‘How many more times will it take a TV drama to hold people to account?’
CHILDREN were being raped ‘every day’ - but the ‘lone voices’ who spoke out about it were ‘disbelieved’ and ‘silenced’.
The latest report into child sexual exploitation in Greater Manchester published ‘vindicated’ victims and the two women who alerted the authorities to the ‘widespread abuse’ in Rochdale but were ignored. The review considered the allegations made in the BBC documentary Betrayed Girls which first aired in July 2017.
Months earlier, the stories of victims in the Rochdale grooming scandal were depicted in BBC drama Three Girls. It was after watching these programmes that Greater Manchester mayor Andy Burnham commissioned an inquiry.
Sara Rowbotham, who was portrayed by Maxine Peake in the drama, tearfully responded to the latest report from that inquiry. Referring to the recent ITV drama on the Post Office scandal, she asked: “How many more times will it take a drama or a documentary and the ensuing public outcry to call people and organisations to account?”
Now a Labour councillor in Rochdale,
partners, Mr Newsam added, ‘chose to not progress any investigation against these men as they were informed the children were too frightened to assist any inquiry’.
“This was a serious failure to protect these children,” he said.
The same pattern, he said, was repeated year after year.
Operation Span led to the convictions of nine men in 2012 at trial, but he said the investigation just ‘scraped the surface’.
“Many children’s testimonies were ignored and their abusers were not brought to justice,” he said at the press conference.
“Furthermore, promises to support the victims during and after the trial were not forthcoming and these young people were left to be harassed and intimidated by the men who previously abused
Sara was the co-ordinator of the Crisis Intervention Team in Rochdale, set up in 2002 to provide sexual health advice and support to young people. Her team heard ‘horrendous’ things - but when they took action to try and protect the children being abused, they had their ‘professionalism’ questioned.
“I was described as being difficult to work with,” she said.
“Well, what did you expect? Children were being raped every day.
“But both the police and Rochdale children services kept telling me it had nothing to do with them.”
Former GMP detective Maggie Oliver has been supporting and campaigning for victims of child sexual abuse since she left the force. The whistleblower, who was also depicted in the BBC drama, said the force tried to ‘silence’ her.
“I could be Mr Bates,” she said, referring to the recent ITV drama about the Post Office scandal. “I’ve built everything on telling the truth and it’s cost me dearly.
“My home, my job, my career, my mental health - it’s made me very ill.
“But I am proud of myself. I am proud of these kids for allowing their stories to be repeatedly told.
“It’s retraumatising
them.” Mr Newsam said as his review progressed, 111 children were identified in total.
“We have concluded that there was a significant probability that 74 of the total number of these children were being sexually exploited,” he said.
“Of these 74, we found we could only provide assurance that three children were appropriately protected by the statutory agencies.
“In 48 of the cases, there were serious failures to protect them.”
The damning report says: “In conclusion, the quality of practice in the vast majority of these cases fell far short of what could have been reasonably expected to be in place at the time and countless children known to be at significant risk of harm were left unprotected and their abusers left to continue to exploit every time. It’s triggering.
“I haven’t slept all week because this brings it back to me - and I haven’t even been sexually abused. I can only imagine what they all feel.
“But I feel a responsibility to be a voice for all the victims who don’t have a voice. Not just in Rochdale but in Rotherham, in London.
“It isn’t just survivors of grooming gangs. It’s victims and survivors of the most horrific sexual abuse that often find
children with impunity.”
A further police operation was launched, but Mr Newsam said it was under-resourced and police on the ground couldn’t get the further support they needed from their bosses.
“The human cost of these failures to the child victims cannot be overstated,” he went on.
●●VICTIM was ‘hounded out of her neighbourhood’ - and GMP didn’t help
One girl, Mr Newsam said, was sexually exploited and abused from the age of 14. Her suffering continued for years. She gave evidence to support the cases of other victims for the 2012 trial ‘in the belief her own abusers would later be brought to justice.’
“This never happened and after the trial she was threatened with violence, her house was vandalised themselves silenced, blamed, criminalised, intimidated.”
The independent review into historic child sexual exploitation covers the period from 2004 to 2013 and considers how specific concerns in respect of child sexual exploitation were handled by the statutory agencies at the time.
It is the third report to be published as part of the inquiry launched in 2017 with a final report expected later this year.
and she was hounded out of her home and neighbourhood,” he said. “When she requested help from GMP, none was forthcoming and she was left with nothing - homeless and with two children.”
Another child - listed as child 44 in the report was made pregnant by her abuser - a man in his late 30s - at the age of 13.
Without her consent, GMP took possession of her terminated foetus to test it for DNA and retained it for several years at Rochdale police station. No match was found, but she was only notified of its existence in 2011 when it was discovered as part of a routine property review.
The report said: “We regard it as highly unacceptable that child 44 and/or her parents were not informed of the retention and why GMP required it.”
After the 2012 trial, a person threatened to ‘petrol bomb’ the house of another victim, known as Amber, Mr Newsam said. “Nor were any steps taken to protect Amber from the foreseeable threats to her safety,” he said. “Postings were made on social media identifying where she lived.”
GMP went on to issue public apologies to three survivors.
After Operation Span, which led to the 2012 convictions of the nine men, three further major police operations were launched. Mr Newsam said 30 men were convicted as a result, but the trials only included 13 children in total, of whom six were previously known.
GMP’S Chief Constable, Stephen Watson, said the force has now engaged with 72 of the 74 children referenced.
The report’s authors said: “While we accept that professional awareness of CSE has since improved, we have concluded that there was, at the time, a clear understanding of the prevalence of CSE within the borough of Rochdale.
“This knowledge was held by senior and middle managers in both GMP and children’s social care.
“The legislative and procedural obligations to protect children from significant harm caused by CSE were clear, and police and local authorities had a range of powers to intervene, protect children and disrupt offenders.
“The detection, disruption and prosecution of sexual offences against children were not given sufficient priority during the period covered by this review.”