My future was ruined by arrogant paedophile, says girl abused at 14

ONE of Arshid Hussain’s victims fought back tears as she told of her relief that her abuser had been found guilty of raping teenagers.

With the serial paedophile likely to spend decades in prison, she said she felt safe for the first time in 16 years.

The woman, who cannot be named but is known as Jessica, said: ‘It has been 16 years of fighting for justice and I haven’t been able to move forward with my life.

‘My bright future was destroyed by this arrogant paedophile who was a master manipulator. Finally I have the closure I need. Now I can be free of him.’

She added: ‘The things he did turn my stomach. I can’t express how much these guilty verdicts are deserved.’

Jessica was groomed by Hussain at 14 and became pregnant twice during the two years in which he repeatedly raped and beat her.

She said: ‘It’s hard to remember what I was like because he changed me so much.

‘I didn’t know it at the time but every minute we were together, he was manipulating me. All my life I’ve been called either a criminal, a mistress or a liar.’ She added: ‘The moment I heard that word guilty I [knew] – no one can call me that again.’

Before she met Hussain in 1999, Jessica was a confident girl who dreamed of becoming a professional dancer.

Within a year of meeting him she had been taken into ‘emergency’ care as her parents were unable to keep the two apart.

Missing months of school at a time, she was only allowed to sit two GCSEs.

‘He made me think what we had together was love. That’s how cruel he was,’ she said. ‘He was the “big man” in town. I was impressionable so that did excite me – the arrogance and swagger.

‘He’d spend hours talking to me, paying me compliments, giving me nice clothes, picking me up in flash cars. I fell in love with him.’

Although Hussain had convictions for robbery and affray and was about to be jailed for violent disorder, social services said they had ‘no power’ to stop him having sex with her. This was despite Hussain’s place on a social services list of men suspected of grooming up to 40 young girls in the area.

More than a dozen of those girls believed Hussain was their ‘boyfriend’.

Jessica said: ‘My trust in the police and social services is non-existent. They only wanted to cover up what was going on.’

She added: ‘I didn’t stand a chance. My foster carer and the council allowed him to have contact with me and that’s why he can’t be tried for abducting me – because they condoned it all.’

Despite being found in Hussain’s bedroom by police, nothing was done to protect her. She said: ‘I was in bed upstairs with Ash when the police came into the house... I grabbed a pair of knickers and tried to hide under the bed.

‘One of the police officers told me to come out. He could see my legs sticking out.’

Officers then found an offensive weapon, but Hussain was released.

Jessica is one of four women who have sued Rotherham council for failing to protect them from predatory men as children.