*To protect her identity the victim's name has been changed. [8] The victims, plied with drugs and alcohol, were passed around friends and family,[18] and taken to various locations in the north of England, including Rochdale, Oldham, Nelson, Bradford and Leeds. It made me sick to my stomach. But after a while it had been going on for so long and with so many different men, I didn't feel anything towards it anymore. I felt sick, got upset nothing never no one from police came to me to explain why I was no longer going to court. I hoped that I would be able to persuade the elders to go knocking on doors and say 'this behaviour is un-Islamic and I want it to stop because I'm going to tell the whole community about you and what youre doing if you dont'. At the time, she was living with an older victim but when she became pregnant by one of the men, she moved back in with her parents. This means that we may include adverts from us and third parties based on our knowledge of you. [I] cant remember exactly what they said, but it was something along the lines of being a madam, she recalled. She gave the police a list, at an early stage of Operation Span, with nicknames, telephone numbers and other details relating to offenders. ', "We haven't sorted out a solution to these really complex issues about young people.". [33] After members of the Rochdale gang were sentenced, the UK's Department for Education announced new funding for a specialist foster care scheme to protect vulnerable children in residential care, where some victims had been. "Most people would say it is crazy that there are 17 or 18 different agencies in a place like Rochdale in charge of children," he said. They dont give a fuck when youre not from a wealthy background.. Rochdale grooming case: what really happened? And Ive done nothing wrong I was a victim of these men at the age of 14. have fuelled fight-wing groups opposing multiculturalism and immigration. VideoAt the crash site of 'no hope' - BBC reporter in Greece, How fake copyright complaints are muzzling journalists, How 10% of Nigerian registered voters delivered victory, Sake brewers toast big rise in global sales, The Indian-American CEO who wants to be US president, Blackpink lead top stars back on the road in Asia, Exploring the rigging claims in Nigeria's elections, 'Wales is in England' gaffe sparks TikToker's trip. The skinny 15-year-old girl was arrested and taken to the police station but then spent six hours pouring her heart out about precisely why she had acted in such an antisocial manner. The BBC is not responsible for the content of external sites. Police said the victims were from chaotic, council estate backgrounds and as many as 50 girls could have been victims of the gang. She's now in her late 20s. My name has been dragged through the mud. Between 2003 and 2014, Rowbotham made more than 180 attempts to alert police and social services but was told the witnesses were not reliable. I'm only a kid - why is it always me? The period during the buildup to the trial of the men accused of being part of the grooming gang, was dark for Amber. Parents felt agencies "failed to work together", did not listen or keep them informed. The BBC drama Three Girls was based on the Rochdale child sexual abuse scandal. Following the case in Rochdale similar cases of grooming and sexual abuse/exploitation of young girls came to light in various towns and cities across the UK. Amber still sees those whom she says raped, beat and tortured her, out and about in Rochdale. There were fears that press involvement would frighten the girls away. The mayor's office. The women, who cannot be named for. Although police interviewed a total of 56 men on suspicion of abuse, only a handful were tried. Officers on the Rochdale division were under pressure at the time to hit volume crime targets like bringing down the number of burglaries and were overwhelmed by the sheer scale of the grooming problem they had uncovered. In some cases those girls were raped, callously, viciously and violently. Three Girls: Maggie Oliver says known paedophiles are still abusing girls in Rochdale and authorities are 'more interested in covering up mistakes', according to one officer who was involved. But the situation changed and she was raped by one of the men. The men, she said, were friendly at first, simply chatting with the girls now and again in a takeaway shop. [1] One 13-year-old victim recounted that, after being forced to have sex in exchange for vodka, her abuser immediately raped her again and gave her 40 to not say anything about the incident. [32], Wendy Shepherd, child sexual exploitation project manager for Barnardo's in the north of England, said that since she started working with the organisation, there has been "a shift from the men selling children in ones or twos to something that is much more organised in groups and networks. [47] However this report was "fiercely" criticised for its unscientific nature and poor methodology by child sexual exploitation experts Ella Cockbain and Waqas Tufail, in their paper "Failing Victims, Fuelling Hate: Challenging the Harms of the 'Muslim grooming gangs' Narrative" which was published in January 2020. When police arrived, she says they did not believe her version of events. UK News US News World News Weird News Real Life More Hopeful TeamDogs In Your Area. Not just once - but repeatedly - by a gang of men who would ply her with vodka and threaten her with violence unless she succumbed to horrific abuse. The perpetrators would pass the girls to their friends, often to settle a debt. The amounts listed are the base pay range; additional compensation may be available for this role, such as shift differentials, standby/on-call, overtime, premiums, extra shift incentives, or bonus opportunities. The Rochdale case was one of several cases which prompted investigations looking into the claim that "the majority of the perpetrators have been British Pakistani"; the first was by Quilliam in December 2017, which released a report entitled "Group Based Child Sexual Exploitation - Dissecting Grooming Gangs", which claimed 84% of offenders were The patchy training of frontline staff was to blame for the way childrens social care responded to the victims, the Rochdale Borough Safeguarding Children Board (RBSCB) said in its review into child sexual exploitation after the trial. Two members of the grooming gang the gangs ringleader Shabir Ahmed and Kabeer Hassan were arrested and released on bail. The man she accused of assaulting her walked free. The grooming case seemed ripe for exploitation: all the girls were white, all the accused were Asian Muslim men, and they had displayed a searing contempt for their victims. It is worth remembering though that none of it would be happening without a frightened, angry girl who had been raped venting her rage in a takeaway in Heywood and then being courageous enough to speak about what had happened. After the trials conclusion, there were public apologies from the police, the council and prosecutors for failing the victims. Part of HuffPost News. A significant proportion of cases were labelled as no further action needed and the leadership team were not interested in childrens social care. Nine men were convicted of being part of the child sexual exploitation ring, Nazir Afzal regrets that the CPS dropped the original grooming case, At the crash site of 'no hope' - BBC reporter in Greece. We also may change the frequency you receive our emails from us in order to keep you up to date and give you the best relevant information possible. Her evidence helped put abusers behind bars, yet Amber was vilified by the authorities and says her torment will never end. [17], Victims were physically assaulted and raped by as many as five men at a time,[1] or obliged to have sex with "several men in a day, several times a week". Rochdale grooming gang members could be deported to Pakistan; . [55], Last edited on 19 February 2023, at 10:03, UCL Jill Dando Institute of Security and Crime Science, Child Exploitation and Online Protection Centre, List of sexual abuses perpetrated by groups, Post-assault treatment of sexual assault victims, "Rochdale grooming trial: gang convicted for sex trafficking", "Rochdale child sex ring case: respected men who preyed on the vulnerable", "Rochdale grooming trial: Nine found guilty of child sex charges", "Rochdale grooming trial: how the case unfolded", "Rochdale child sex ring: did political correctness delay justice? [7] A former Detective Constable who was investigating the grooming gangs, Margaret Oliver, resigned in 2012 in disgust of the handling of the cases by the police force and spoke out as a whistleblower to inform the public. [10] The gang worked to secure underage girls to rape and exploit.[11][12]. [46], The Rochdale case was one of several cases which prompted investigations looking into the claim that "the majority of the perpetrators have been British Pakistani"; the first was by Quilliam in December 2017, which released a report entitled "Group Based Child Sexual Exploitation Dissecting Grooming Gangs", which claimed 84% of offenders were of South Asian heritage. By entering your email and clicking Sign Up, you're agreeing to let us send you customized marketing messages about us and our advertising partners. "She yearns to put her awful experiences to some value. 2023 BBC. etween 2008 and 2010, a child abuse ring that came to be known as part of the grooming gang phenomenon operated in Rochdale. Writing for HuffPost UK, chief executive Javed Khan of childrens charity Barnardos described Three Girls as absolutely vital viewing.. Maggie Oliver was again left fuming when one of the girls she had talked round - a victim of abuse - was placed in the indictment that went before the jury. And then, in July 2009, an experienced CPS lawyer ruled the victim was not credible and decided that the two men who raped her should be released without charge. Taxi drivers with nick-names like Car Zero and Master Aziz, a pillar of Rochdale's Pakistani community known as Tiger and a Muslim preacher were . The victims were coerced and bribed into keeping quiet about the abuse by a combination of alcohol and drugs, food, small sums of money and other gifts. But the consequences of what happened to her are still preventing her from moving on with her life. 10:45, 3 JUL 2017. He said the investigation was at "an extremely sensitive stage" and street grooming was the force's top priority, "a bigger priority than gun crime". [7] Actress Lesley Sharp played the police detective Margaret Oliver in the series. [5], In March 2015, Greater Manchester Police apologised for its failure to investigate the child sexual exploitation allegations more thoroughly between 2008 and 2010. Why can't I get a job? "Eventually I moved out of the area as I couldn't stay there anymore.". Video, At the crash site of 'no hope' - BBC reporter in Greece, Harry and Meghan told to 'vacate' Frogmore Cottage, Fungus case forces Jack Daniels to halt construction, Rare Jurassic-era bug found at Arkansas Walmart, Ed Sheeran says wife developed tumour in pregnancy, China and Belarus call for peace in Ukraine, Dozens of girls treated after new Iran poisonings, Havana Syndrome unlikely to have hostile cause - US, Man survives 31 days in jungle by eating worms. The investigation was suddenly scrapped with no-one arrested or charged. Assistant Chief Constable Mabs Hussain of Greater Manchester Police told the BBC he thought while cases should be reviewed on an individual basis, now was the time for a wider, national debate in cases where young people may have been criminalised as a result of exploitation. Copley said: "We apologise to the victims and we give them our assurance that lessons have been learned, changes have been made and we are determined to use this to continue making improvements. Who were the men in the Rochdale grooming gang and what happened to them? had learned about the investigation but after approaching GMP we were told to hold off until the victims had been spoken to. Another five-year sentence was given to Abdul Qayyum for conspiracy to engage in sexual activity with children, while Hamid Safi received four years for trafficking for sexual exploitation and conspiracy to engage in sexual activity with children. But wheres the evidence? [20], Four of the convicted, Shabir Ahmed, Adil Khan, Abdul Rauf and Abdul Aziz, who had dual British and Pakistani citizenships, were denaturalized (stripped of their British citizenship) by then Home Secretary Theresa May in order for them to be deported to Pakistan. Why has nothing happened to these men? Jailing them, Judge Gerald Clifton said: You have all been convicted by the jury after a long trial of grave sexual offences which were committed between the spring of 2008 and 2010. The convictions she received as a teen continue to hold her back to this day. Last Tuesday Amber, with two other victims of the Rochdale grooming gang, finally received an apology delivered personally by Stephen Watson, the chief constable of Greater Manchester police. Finally, she has been exonerated. We use your sign-up to provide content in the ways you've consented to and improve our understanding of you. It's now 10 years since the start of the police investigation that led to the Rochdale grooming trial. What the police and CPS did to me was worse than the abuse The apology will be a kind of a weight lifted from me. But the nightmare will never really be over. Rochdale MP Simon Danczuk (Labour) said agencies had actively ignored the abuse and that "social services believed these girls were making lifestyle choices". The review acknowledged that police officers might have discriminatory attitudes towards the victims, that the victims were interviewed by detectives without training in child exploitation and no strategy when victims returned to their abusers. It revealed that some CSC staff have been subjected to disciplinary action, although no-one is thought to have been sacked. News. Read about our approach to external linking. But when the Crown Prosecution Service (CPS) reviewed the case in summer 2009, it was decided that the girl "would not be viewed as a credible witness" - a decision not appealed against by GMP - and no prosecution was brought. However, Sir Peter said the report failed to confront a "fundamental" problem faced by police officers, who are repeatedly asked to track down and return young people missing from children's homes, only for them to run away again. Speaking before the airing of a new BBC1 drama, Three Girls - which tells the story of three victims in the 2012 Rochdale sex grooming case - Margaret Oliver said police had still not learned. Because she was not involved in the trial, and therefore did not give evidence, she had no opportunity to defend herself. This resulted in Greater Manchester Police launching Operation Doublet to investigate further claims of abuse with 19 men so far being convicted. Charity Victim Support's chief executive Javed Khan said: "It is utterly unacceptable that, instead of protecting these vulnerable young victims from sexual exploitation, the authorities judged, blamed and disbelieved them and their families and, in doing so, exposed these victims to further abuse. The investigation slowly built a compelling case, away from the public gaze. [8], Some gang members told the court the girls were willing participants and happy having sex with the men. One night in 2006, when she was just 14, a man became aggressive after she refused to have sex with him. The report added that professionals repeatedly said the victims had it 'in their power' to stop the abuse 'suggesting this was something they could choose not to do'. I never thought that they would do what they did to me, because you don't think that would happen.". 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