Victoria Agoglia: Family seek new inquest into grooming death

Victoria Agoglia was 15 years old when she died from a drug overdose

The family of a 15-year-old girl whose death in 2003 led to an investigation into child sexual abuse have been given permission to seek a fresh inquest.

Victoria Agoglia, who was in care, died of a drugs overdose two months after reporting she had been raped and injected with heroin by an older man.

Her family's lawyers said the original 2007 inquest concluded authorities could not have foreseen her death.

Twenty years on, her family said they were now one step closer to justice.

Public law expert Claire Macmaster, who is representing them, said they wanted a new inquest which recognised Victoria as a victim of child sexual exploitation.

"My client is understandably anxious to ensure that circumstances leading up to Victoria's death are understood within an accurate factual context," she said.

"This is a milestone in my client's pursuit of justice for Victoria."

After Victoria's death, Greater Manchester Police (GMP) launched an investigation in 2004 into child sexual exploitation in south Manchester called Operation Augusta.

But this was closed a year later.

Suspects

An independent review into Operation Augusta was commissioned by Greater Manchester Mayor Andy Burnham as a result of the 2017 BBC documentary The Betrayed Girls.

The programme focussed on Victoria's death and the subsequent police operation.

The review found Operation Augusta had identified at least 57 victims and 97 potential suspects.

It outlined how senior GMP officers had chosen to under-resource the investigation and a decision had been made to close it down in 2005.

Solicitor General Michael Tomlinson KC has granted permission for the family to seek a new inquest at the High Court.

A government spokesman said it was now a matter for the court to decide if an inquest will be granted.

A separate investigation into three ex-senior officers who led the investigation was discontinued in 2022 by the police watchdog.

The Independent Office for Police Conduct (IOPC) said the decision was made as there was no indication the officers had breached standards.

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