Here's a link to an interview with Richard Corbett MEP for the Peoplesnewss

https://www.thepeoplesnewsonline.co.uk/single-post/2017/11/28/Hard-Brexit-is-a-dramatic-threat-to-workers-rights-says-Labours-leader-in-European-Parliament

On-street Grooming of children for Child Sexual Exploitation (CSE) has been reported in the mainstream media for some time. The Rotherham scandal made national news and has resulted in several convictions. The landmark trial of a large grooming gang in Rochdale was made into a TV drama. There have also been Police investigations in Bradford, Sheffield, Oxford and many other cities. These have led to hundreds of convictions for offences such as rape, conspiracy to commit rape, sexual activity with a child, facilitating child prostitution and trafficking for sexual exploitation. 

I contacted Ella, (not her real name) who is a Grooming Gang survivor who now gives Grooming Gang Awareness talks to students and professionals. She told me her story and her reasons for speaking out. She wishes to remain anonymous because her abusers still walk free.

Ella was groomed twice. She was just 14 when she was first groomed by a man who was in his 30's, who was a customer at her place of work where she had a Saturday job.

She got to know the man over several months and says he was "polite and charming". He gained her trust. He had a car and a house. He was already in an adult relationship but he hid that fact from Ella. He bought Ella gifts and the 14 year old developed a crush on him. He started to drive her out to remote places where nobody would see them together. She says she doesn't remember their first kiss, but she does remember the first time he exposed himself to her. She says "I was shocked, it hadn't crossed my mind that he might do that. He gradually persuaded me to do more and more things. After a few months of dating, he took me back to his house. I lost my virginity to him, in his bed".

She reflects "It was an inappropriate relationship but he never hurt me or hit me. My parents found out and they were naturally concerned. My Dad went to speak to him, but he just told my Dad we were in love. I told them I was happy, but looking back I wish an adult had done something to stop it. The relationship lasted several months. Eventually I realised that I wasn’t mature enough for an adult sexual relationship, because I was only 15. So I ended it, and a couple of years later we moved away".

But sadly that’s when things turned much worse.

Within a week of moving to a new town in Yorkshire, she was groomed again. She was still a teenager, and again, he was in his 30's. She had been clothes shopping in town, and was walking home alone when the man started talking to her. It was the middle of the day.  At first she wasn't interested but says he was very persuasive. "He wore nice clothes and smiled a lot. He complimented me saying I had nice eyes. I was flattered I suppose. I was single and wanted a boyfriend”.

The man was a Pakistani Muslim.

They started dating and he would pick her up two or three times a week. At first he seemed friendly and became her boyfriend. He was funny and generous and she fell in love with him. Ella says "he then became more controlling and abusive, telling me what to wear and where I could or couldn't go. I was a good girl so I tried to keep him happy by doing what he wanted. It was very much an adult-child relationship. He had all the power.”

She later found out that he had other girlfriends at the same time and says she was stunned to hear he didn't believe in monogamy. He became jealous, violent and aggressive with her. Although initially the sex had been consensual, within a couple of months it was “just rapes”. She told me that there were "no more meals out or gifts. He beat me really badly, sometimes for hours at a time, always ending with rape.. I wanted it to end but he wouldn't let me go. I couldn't stop it. He was bigger and stronger than me - he sat on me and pinned me down, strangling and suffocating me until I felt like I was dying. He pulled my hair out, hit me to the ground, kicked me and stamped on me. He threatened to kill my parents if they tried to stop me seeing him, so I kept it secret from them. He warned me things would get worse if I went to the police. All the time I was still going to lessons and doing my exams, while my teachers had no idea what was happening to me. Under my clothes I was constantly covered in bruises. This went on for a year".

He then starting introducing her to his friends in neighbouring towns and cities. "They were all Pakistani Muslim men" Ella told me, "They instantly hated me - they called me a fucking Gori (which I was told means white trash), white bitch and white slag, over and over. I was very afraid of them. My perpetrator started to take me to different flats and houses to be, what he called ‘gang raped’; sometimes by two men, sometimes more. I desperately tried to get out of it. The whole idea was unbearable. I was so gutted that the man I had trusted was doing this to me. I couldn't believe that he knew so many evil people. I felt deeply betrayed".

Ella, even today still finds it difficult to reveal the details of what these men did to her, she says "I'd rather not say the details but he put me through a lot of pain. It was disgusting. It makes me angry to think about it. They threatened me with kidnap and gang rape when I tried to escape. They had weapons. I fought and tried to talk them out of it".

Eventually the Police told Ella's parents to move her away. They sent her to her Aunt’s and they were forced to sell their home. 

Ella says she no longer feels threatened by the gang because she has the support of a partner and family who know what went on, and she hasn't seen the men for some time. She says she is older and wiser now. The abuse has impacted her life in many ways. Although she has never attempted to commit suicide she does still have PTSD, nightmares and panic attacks sometimes.

Her main abuser was arrested a couple of times, when he hurt her particularly badly, but was always released without charge. Ella feels the Police failed her badly "like many other victims around that time".

She says most Police officers she met at the time were unsupportive and unsympathetic (although a couple have since apologised for the forces failings). "They didn't even do basic investigations or photograph my injuries" she says, "At one point I was hospitalised, so in my view they were incompetent. There could have been evidence from witnesses and phone records, but they didn't even try to collect it. They just weren't interested." 

She went on to add "some Police just seemed to do the bare minimum and make excuses for not doing any more. What makes me most angry is knowing that it turns out there were so many victims similar to me, some having to endure much worse, and yet still the Police didn’t try to warn people, or try to stop the perpetrators”.

After recently re-reporting her abuse, the Investigators told Ella that there is insufficient evidence, so none of her attackers have been prosecuted, despite the ‘criminal injuries compensation authority’ being satisfied with the amount of evidence and awarding her compensation earlier this year. 

Ella now finds the strength to speak out to raise awareness on the issue. 

She says "I'm one of the 99% of victims who won’t see justice in the courts. It’s horrible knowing that they got away with it, especially as we know that they did it to so many other girls too.

“It’s only recently that the public has become aware of the scale and severity of this problem. Of course all types of Child Sexual Exploitation are bad, but some are really, really bad. My first grooming experience was what they call an ‘inappropriate relationship’ and it was fairly mild. He was Irish Catholic, and it wasn’t driven by racial or religious hate. (He had a Lolita fantasy). But my second experience with a Pakistani Muslim ‘Grooming Gang’ was horrific and especially sinister. Through listening to other survivors, I realised that the ideology and the ways of victim-blaming haven’t changed over the past 20 years. Although the majority of CSE perpetrators in the UK are white, Grooming Gang perpetrators are 75-95% Pakistani Muslim. 

Gang groomers still use the same reasons to justify what they do… For example, saying that all white girls are slags, and that if they dress immodestly they deserve rape as punishment. (‘Immodestly’ means dressing like a normal Western teenager, in jeans and trainers). This is so wrong. They blame Parents, teachers, social services, the children; anyone except themselves. With phones, internet, social media, porn, sexting and gaming, things are getting even worse. Cultural issues including ideas about Honour, loyalty and forced marriage also play a part. My perpetrator also used quotes from the Koran as he beat and raped me. I’m not saying this to stir up hate. I’m saying it because it’s important that we speak about these things so that we can bring them into the light and address them.

I strongly believe that Young People need educating about the risks of becoming a victim of Child Sexual Exploitation.  And I believe that boys need educating about risks of being drawn into gang crime, drug dealing, and sexual offending too. With ‘Grooming Gang Awareness’, boys can be educated about the laws around consent, rape, coercion, trafficking and prostitution of children. They can be made aware of the ways that a gang will groom or coerce them into getting involved and committing crime. Then they can then see more clearly what are the good influences and the bad influences on them. It’s about taking control of their own lives and leading a life they can be proud of; And having healthy, loving, sexual relationships.

I hope that by bringing awareness we can bring changes to ensure that fewer young men will perpetrate these crimes in the future. I know I can only speak to a few boys, and many won’t be interested in what I have to say, but hopefully some will be saved from either becoming victims, or perpetrators, by hearing my story.

I asked Ella whether she thinks children in Sheffield, Rotherham, Rochdale and Oxford are still being abused.

Chillingly she told me "Unfortunately, kids are being abused in every part of the UK right now, as you are reading this. CSE is an epidemic. The stigma and shame is bad for all survivors so it can be difficult to talk about. Victims are all ages" she warns, "boys and girls, from all backgrounds. I've been to Swinton Lock in Rotherham for support, and they told me that they are still getting many new referrals of recent victims of CSE. Of course familial child sex abuse is a huge problem too ".

I asked Ella if more should be done in schools and for parents to eradicate the problem, she said "Barnardo's Grooming Line gives a good basic understanding of how grooming works. I think that once people heard about the problem, many people looked back, and they realised that some things they had witnessed had in fact been Child Sexual Exploitation. Education is an ongoing task, and the level of awareness now is much better than it was when I was young. People are learning that it isn’t the victim’s fault. I also think that a lot of Police forces are now definitely doing a better job tackling it. The government has also made CSE a Public Health priority, which I’m very happy about. Next we need a National Grooming Gang Prevention Plan.

I’d like to see more prevention programs provided for boys who are at risk of committing all sorts of crimes. This is because 95% of Sexual crimes, and most violent crimes, are committed by males. If the boys already know people in Gangs, drug dealers, live near grooming hotspots, or hold the same misogynistic beliefs, or racist beliefs about women and girls, we need to be talking to them before it’s too late".

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It was always in the Public interest

David Lean was a child destined for a great future in football. He loved football and can’t remember a time without it in his life. He explained “Two older brothers and a sporting dad saw to that. Although my dad played Rugby for Fylde until a bad injury at a young age he was a star, playing for the first team at just 17 as a winger. He was also the fastest in Lancashire at school”. Like many young boys, David played football all day, every day; but David was good. He also dreamed about football every day.

He played for his Primary school at 9 years old. He recalls the school team manager, who doubled up as a teacher, told his parents at parents evening that “my brains were in my feet! Dad was happy but a little worried about this comment. Mum was devastated!”

From the age of two he had played every week at his local YMCA and soon joined their team. He also played for his high school team and his home town Blackpool school boys. He had trials with Blackpool FC before spending 2 years with Burnley until he left school, winning competitions and leagues with regularity as well as individual awards. By the age of 16 he had collected around 40 trophies for his hard work.

He says humbly “My Pro career was short! I was with Preston North End from October 1983 to May 1986, after Burnley let me go just three weeks before I left school. That was hard to take”.

He went on to play Sunday football in most of the local leagues, winning the Sunday Premiere League twice. He also played many seasons in the North West Counties and West Lancashire leagues as well as a short spell with Fleetwood Town in the late 90’s.

It was as an 11 year old though that David’s life was changed forever. On a holiday in Wales in the Summer of 1979, he met a professional football coach.

He had links to a professional club and told me I was a star of the future.

“He wrote to me in total for 11 months, grooming me before I eventually spent two nights attending a football course at his house in April 1980 as a 12 year old. I was Sexually Abused by him over a sustained period on both evenings”.

Despite being devastated by the abuse on those two nights he bravely returned home in silence, telling no one of his ordeal.

The Police were the first people I ever told

“My mum made comments about Childhood Sexual Abuse after a TV programme and told me she would not have been able to cope if that had ever happened to me ! I decided there and then I would never disclose till after mum had passed. This was in 1997 and I disclosed in February 2013. I kept my secret promise and I'm glad I did, although I went through many years of wanting to Disclose and suffering because of my decision. I do not regret it at all. I went to the police just 5 days after mums funeral and disclosed. The police were the first people I ever told”. He told me.

“If I'm honest having to Disclose and put my elderly dad through all this was such a hard decision to make, but if I was to have any chance of a conviction and justice I would need my dad and his evidence. It broke my heart him telling me about his police interview. He saw my abuser convicted before he passed away just 6 months after, on his deathbed hours apologising to me.  It was NEVER his fault or my mum's! My abuser was a professional and the best at what he did!”

I asked David about his experience of disclosing to the Police,

“after disclosure the police took my case seriously but it was later when the first mention of Public Interest came into play. The two CPS tests are evidence test and public interest as well as you needing to be credible. In June 2013 the CPS dropped my case saying it was not in the public interest! On their own website at the time it stated the following are almost always in the public interest...If the child is 12 years or younger,

If it's planned/ groomed for a period,

If the Abuser is in a position of trust,

If there is a significant age difference.

I ticked every single box!

They also said I was credible and the evidence test met too!!!”

Asked how he felt when he was told by the CPS that his abuser would not face prosecution, he says “I could not agree, Ever! So I appealed to the National Childhood Sexual Abuse review panel, which had just been formed. I was the test case. I appealed and after 7 months eventually after 2 meetings of a group headed by the Top officials of both police and CPS I won !!  The CPS were told to 're look at my case with the NEW prosecution guidance my case had brought in. Effectively my case changed the law allowing cases of CSA where only a short sentence may be handed down could still be seen as within the public interest.

I will never forgive the CPS I went through hell. My case was always in the public interest. It's just a money thing, So many CSA cases are dropped on these grounds it's disgraceful”.

The hurt doesn’t go away after conviction. David still finds it difficult to speak about his ordeal and had to take several breaks during this interview.

After one such break he told me “I feel as angry today with the CPS as I did in June 2013. Nothing will ever take that feeling away. The more I hear about the way cases of CSA are dealt with, the angrier I get. You hope it's a one off with your own case but it's far from it!! It's about money and guaranteed convictions. They care about nothing else. You are just a reference number to them”.

I would always encourage Survivors to come forward. But I would always ask them to make sure they have some support before they do. I would also tell Non recent cases coming forward to ensure they are coming forward for more than Criminal Justice. It will be a difficult road and can take 2 years and often does. I know many, including myself who have and are moving forward with life after disclosing our horrible secrets. We have taken back our life's 

“having support is vital after disclosure. I don't just mean professional support either.  Teresa my wife has been my rock since disclosure. I am fully aware how hard this has been for her. Teresa has no idea when we met and although she was the first loved one I told after disclosure to the police we had only been together around 4 years at that time. I had no idea how she would take it. To make matters worse within her role in Nursing  at times she was dealing with CSA Offenders. Soon after she changed roles within nursing !  My case has since gone public so she has had to cope with so much and I am very lucky to have her. We married on December 15th 2016 so are almost at our first anniversary although we will have been together just short of 9 years when that date arrived..

..I had asked Teresa after my mums funeral, during a weeks annual leave we had both booked for one day to myself. I told her I had something I needed to do which wasn't great but I would tell her when I got back from doing it exactly where and what I had just done. 

I arrived back from disclosing and we sat down and spent the evening crying with each of us supporting the other. It was a very hard night. Just 2 days later we would go together to do my videoed evidence. Teresa has been my rock and I am forever grateful! 

The police went to see my dad, cold so to speak. They wanted to talk to him before I did, which was fine by me. I told my 3 brothers together soon after”. 

It seems unthinkable that this sort of abuse could happen at professional clubs. I asked David what measures he’d like to see clubs take to ensure the abuse he suffered never happens to other innocent children, left under adult supervision. He says “the abuse scandal that is happening within football at this time is on going. The inquiry being carried out by the FA is on going too.  I am sure things will come out of this to improve the situation but can you stop sexual abuse within football or anywhere else?  

Mandatory reporting will certainly help and is as always being looked at. Things have no doubt improved since the 70s and 80s, but the facts speak for themselves and it's still going on today!  Football Coaches have a unique position of getting both children and parents close and supportive and a chance to spend time each week to worm thier way into families. Parents and clubs need to improve communications and hold club safeguarding nights - As well as starting to talk to the children directly”. 

Every 3 months the statistics produced within football continue to increase! 

I believe more will continue to come forward, especially when the current situation comes to the forefront early next year.

The whole system needs review when dealing with cases of CSA especially non recent cases. No priority is given to the cases from the start, unless the accused is seen as a current safeguarding concern. Resources are very tight and investigations take far too long. The process is far to slow. 

Communication along the way can be poor. 

The key tests to get through the CPS are difficult to prove in non recent cases also.

Often no support is offered to the Survivors.

So many things could be improved within the system.

Most important though is people in these positions have to be fair and professional as well as consistent in their approach. 

Survivors are treated differently by all police forces and CPS regions.

Schools and parents should open their eyes to CSA. It's happening all around them every single day.

Training is essential as schools could and should play such a massive role. Around 70% of Sexual Abuse to a child is done by a family member very often in the child's own house, which makes it a very hard situation to report to other family members. Schools need to pick up on the signs which are very recognisable with training. Parents need to understand the scale of this and again look for change.

First and foremost it's understanding this.

I campaign now to raise awareness of CSA and have run 3 half Marathons and 1 full Marathon this year as well as completing a 24 hr walk all to raise awareness and Counselling funds for Survivors of CSA for Blackpool based Charity

I have also run a successful awareness Campaign called #purplefriday on the 15th September which was so successful it reached almost 12 million people on Social media alone. Due to this we are also running a very similar campaign to raise awareness of both CSA and CSE on 15th December this year called #purplechristmas to raise awareness to hopefully keep this subject on peoples minds as we lead upto this special period for children and keep them safe so hopefully many more have a Merry Christmas this year.

Talk to your children. Know where your Children are. Listen to your children.