Latest news with #FionaGoddard
Scottish Sun
23-06-2025
- Scottish Sun
I was raped 5 times a week at 14 by Asian grooming gang… I lost count after 50 men & it only stopped for one sick reason
STANDING outside the shabby front door, Fiona Goddard feared what was going to happen to her when she stepped inside. Men from 'all over England' had travelled to this unassuming house for one reason only: to commit wickedly depraved acts on vulnerable children. 7 Fiona Goddard was just 14 when the abuse began 7 Fiona as a teenager when she was groomed and sexually assaulted Credit: SWNS 7 Sick Saeed Akhtar was one of the grooming gang's ringleaders Credit: PA:Press Association Fiona was just a 14 year old schoolgirl when she was groomed and sexually assaulted by a predominantly British Asian gang in Bradford, shortly after being taken into care. The...
The Irish Sun
23-06-2025
- The Irish Sun
I was raped 5 times a week at 14 by Asian grooming gang… I lost count after 50 men & it only stopped for one sick reason
STANDING outside the shabby front door, Fiona Goddard feared what was going to happen to her when she stepped inside. Men from 'all over England' had travelled to this unassuming house for one reason only: to commit wickedly depraved acts on vulnerable children. Advertisement 7 Fiona Goddard was just 14 when the abuse began 7 Fiona as a teenager when she was groomed and sexually assaulted Credit: SWNS 7 Sick Saeed Akhtar was one of the grooming gang's ringleaders Credit: PA:Press Association Fiona was just a 14 year old schoolgirl when she was groomed and sexually assaulted by a predominantly British Asian gang in Bradford, shortly after being taken into care. The group - initially consisting of nine men - plied the lonely teenager with drugs and alcohol, and encouraged her to "open up" to them about her background in care. Advertisement They then coerced her into having sex with them, and if she refused, the abuse turned into "violent rapes". Fiona, now 31, says that she was abused by the gang - and other men - as often as "five times a week" and was frequently left fearing for her life. The vile gang abuse, Fiona believes in total more than 50 men were involved, continued until she was 17 years old. It only stopped because she had become "too old" for the gang of paedophiles. In February 2019, nine men were convicted of 22 offences against Fiona at Bradford Crown Court and jailed for a total of 132 years. Advertisement Fiona bravely decided to waive her right to anonymity after the case and has been speaking out to raise awareness and support other victims ever since. The full-time mum from Bradford, told Fabulous: "I want to turn something bad that happened to me into something good so that I don't have to connect it to trauma anymore. "There must have been around 50 men, but I lost count. When it went to court, because it was a historic case, I only had evidence to get nine convicted. Ethnicity of child sex abuse suspects will be logged after truth about Asian grooming gangs was 'dodged for YEARS' "It's so important to speak out as there is still a lot of stigma." Fiona was pleased to hear that the government will hold a national inquiry into the grooming scandal - but believes it is long overdue. Advertisement She said: "I've been campaigning for years for there to be an inquiry into what was happening in Bradford. It's much worse than people have heard. "I don't think "The victims and whistleblowers are the ones that deserve the credit. "They now need to work with survivors during the inquest to ensure it's done properly and they get justice.' 7 Brave Fiona is campaigning to raise awareness and support other victims ever since she waived her anonymity in 2019 Credit: SWNS Advertisement 7 Fiona hopes her own experience will encourage more exposure of abusers and support for victims Credit: SWNS Fiona was just 13 years old when she was first placed into a care home "in a high crime area" in Bradford, West Yorkshire. She claimed she was "targeted" by a grooming gang outside of the care home. The grooming began when one of the men approached Fiona and her friend, also 14 at the time, and took them to a petrol station to buy them vodka. Fiona explained: "These guys started picking us up a few times a week - and at first nothing happened so we felt safe. Advertisement "They would ask me about my past and made me open up to them about my background and being in care. 7 Fiona was a vulnerable child and teenager Credit: SWNS "Then they started playing on my vulnerabilities - they knew I wanted to be protected and to have a family and feel like I belonged. "We'd talk about vulnerable stuff and I'd get upset and cry, and then they'd offer me drugs to make me feel better. "So then I'd associate drugs with feeling better, and that's when they coerced me into sleeping with them." Advertisement Fiona was left feeling "ashamed and embarrassed" after being sexually assaulted, but whenever she tried to fight back, the men turned violent. Over the next few years, Fiona was groomed and raped - claiming it went from "coercive" rape to "violent" rape. Fiona was also taken to a house in Bradford where "men from all over England" would come "expecting there to be young girls" to sexually exploit and abuse. The abuse stopped once Fiona became an adult, and she tried to re-build her life, despite living with complex PTSD. After reading about the Rotherham abuse scandal in 2014, Fiona realised that she had also been the victim of a grooming gang. Advertisement She shared her story with the press and police, and five years later her case finally went to Bradford Crown court. Kama Melly QC, prosecuting, told Bradford Crown Court: "Some of the defendants were actually forceful, threatening and violent, others used alcohol and drugs, others created a manipulated relationship in order to facilitate their sexual exploitation." 7 Eight men pictured were given jail sentences of up to 20 years each by a judge who heard how two girls suffered an 'appalling catalogue of degrading emotional and sexual abuse which has deprived them of their childhood'. In February 2019, nine men were convicted of 22 offences against Fiona and jailed. In court the men were described as inflicting an "appalling catalogue of degrading emotional and sexual abuse which has deprived (the victims) of their childhood". Advertisement Saeed Akhtar was convicted of two counts of inciting child prostitution and one count of rape and jailed for 20 years. Naveed Akhtar was found guilty of two counts of rape and cleared of one count of rape. He was jailed for 17 years. Parvaze Ahmed was convicted of three counts of rape and jailed for 17 years. Izar Hussain was found guilty of one count of rape, one count of attempted rape and cleared of two counts of rape. He was jailed for 16 years. Zeeshan Ali was convicted of one count of sexual assault and jailed for 18 months. Advertisement Sexual abuse in numbers 669,000 adults are sexually assaulted in England and Wales every year 1 in 5 women (8m) in the UK have been sexually abused 1 in 6 men (5m) in the UK have been sexually abused 1 in 20 children in the UK have been sexually abused Sexual abuse has been attributed to : 15% of all suicides in the UK 11% of all common mental health disorders in the UK 7% of alcohol dependence disorders 10% of drug dependence disorders 15% of eating disorders 17% of post-traumatic stress disorders (Source: Safeline) Kieran Harris was found guilty of two counts of rape and jailed for 17 years. Faheem Iqbal was convicted of one count of aiding and abetting rape and jailed for seven years. Mohammed Usman was found guilty of two counts of rape and jailed for 17 years. Yasar Majid was cleared of rape. Fiona believes the government and local communities need to do more to safeguard vulnerable kids. Advertisement She said: "I've been left with complex PTSD. I'm a big believer that safe guarding starts with the community. "It is so important for people to know the signs to look out for and to know when to report to the police. "We also need to educate young lads - often it was older men that bring younger men in and then groom them into becoming groomers. "It's all well and good getting convictions, but we need to be preventing future crimes."
The Sun
23-06-2025
- The Sun
I was raped 5 times a week at 14 by Asian grooming gang… I lost count after 50 men & it only stopped for one sick reason
STANDING outside the shabby front door, Fiona Goddard feared what was going to happen to her when she stepped inside. Men from 'all over England' had travelled to this unassuming house for one reason only: to commit wickedly depraved acts on vulnerable children. 7 Fiona was just a 14 year old schoolgirl when she was groomed and sexually assaulted by a predominantly British Asian gang in Bradford, shortly after being taken into care. The group - initially consisting of nine men - plied the lonely teenager with drugs and alcohol, and encouraged her to "open up" to them about her background in care. They then coerced her into having sex with them, and if she refused, the abuse turned into "violent rapes". Fiona, now 31, says that she was abused by the gang - and other men - as often as "five times a week" and was frequently left fearing for her life. The vile gang abuse, Fiona believes in total more than 50 men were involved, continued until she was 17 years old. It only stopped because she had become "too old" for the gang of paedophiles. In February 2019, nine men were convicted of 22 offences against Fiona at Bradford Crown Court and jailed for a total of 132 years. Fiona bravely decided to waive her right to anonymity after the case and has been speaking out to raise awareness and support other victims ever since. The full-time mum from Bradford, told Fabulous: "I want to turn something bad that happened to me into something good so that I don't have to connect it to trauma anymore. "There must have been around 50 men, but I lost count. When it went to court, because it was a historic case, I only had evidence to get nine convicted. Ethnicity of child sex abuse suspects will be logged after truth about Asian grooming gangs was 'dodged for YEARS' "It's so important to speak out as there is still a lot of stigma." Fiona was pleased to hear that the government will hold a national inquiry into the grooming scandal - but believes it is long overdue. She said: "I've been campaigning for years for there to be an inquiry into what was happening in Bradford. It's much worse than people have heard. "I don't think Keir Starmer has launched the inquiry because he thinks it's the right thing to do - he's done it because he hasn't got a choice. "The victims and whistleblowers are the ones that deserve the credit. "They now need to work with survivors during the inquest to ensure it's done properly and they get justice.' 7 Fiona was just 13 years old when she was first placed into a care home "in a high crime area" in Bradford, West Yorkshire. She claimed she was "targeted" by a grooming gang outside of the care home. The grooming began when one of the men approached Fiona and her friend, also 14 at the time, and took them to a petrol station to buy them vodka. Fiona explained: "These guys started picking us up a few times a week - and at first nothing happened so we felt safe. "They would ask me about my past and made me open up to them about my background and being in care. 7 "Then they started playing on my vulnerabilities - they knew I wanted to be protected and to have a family and feel like I belonged. "We'd talk about vulnerable stuff and I'd get upset and cry, and then they'd offer me drugs to make me feel better. "So then I'd associate drugs with feeling better, and that's when they coerced me into sleeping with them." Fiona was left feeling "ashamed and embarrassed" after being sexually assaulted, but whenever she tried to fight back, the men turned violent. Over the next few years, Fiona was groomed and raped - claiming it went from "coercive" rape to "violent" rape. Fiona was also taken to a house in Bradford where "men from all over England" would come "expecting there to be young girls" to sexually exploit and abuse. The abuse stopped once Fiona became an adult, and she tried to re-build her life, despite living with complex PTSD. After reading about the Rotherham abuse scandal in 2014, Fiona realised that she had also been the victim of a grooming gang. She shared her story with the press and police, and five years later her case finally went to Bradford Crown court. Kama Melly QC, prosecuting, told Bradford Crown Court: "Some of the defendants were actually forceful, threatening and violent, others used alcohol and drugs, others created a manipulated relationship in order to facilitate their sexual exploitation." 7 In February 2019, nine men were convicted of 22 offences against Fiona and jailed. In court the men were described as inflicting an "appalling catalogue of degrading emotional and sexual abuse which has deprived (the victims) of their childhood". Saeed Akhtar was convicted of two counts of inciting child prostitution and one count of rape and jailed for 20 years. Naveed Akhtar was found guilty of two counts of rape and cleared of one count of rape. He was jailed for 17 years. Parvaze Ahmed was convicted of three counts of rape and jailed for 17 years. Izar Hussain was found guilty of one count of rape, one count of attempted rape and cleared of two counts of rape. He was jailed for 16 years. Zeeshan Ali was convicted of one count of sexual assault and jailed for 18 months. Kieran Harris was found guilty of two counts of rape and jailed for 17 years. Faheem Iqbal was convicted of one count of aiding and abetting rape and jailed for seven years. Mohammed Usman was found guilty of two counts of rape and jailed for 17 years. Yasar Majid was cleared of rape. Fiona believes the government and local communities need to do more to safeguard vulnerable kids. She said: "I've been left with complex PTSD. I'm a big believer that safe guarding starts with the community. "It is so important for people to know the signs to look out for and to know when to report to the police. "We also need to educate young lads - often it was older men that bring younger men in and then groom them into becoming groomers. "It's all well and good getting convictions, but we need to be preventing future crimes."
Times
20-06-2025
- Times
Bradford is the grooming ‘hotspot' of the UK, victim warns
Fiona Goddard was just 14 and living at a children's home when she was targeted by a grooming gang based in Bradford. She was plied with drink and drugs, repeatedly raped and 'in effect used as a prostitute' before falling pregnant to one of her abusers, a court heard. Nine Asian men were jailed for committing 22 offences against her in 2019, but six years on she believes predators continue to plague her home town. PA 'It's definitely still going on,' Goddard, now 31, warned this week as she described Bradford as the overlooked hotspot of grooming in the UK. She is among thousands of young people who may have been failed by authorities over the past 20 years, according to campaigners who claim the problem here could dwarf similar scandals in Rochdale and Rotherham. A dossier compiled by a child abuse lawyer and a Bradford-based MP maintains that up to 8,000 children were at risk of sexual exploitation between 1996 and 2025. Baroness Casey of Blackstock, whose audit of grooming cases this week prompted a national inquiry into the issue, said she would be 'surprised' if Bradford was not one of the first areas to be investigated. With the spotlight finally falling on the city and its surrounding suburbs, The Times met survivors, campaigners and residents who fear child sex attackers have become emboldened by the nation's attention focused elsewhere. Speaking as families enjoyed ice creams and water fights in the warm weather on Thursday, Goddard welcomed the new inquiry but stressed that the authorities must not view the issue as purely historical. She revealed that within the last fortnight alone at least two incidents have left local parents seriously concerned for the safety of their children. On June 10, West Yorkshire police arrested a 70-year-old man on allegations of sexual assault after a report that two children were inappropriately touched at a park in Allerton village, three miles from Bradford. Footage of the arrest, seen by The Times, shows the suspect trying to escape by reversing his car down a residential road at high speed as officers chase after him on foot. The man was taken into custody and later bailed with conditions. Five days later, on Sunday evening, officers were again called to a report of a suspicious vehicle in Wibsey village, south of Bradford, after residents claimed teenage girls were being supplied with 'alcohol and balloons' in the back seats. Officers interviewed two men inside the car and searched the vehicle, before issuing them with out-of-court disposals for possession of class C drugs. Another victim of a Bradford-based grooming gang who bravely waived her lifelong right to anonymity is Scarlett West, who is now 20. Despite living in Tameside, about an hour away in Greater Manchester, she was routinely ferried to Bradbury by her abusers before finally breaking free from their influence two years ago. Marlon West, her father, said the abuse is now 'worse than it's ever been' because perpetrators have exploited 'political correctness' to create a culture of silence in the UK. Scarlett, who attended a private school, 'went off the rails' after being physically attacked by a gang of boys at a bus station. Vulnerable, she was befriended by an older white woman who allegedly groomed her and introduced her to a group of predominantly British-Pakistani men. 'Scarlett was being trafficked around the country to a number of places, but Bradford, she was taken there hundreds of times,' her father said. The area 'is on a different level', he added, because it 'has not had the limelight' like other areas and the criminals 'believe they can get away with it'. Both Goddard and West, who do not know each other and suffered abuse a decade apart, said that snooker clubs in the city had been hubs of grooming activity. At least one has been closed down by police over allegations of child sex offences. When The Times visited the site of another club identified this week, it had also shut after going out of business. It is now used as a youth club. Its new owner, who asked not to be identified, said he was saddened but not surprised to learn of the building's history given the area's reputation for grooming. Goddard said she believes the 'dynamics' of grooming operations 'are changing' as the public becomes more vigilant to vehicles loitering on street corners. 'Rather than just pulling over in cars and seeing them on the street, they're [now] getting in touch with vulnerable people on Facebook, Instagram and TikTok,' she said. • Officers at Greater Manchester Police who specialise in child exploitation agreed. Grooming is 'evolving' and has become a 'broader' issue than it was two decades ago, they said, driven by the ease with which predators can now contact vulnerable children on the internet. Many traditional routes used by offenders — through care homes or schools, for example — have been 'closed' by better safeguarding, the force said, but the digital world was 'where the opportunity is'. 'Exploitation is still happening,' Detective Superintendent Alan Clitherow, head of the force's major child sexual exploitation investigations, said. 'It's still happening here, it's still happening nationally. We're constantly having to keep pace with how it's evolving.' But he said the grooming gangs phenomenon does 'not look the same today' because law enforcement is better equipped to tackle it after learning 'a lot of lessons' from various reviews. 'You're therefore not going to have the same level of long-term bespoke offending, but that doesn't mean that it's not happening,' he added. Detective Chief Inspector Dan Hadfield, who leads the force's online child abuse investigation team, said there were still 'definitely people working together in a certain town', but that offenders now often operate across borders thanks to the internet. 'It's not as focused as it once was,' he said. In Greater Manchester, white men are overrepresented in online child abuse cases, accounting for 82 per cent of suspects — a higher proportion than the local white population of 76 per cent. However, Asian men are disproportionately represented in group-based child abuse cases — those involving multiple perpetrators or multiple victims — and make up more than half of such offenders. Robbie Moore, the MP for Keighley and Ilkley who helped to compile the dossier about Bradford, accused the local council of obstructing independent insight into the scale and nature of sexual offending. He said: 'It defies belief that over two decades ago since my predecessor Ann Cryer first bravely exposed the grooming gangs crisis right here in Keighley, the Bradford district has still never had a full independent inquiry.' Susan Hinchcliffe, leader of Bradford Council, said: 'This is an appalling crime that blights victims' lives. In Bradford we take this extremely seriously, so I welcome the renewed focus on this nationally. 'We work hard with the police to identify historic victims of CSE [child sexual exploitation] to get them justice and provide support. So far this has resulted in 52 perpetrators receiving prison sentences totalling 570 years. 'Over the last ten years we have published over 70 reports, independently authored reviews and data, including ethnicity data, for open scrutiny on this subject. We have nothing to hide.' Chief Superintendent Richard Padwell of Bradford District Police said tackling child sexual exploitation 'remains a top priority'. He added: 'We are taking a proactive approach and have invested significant resources into tackling exploitation and abuse. 'The work we have undertaken has resulted in hundreds of perpetrators now serving lengthy prison sentences totalling thousands of years. Many investigations are still underway, with more suspects set to stand trial between now and 2027.'
Daily Mail
17-06-2025
- Daily Mail
Grooming gang victim reveals abusers' evil tactics to terrify her into silence as she blasts authorities for failing to save her
A grooming gang survivor has revealed the sick tactics her monster abusers would use to terrify her into silence. Fiona Goddard was raped and abused by at least 50 men in Bradford from the age of 14. The mother had been groomed by a gang of Asian men in 2008 when she and another girl ran away from her care home that was being targeted by the sick group. She had asked a man for a lighter, and what followed was months of them targeting her vulnerabilities and 'trying to make me feel like I had somewhere to belong'. Fiona said it quickly spiralled into years of abuse where she previously told Sky News that she was trafficked to Blackburn, Rotherham, Rochdale, Birmingham, Edinburgh, and Oldham. The sordid gang would terrify Fiona into silence for years where they would show her shocking violent videos of people's skulls being crushed. She told Good Morning Britain: 'It started the threats where they would show me videos of them beating someone to death where you could actually see their skull caving in, or they would tell me "this is where we dumped her body", and then a few weeks later a body would be found there. 'They'd turn up after being involved in stabbings and then I would have to try and help them clean up all of that stuff. 'There was an illegal immigrant who was castrated in Pakistan and was wanted by the firing squad in the Philippines after he fled from Pakistan that also came over on the back of a lorry and he was there. They were telling us how he was wanted for going Rambo on women and children. 'There were all these levels where it was quite subtle and showing us they could be dangerous people. And then it did got to physical violence with threatening with vodka bottles and smashing them into my eyes and stuff like that.' By the age of 15 Fiona became pregnant by one of her rapists and gave birth days after her 16th birthday. But the newborn was soon taken from her arms and given up for adoption as she was told she couldn't keep her daughter. Yet the abuse carried on for another two years, with police laying the blame on her. It would not be until 2019 that the nine grooming gang members would face justice when they were jailed for more than 130 years. Fiona said the prosecution was one she had to fight 'tooth and nail for' having repeatedly reported the case to police for five years. 'Over the years from 2008 and 2013 I was found in cars with men and they [police] said I was the reason society was going downhill by putting working class men in danger,' she said. Izar Hussain (pictured left) was given a 16 year sentence and Parvaze Ahmed (pictured right) was jailed for 17 years Saeed Akhtar (left and right at court) was found guilty of one charge of rape and two charges of causing or inciting child prostitution 'I was called a child prostitute. I was accused of exchanging sex in return for gifts by 14. And described as running a brothel by 17. 'Repeatedly they said I was streetwise and knew how to look after myself that even though I was a missing person it wasn't a concern and they downgraded it. 'Then someone highlighted I had been on the child sex exploitation watchlist for a while so they upgraded it to medium. There was a lot of stuff like that where it wasn't taken seriously.' Fiona bravely waived her right to anonymity following the case as she 'didn't want people to think this was a reason to be ashamed anymore'. 'I didn't do anything wrong,' she said. She said at times the abuse had left her being shunned by society which had made her feel 'subhuman'. Fiona said: 'Like I was a lower grade of society because of the abuse that did occur it was me that seemed to be tainted.' Basharat Khaliq, known as Bash, was found guilty of five counts of rape and one count of assault by penetration. He was sentenced in 2019 to 20 years imprisonment. Fahim Iqbal (pictured left) was jailed for 7 years for aiding and abetting rape. Kieran Harris (pictured right) was jailed for 17 years, he was described by one of his victims as 'an evil, pixie-faced man' He was given 16 years for each of the five counts of rape, served concurrently, and four years for assault by penetration, to be served consecutively. Saeed Akhtar, known as Sid, was found guilty of one charge of rape and two charges of causing or inciting child prostitution He was jailed for 20 years. Naveed Akhtar, and known as Nav, was found guilty of two counts of rape and not guilty of a third allegation of rape. He was jailed for 17 years. Parvaze Ahmed, known as Pav, was found guilty of three charges of rape. He was jailed for 17 years. Izar Hussain, known as Billy Joe Joe, was found guilty of one rape and one attempted rape, and acquitted of two rapes. He was given a 16 year sentence. Kieran Harris was found guilty of two counts of rape. He was jailed for 17 years and was described by one of his victims as 'an evil, pixie-faced man'. Fahim Iqbal was found guilty of aiding and abetting one of rape. He was jailed for seven years. Mohammed Usman, known as Manny, was found guilty of two counts of rape. He was jailed for 17 years. Zeeshan Ali was jailed for 18 months for sexual assault (pictured left) and Saeed Akhtar (pictured right) was jailed for 20 years Basharat Khaliq (pictured left and right leaving court) was found guilty of five counts of rape and one count of assault by penetration. Zeeshan Ali, known as Twinny or T, was found guilty of one charge of sexual assault. He was jailed for 18 months. Judge Durham Hall said during his sentencing remarks that 'no court in England and Wales seems to have escaped grooming by groups or individuals of grown men of vulnerable young persons.' He said: 'As the knowledge of the opportunity to take advantage of damaged young people spreads, it is not uncommon for young men to get involved. 'In the trial it was clear you didn't get it, and some of you still do not get it now. 'The damage and hurt you have caused for your sexual pleasure has been revealed to all, and the lengths some of you went to corrupt and groom a girl are truly appalling, and then threaten and to rape her beyond description. '[The victims] were relentlessly, by Basharat Khaliq and the other eight of you, sexually abused following grooming and, whether there is or isn't a connection to the groomers through blatant violence, over a period of years.' 'The jury have seen this case for what it was. 'Clear, determined and insidious grooming.'
