Why is the man who groomed me free?

‘Amelia’ was just a child when she met the man who would shower her with gifts... then abuse her

runaways or in the care of social services, were groomed, plied with drink, raped and driven all over the north to have sex with other men.

Now, a new police unit to investigate child sex grooming gangs in Greater Manchester has already identified more than 800 offenders and is running three major investigations into historic abuse of young girls.

In a statement about Amelia’s case, a spokesman for Greater Manchester Police said: “Whilst we cannot comment on individual cases, Greater Manchester Police apologises to all those vulnerable children who feel they were let down by police not thoroughly investigating child sexual offences in the past.

“Thankfully there is today a far better understanding of CSE, and we are committed to leaving no stone unturned to bring offenders to justice through our dedicated Force CSE unit. The learning from the investigations in Rochdale is integral to our way of working today and we work closely with partners across Greater Manchester to prevent the exploitation of young people.

“Our partnership approach provides a stronger footing for police to prevent, disrupt and investigate these crimes.

“We hope that our commitment to improving our responses to prevent such crimes will go some way to comforting those whom we have previously let down, and send a message to these abhorrent criminals that we will not stop until justice has been served.

“If anyone has any information, we absolutely encourage them to come forward and where there are lines of enquiry, we will absolutely pursue them.”