Gran’s tears for tragic Victoria
GRANDMOTHER OF TRAGIC GIRL IN GROOMING SCANDAL WEEPS AS SHE TELLS OF HOW SHE BATHED HER WOUNDS
THE grandmother of Victoria Agoglia, whose death sparked the police’s heavily-criticised Operation Augusta investigation into child sexual exploitation across south Manchester, broke down in tears as she revealed how the teenager was regularly beaten and left bruised by her abusers.
It’s a harrowing chapter in the tragic story of a girl who suffered the sudden death of her mother, only to be let down by those appointed to protect her.
Joan Agoglia bravely spoke at a press conference to mark the publication of a damning report focusing on Greater Manchester Police’s inquiry and the extent of the abuse of vulnerable youngsters in care more than a decade ago. She told how she was forced to bathe her grandaughter to ease the bruising inflicted by her attackers – but nobody listened.
Victoria, who was living in a home under the responsibility of Manchester city council, died aged 15 after she was injected with heroin by a man then aged 50.
Her death in 2003 led GMP to launch the probe, and it emerged she had told repeatedly of her suffering at the hands of older, Asian men, who the report’s authors said appeared to ‘operate in plain sight’ in and around care homes.
The report found Victoria suffered ‘severe abuse and exploitation’ for two years before her death.
She was threatened, assaulted and taken back to her residential unit ‘intoxicated.’
Victoria – who wanted to become a model and a hairdresser – gave information that she was being sexually exploited and even alleged rape.
But the report concluded Operation Augusta was dropped by the force in July 2005 for resource reasons, despite at least 57 potential victims being identified and up to 97 suspects. Despite victims telling police,
social workers and other professionals what was happening, the abusers weren’t stopped, and seven of the men identified went on to be convicted for rape or sexual assault.
Police and council bosses have now apologised and admitted children were let down. Joan said of Victoria: “She had her bad points, a lot of them, but she didn’t deserve to die with nastiness. And that’s want happened. I used to have to give her a bath because she was so bruised. She told me she was being beaten.
“I promised her...there’s no way they are going to get away with this.”
Holding the arm of Maggie Oliver, the retired GMP detective who has spoken out about child sexual exploitation for many years and who alleges a ‘cover-up,’ Mrs Agoglia welcomed the findings of the report as ‘wonderful,’ but said she couldn’t feel that Victoria could rest in peace until her abusers were brought to justice.
“I have been fighting for this all my life. All my life it seems,” she said.
The mayor of Greater Manchester Andy Burnham, who commissioned the report, revealed he would write to the Attorney General to ask for her inquest to be reopened.
Mrs Oliver, who worked on Operation Augusta and turned whistleblower regarding the issue, said in her interview with the report’s authors that ‘social services knew they had failed Victoria as she was in their care.’
The report found that although Victoria was under council care, a man who had been previously identified as her so-called ‘pimp’ was ‘given permission’ to visit her in her accommodation three times a week.
It said: “Two months prior to her death, Victoria had disclosed to both her social worker and a substance misuse worker that an older man was injecting her with heroin.”
Pregnancy scares were also detailed. But the report’s authors said: “Not one of these occasions resulted in an investigation or a thorough assessment of what was required to protect her from harm.
“The review team’s judgement is that there was a significant probability that Victoria Agoglia had been sexually exploited and we cannot offer any assurance that this was appropriately addressed by either Greater Manchester Police or Manchester city council.”