SEX ABUSE FAILINGS ‘WERE COVERED UP’
A CHILD sex exploitation probe has found police and a council covered up “serious” failings in their treatment of a 12-year-old rape victim.
It follows a Sunday Mirror investigation last year that told how authorities turned a blind eye as the girl was attacked by a string of men.
They included two who assaulted her after picking her up outside a police station, where she had gone to report an earlier sex assault – only to be dismissed as a time-waster by a desk clerk.
It sparked a devastating chain of events in which she suffered more than 20 sex attacks by eight men that night in October 2006, including 15 rapes.
Just one of those men, Shakil Chowdhury, now 55, was brought to justice.
He got a six-year jail sentence but refused to name any accomplices.
Adding to the horror, the victim had told professionals earlier that year she was being groomed by teacher Paul
Waites but was dismissed as “attention seeking”. Waites, 49, was jailed in 2015 for raping her, and is now serving life for similar attacks on another girl.
The victim said: “An apology will never be enough. They have destroyed my life.”
Her case has been examined by independent investigators as part of a wider probe into exploitation in Oldham ordered by the Greater Manchester
Combined Authority, which is due to be published later this month.
A leaked passage from the report reads: “The responses of both [Oldham] council and Greater Manchester Police in replying to complaints made by [the victim] are disappointing.
“Both agencies consistently denied they failed in their duties to her. These denials create an impression that both agencies were more concerned with covering up their failures than acknowledging the harm. We recommend they acknowledge these failures and provide an appropriately worded apology.”
It also concluded her treatment at the police station was “highly inappropriate” and added there was “no evidence” the actions of police station staff were ever properly investigated.
Metro Mayor Andy Burnham is also expected to order a second probe into the 12-year-old’s case after police failed to hand over key documents, citing data protection concerns. Sources say senior force figures will now cooperate.
Stephen Watson, chief constable of Greater Manchester Police, said: “She has experienced lasting harm as a result of our failure to protect her. We will express a sincere apology directly to her.”
Gerard Jones, managing director of children and young people at Oldham Council, said: “A full apology will be made to her, acknowledging the response at the time was unacceptable.”