radiates innocence, joy and hope — and she treasures it as a reminder of happier times.
The picture was taken in New York about 25 years ago, on the day of Carolyn's First Communion, aged eight and wearing the traditional white dress and veil.
'She was so excited,' remembers Dorothy. 'Carolyn went to a Catholic school and we went to church every Sunday. We had a big Communion Party, a big celebration.'
She was so pretty, adds her mother proudly, that she had already competed in a string of beauty pageants. 'My daughter was beautiful. She was gorgeous. She won trophies, she had ribbons.'
Carolyn, pictured at her confirmation aged 8, one of the Maxwell victims who gave evidence at the trial in New York
Dorothy, The mother of Carolyn, one of the Maxwell victims who gave evidence against her, who has spoken exclusively about how the lives of her entire family were destroyed by the abuse she suffered at the hands of Epstein and Maxwell
Dorothy, mother of 'Carolyn' (pictured in court) spoke of her daughter's abuse at the hands of Jeffrey Epstein
Carolyn became a human sex toy, her trust and body violated in the most appalling ways imaginable by Jeffrey Epstein and Ghislaine Maxwell (pictured together)
But within six years of that photograph being taken, Carolyn — who is going by only her first name instead of a pseudonym — had become a human sex toy, her trust and body violated in the most appalling ways imaginable by Jeffrey Epstein and Ghislaine Maxwell, as they drew her in to their sick 'pyramid scheme of abuse'.
Dorothy, then a hard-working single mother of three who had moved her family from New York to Florida, thought her 14-year-old daughter was topping up her pocket money by cleaning a house for a wealthy man who lived in a mansion in Palm Beach.
In reality, Carolyn was being paid $300 (£220) a time to give Epstein 'sexualised' massages, while similar sums were offered to her to find other underage girls for the same purpose.
Court Evidence pics of Ghislaine Maxwell with Jeffrey Epstein including her giving his a foot massage against the breasts on a private plane
Today, in the aftermath of the Maxwell trial, Dorothy is once more asking questions that have haunted her for a long time. How could she not have known that her teenage daughter was being subjected to such degradation over four years?
'It makes me feel horrible. It makes me ask, 'What did I do wrong?' ' she says. 'Could I not have protected her better?'
It is the natural reaction of any parent who feels they've let down their child. Dorothy and Carolyn were close and the family was tight-knit — until Carolyn fell victim to Epstein and Maxwell.
Maxwell was a long-time consort of Jeffrey Epstein (pictured together in 2005) and an alleged procurer of victims in his underage sex trafficking ring
More than two decades on, 34-year-old Carolyn's ordeal has left her addicted to drugs and suffering mental health problems. The horror of her time in Epstein's 'House of Sin' — which she had tried to bury — has been re-awakened by the trial in which she testified against the British ex-socialite.
Carolyn's evidence underpinned four of the six charges against Maxwell, putting enormous pressure on her as a crucial prosecution witness. It is a responsibility that she has found almost impossible to bear, her mother says.
Her daughter feels 'ashamed' of what she did as a teenager, Dorothy says, and for the past six months has been too traumatised to look after her own children aged 17, eight, seven and four. That burden now rests with her 60-year-old mother who in June moved into Carolyn's home in Florida. Carolyn has moved out indefinitely.
It is at Carolyn's large detached home on a leafy estate — and as two granddaughters played in a pool in the garden — that I speak to Dorothy for several hours about the impact of the Epstein/Maxwell case. She describes the pain and tears and disruption that a child's experience of sexual exploitation can cause many years later as a 'spiral of destruction'.
It is a devastating story of how a pretty, happy-go-lucky girl from a working-class family ended up the plaything of a wealthy, sex-obsessed couple, and how, amid claims of a cover-up, the U.S. justice system failed her and other victims.
Dorothy is a no-nonsense New Yorker who says it as she sees it. She'd been due to give evidence for the prosecution at Maxwell's trial (pictured) but, having travelled to New York, was told at the last minute she wasn't needed.
Dorothy is a no-nonsense New Yorker who says it as she sees it. She'd been due to give evidence for the prosecution at Maxwell's trial but, having travelled to New York, was told at the last minute she wasn't needed.
She remains furious over the wasted journey, showing me an expletive-filled series of texts she sent to prosecutors after the snub. She says they warned her not to speak out but 'I've got a mouth and someone's gonna hear my story real loud'.
We meet days after Carolyn has testified in the New York court against Maxwell. She told jurors that when she was 14 Maxwell had groped her breasts and told her she had 'a great body for Mr Epstein and his friends'.
Maxwell frequently summoned her for sex with Epstein, she
