Haunted by abuse: Former models speak up

(from left) Swedish former Elite model Ebba Karlsson, French lawyer Anne-Claire Le Jeune and ex-BBC journalist Lisa Brinkworth. Photo: AFP

After keeping silent for years, more than a dozen women hope their harrowing testimonies will spur prosecutors to pursue a pillar of the French fashion industry, accused of abusing young models with widely known impunity over dozens of years.

"It's haunted me for 20 years," Lisa Brinkworth, a former BBC journalist, told AFP of her encounter with Gerald Marie, the former Europe chief of the Elite modelling agency, and its fallout.