Off a law right now, says MP
for me, it’s just another example of how victims are re-traumatised again and again by the system that’s actually designed to protect them”.
“And I’ve now got to the point where I wonder if, actually, the law does favour perpetrators rather than the victims because this sort of thing keeps on happening.”
Miss Woodhouse was first attacked by Arshid Hussain at the age of 14 and fell pregnant after being plied with drink and drugs, raped and threatened at gunpoint. Despite being jailed for rape, Hussain was listed as a respondent in a family court case involving Miss Woodhouse’s child and was contacted in jail by the local authority.
It promised to keep him informed of future proceedings.
During a hearing last year, the boy’s mother was told the sex offender would be allowed to attend court and make legal representations even though he has had no parental responsibility.
Miss Woodhouse told the same programme: “I’m just still in shock. I’m still asking myself how is this possible?”
She added that if the council thought it was working within the law, it should have challenged that law.
She said: “I want us to be treated like human beings.”
The story first emerged earlier this week but with no names being given.
Sammy has bravely revealed that the child involved is her son.
She posted a video on Twitter to explain her connection with the case which has been viewed almost half a million times.
Miss Woodhouse was one of the key witnesses in South Yorkshire Police’s Operation Clover investigation which led to a number of Rotherham men being given lengthy jail sentences in 2016.
They included Hussain and his three brothers.
She subsequently waived her anonymity, speaks widely about child sexual exploitation and has written a book about her experiences.