A child cannot consent

SAMMY WOODHOUSE, a victim of child sexual exploitation in Rotherham, was told that she could not have a full payout because the Criminal Injuries Compensation Authority believed she consented to the abuse. This was despite the fact that she was just 14 when the abuse began and that the perpetrator was jailed for his crimes.

The suggestion that she consented is indicative of the mindset adopted by a range of authority figures involved in the Rotherham scandal. These were people who should have been looking out for vulnerable youngsters yet instead, time and again, they regarded the victims as troublemakers who knew exactly what they were doing.

It is shocking that even after the terrible crimes of the predatory men involved had been exposed some of them still continued to hold this attitude.

No 14-year-old girl could ever possibly provide proper consent to the sort of dreadful treatment Ms Woodhouse suffered. It is appalling that anybody should need reminding of this fact.