Police apologise to grooming victim 10 years later

'Amy' was abused as a teenager in Rotherham during the early 2000s

A victim of the Rotherham grooming scandal has spoken about how she still feels let down 10 years after the publication of the landmark Jay Report.

Professor Alexis Jay was commissioned to investigate sexual abuse in the town and identified 1,400 children who were exploited between 1997 and 2013. The victims were mainly white girls who had been abused by Asian men of predominantly Pakistani heritage.

Among them was "Amy", a survivor who does not use her real name. She was just 13 when she was preyed upon by 10 men.

She said she had never received an "official" apology from those in authority who had failed her at the time. After being contacted by the BBC, South Yorkshire Police hand-delivered a letter of apology.

Warning: This report contains details of child sexual exploitation.

The Jay Report's findings shocked the town and had wider repercussions across the north of England.

It exposed the rape of children as young as 11 by multiple men, who had also abducted and trafficked them. Many of the children were vulnerable and from unstable backgrounds, and their plight had been ignored by social services.

Amy twice reported her abuse to South Yorkshire Police in 2003 when she was 13 years old, but had to wait another 13 years until her abusers were convicted.

As a schoolgirl, she was imprisoned in a flat and made to perform sex acts on 10 men. She saved the clothes she had been repeatedly raped in by then 17-year-old grooming gang ringleader Sageer Hussain.

"I’d hidden all my clothes at the bottom of my wardrobe. They were covered in blood and DNA, they had been ripped. I handed them all over to the police," she said.

"The officers said they didn’t have any evidence bags and asked my mum if she had black bin bags to put them in. My mum handed them over, she was just in shock at this point, this wasn’t part of normal life."

A week later, police told the family they had lost Amy’s clothes, which led to her withdrawing her complaints against the gang.

'Turning point'

The family continued to speak up about their daughter’s abuse by contacting politicians, including the then-Home Secretary David Blunkett. Mr Blunkett denied ever receiving a letter from them.

It was not until the family handed all of Amy’s files, including social services documents, police reports and medical records, over to The Times investigative reporter Andrew Norfolk that things started to change.

Mr Norfolk had been investigating child grooming gangs in the north of England and the Midlands for more than a year.

In 2012, Amy’s story was the first of several Rotherham case studies to be published in the newspaper - but it took another 12 months for Rotherham Council to commission the independent inquiry into how the council had dealt with child sexual exploitation.

"The Times started things off but the Jay Report was a turning point," said Amy.

Remembering the day the report was made public, Amy said: "I heard the figure 1,400 and the abuse being outlined. I thought, ‘This might be the change, this might be the start of being listened to and being believed’.

"It wasn't that people weren't listening before, I just felt nobody believed me and people thought I was crazy."

The town of Rotherham was left in shock after the scale of the grooming gangs' activity was exposed

Amy, now in her mid-30s, received compensation and apologies from leaders who took up their posts after 2014, but said she wanted those who had been in charge of South Yorkshire Police and Rotherham Council at the time of her abuse to say sorry.

"I had apologies from people who weren’t responsible as they weren’t in post at the time when those decisions and failings were made," she said.

After two officers delivered the apology letter to Amy's home earlier this month, South Yorkshire Police's current chief constable, Lauren Poultney, said: "I’m so sorry that Amy hasn’t directly received an apology. I have apologised publicly many times and have now personally sent her a letter to rectify this.

"When victims and survivors spoke to the Jay Inquiry, they put their trust in a process where all others had failed them. Their bravery and determination was a catalyst to fundamental change in policing so I want to explain how different our handling of child sexual exploitation (CSE) is today."

'Hostile environment'

Ms Poultney said the force worked with all agencies to share information and create profiles to identify and record emerging CSE trends, with versions of those profiles also made public to improve transparency.

“Importantly, we also recognise that CSE today looks different to that detailed in the Jay Report," she said.

"It evolves, advances and morphs into an approach less recognisable than the one before but the information we share means we can identify some of the behaviours which come before the abuse and take action to prevent harm.

“We may never be able to stop child abuse in all its forms but thanks to the bravery of those who stepped forward to speak out, we will continue to make Rotherham a hostile environment for anyone intent on causing harm."

Nicola Curley, strategic director for children and young people’s services at Rotherham Council, said: "We are deeply sorry that Amy and the other victims of the horrific abuse that took place, and were detailed in the Jay Report, were let down by authorities, including the council.

"We have apologised to Amy in the past and repeat that apology without reservation today.

"Failings at that time in Rotherham in relation to child protection were wholly unacceptable and the council continues, alongside partners, to do all that that we can to support the victims of those crimes."

'Big difference'

Amy had previously received personal apologies from former South Yorkshire Police and Crime Commissioner Dr Alan Billings and Ian Thomas, Rotherham Council’s former children’s services director between 2015-2018.

"They acknowledged what had happened and how wrong it was," she said.

She gave evidence during three trials between 2017-2018 and 10 men were jailed.

"The evidence that was used in court had been there since 2003, so I could've got justice a lot earlier on," she said.

"That could have also made a big difference for other victims because it would have been acknowledged earlier that this was an issue and this was happening."

Amy said there had been some positive changes over the last 10 years within Rotherham Council.

"The Jay Report has led to big changes and a lot more understanding of CSE," she said.

“What Rotherham has done for child sexual exploitation throughout the UK far outweighs what Rotherham is known for because it's changed things for hundreds of thousands, not just children, but adult women who were sexually exploited.

“Women probably recognised when it was on the news that it had happened to them and they never really knew that it was wrong because nobody ever said it."

She added: "I’ll always be thankful for the Jay Report because it changed my life."

If you, or someone you know, have been affected by child sexual abuse, BBC Action Line has details of organisations that may be able to help.