Maria Landon was just nine when her father started the abuse.

He would sell her to men for sex – even holding her down while she was raped on one occasion – and regarded his daughter as his “nice little earner”.

The horrific abuse and depraved lifestyle Maria was forced to lead left her struggling to find an escape.

But when she did break free at the age of 15, she ended up running away with a man who turned out to be a pimp.

After three failed marriages, Maria started to write a book about her life as a child prostitute.

Then, while studying for a degree, Maria bumped into a couple of Christians, and she started a two-year journey of discovery about the faith.

Last April, Maria was baptised and said she’d finally found love, and that her relationship with God gave her the fatherly love she’d missed as a child.

She said: “I cried for a week. I’d never felt a love like it. I knew then why my three marriages hadn’t worked because I’d never known real love.

“When I read that God loves me and created me for a purpose, I realised I was meant to be here and I’m not an accident.

“It wasn’t until I met Jesus that I felt clean, because it’s only Jesus who can wash all that away.”

FULL STORY IN THIS MONTH'S NEW LIFE