‘I’M RELIEVED THAT JUSTICE HAS BEEN DONE’
Sara Rowbotham fought to uncover the perpetrators of the Rochdale grooming scandal for a decade. Now her tireless work has finally been recognised with a public award.
This year, I felt honoured to win an NHS Heroes Award. It was an amazing event full of incredible people. Yet even there, at a glittering awards ceremony, one high-profile woman told me privately about her experiences of harassment. Of course, I encouraged her to seek help through the official channels, but every time someone confides in me, I find it really upsetting. It means that even now, the safeguarding doors are not open wide enough – that’s something we urgently need to change. The first court case for the grooming and abuse of teenage girls in Rochdale happened in 2012. On average, each case has had four or five perpetrators receiving up to 12 years in prison.
In total, more than 47 girls have been identified as victims of child sexual exploitation. I’m relieved that justice is finally being served, but I find it hard to feel victorious – to be honest, I just wish it hadn’t happened in the first place. I know that we’re still nowhere near catching all the abusers. The grooming went on for many years, and all that time in my role as an NHS sexual health worker, the teenagers I saw were being taken to these men’s houses, plied with drugs and alcohol and sexually exploited. Following those first convictions, our team was restructured – and I was made redundant. After so many years fuelled by anger and fighting, it was like something had snapped. I was diagnosed with post-traumatic stress disorder. I had night terrors. For years, I’d carried around my emotions, not ever facing up to how I really felt. There’s only so much one person can take and, in the end, I just broke.
Recovery is an ongoing process. What has helped more than anything is realising that while there is evil in the world, there’s also an overwhelming amount of kindness. I give talks, support charities and speak out about my experiences as much as possible, hoping it will encourage others to feel brave enough to come forward.
While there is evil in the world, there’s also kindness