𝙏𝙝𝙚 𝘾𝙎𝙀 𝙎𝙘𝙖𝙣𝙙𝙖𝙡 || 𝙈𝙞𝙠𝙝𝙖𝙞𝙡𝙖 𝙋𝙚𝙩𝙚𝙧𝙨𝙤𝙣 & 𝙎𝙖𝙢𝙖𝙣𝙩𝙝𝙖 𝙎𝙢𝙞𝙩𝙝

The average person is outraged about Pakistani-Muslim grooming gangs, while the average politician is trying to cover it up.

I was five when my abuse started. And I was groomed and abused by a series of men until I was nearly 16.

I remember being asked by a detective from Operation Chalice team whether I had “consented” to sex, and told by a social worker that “my actions had led me to where I was today”.

I was five.
I was the victim.
It was never my fault

But, just like those girls who were groomed by Pakistani-Muslim gangs in Telford have testified — I was made to feel as though I was to blame. The system criminalised the victims, rather than going after the perpetrators.

All the while the Labour-led council tried to block an independent inquiry into CSE for years and their Council Leader (now the MP for Telford), alongside 10 other powerful local men, even wrote a letter to the Home Secretary saying they felt an inquiry would unnecessary.

Victims in Telford were branded child prostitutes and p*ki shaggers — by West Mercia Police, no less.

Groups of Pakistani-Muslim men were plying girls with alcohol and drugs, raping them in graveyards and above takeaway shops, passing them round at ‘parties’ with 20+ men, threatening to kill them and their families if they ever tried to leave.

And still, those in power did nothing.

In Rotherham, Rochdale and elsewhere, victims were continually swept aside by those in positions of power, as if they chose this lifestyle. The attitudes that social workers, local services, authorities had towards children was so skewed, and so deeply unprofessional.

My case, like 96.5 per cent of all sex crime cases in the UK, never resulted in prosecution. I was told that there was an unrealistic prospect of conviction against any of my abusers, due to the historic nature of my case.

It broke me. And I spent years in silence because I thought I would somehow be judged or penalised for the abuse I had suffered. Because I had been conditioned to feel like I was somehow responsible for my own victimisation.

The Telford scandal made headlines when it broke in 2015, then again when the Crowther Report was released in 2022.

Yet, the news cycle moved on far too quickly.

This isn’t a 60-second-and-then-done issue. For change to occur, there needs to be constant attention because, otherwise, silence and ignorance only serves to support the predators and the paedophiles.

Sexual exploitation is a crime that thrives on misinformation, on fears of “racism” and a lack of awareness, and on being swept under the rug.

They rely on girls not being taken seriously, the media not caring and the police not taking any action to investigate.

These are not crimes of the past. Kids are still being exploited, groomed, raped and even murdered in towns like mine.

Child sexual exploitation is not an invention of the far-Right or a ‘moral panic’. No matter how many times those in power try to convince the public to forget and move on.

I even went on TV to discuss Pakistani grooming gangs in Telford and the continued risk faced by little girls in my hometown.

The next day, officers banged on my door, demanding I speak to them about my interview. They ignored victims for decades, but tried to intimidate me for discussing their failings on TV.

It’s easier to ignore victims, especially when they come from communities, social classes or demographics that are already disenfranchised in Britain. And for those who do speak out, it feels like screaming at a brick wall.

CSE is a national epidemic.

But those in power continue to treat it like a localised issue, insisting the abuse is contained to a few bad towns and bad apples.

It isn’t enough to have empty words and hollow promises.

We want those in power to be held responsible for the atrocities committed while they turned their backs.

We want justice, now.