US 'girl in the closet' who was tortured 'and raped' by mother and stepfather for six years after courts told adoptive parents to hand her back reveals courage 12 years on

Lauren Kavanaugh, now 20 (pictured left in 2001 and top right today), has revealed how she has struggled to gain control of her life after suffering six years of sexual, emotional and physical abuse at the hands of Barbara Atkinson (bottom right) and her husband Kenneth. She was nearly two when the courts ordered her adoptive parents, Sabrina and Bill Kavanaugh, hand her back to her biological mother on a technicality. When authorities found her aged eight in a urine-soaked closet (pictured centre), she weighed the same as a two-year-old and was severely malnourished and showed signs of sexual abuse. She was readopted by the Kavanaughs and her mother and stepfather are serving terms in prison