The true identity of the woman known as Daisy is still not known, but the extraordinary story of her battle for justice is to be told in a British TV drama.
Two years ago, national headlines celebrated the achievements of Daisy – the anonymous woman who refused to ignore the criminal circumstances that had led to her birth. The adopted daughter of a teenage rape victim, she successfully fought to secure the prosecution of her birth father.
Now the filmmakers who are working with Daisy to turn her experiences into a drama have revealed the latest chapter in her life. Armed with fresh information about her birth parents, Daisy, who is black, has travelled to the Caribbean and uncovered her family tree for the first time.
“We would like to tell that story too,” said producer Krishnendu Majumdar. “She was able to follow her family history right back and at last really feel the soil beneath her feet and understand who she is as never before.”
Daisy, now 47, was taken into care 10 days after her birth and later adopted by white parents. At the age of 18, she gained access to her social service files and discovered that her birth mother had been raped by Carvel Bennett, then 28.
Her case files, dating back to 1975, stated: “The matter was investigated by police but never brought to court.” A spokesperson for West Midlands police has since said that after Daisy approached them, they made contact with her birth mother. Her mother did not then wish to prosecute, and Daisy could not proceed alone as the law deemed it was her birth mother, not her, who was legally regarded as the only victim of the rape.
It took almost a decade for Daisy to see Bennett charged for the crime he is now serving an 11-year prison sentence for committing. This happened after her mother changed her mind and decided to testify.
Daisy has since led a successful campaign to change the law so that children conceived through rape are now recognised as secondary victims, making England and Wales among the first in the world to officially confer this status on children born of rape.
The screenplay for the drama, Kin, will be written by Emma Dennis-Edwards, acclaimed for her school rape-culture drama Consent. Dennis-Edwards plans to stay close to the facts while continuing to protect Daisy’s identity.
“We may have to merge a few things but the truth is always more amazing anyway,” said Majumdar, the outgoing chair of Bafta and the first person of colour to hold the role in the academy’s 76-year history.
“Daisy is a truly inspirational woman. I don’t think people will believe that she actually went to visit her birth father. She rang the bell and they talked inside his home for 45 minutes. It is jaw-dropping. I’ve been amazed by her eloquence and resilience.”
Majumdar’s production company, Me+You, has won recent acclaim for My Name is Ruth, Dominic Savage’s television drama about online harms starring Kate Winslet. As a producer, he said, he is drawn to stories that explain issues.
Me+You is about to take another film made with Savage, Close to You, to the Toronto film festival. It stars Elliot Page in his first film role since coming out as a trans man.
