Latest news with #SammyWoodhouse
Scottish Sun
21-06-2025
- Politics
- Scottish Sun
My Rotherham grooming gang rapist was offered access to our son from jail… it felt like his rights were put before mine
Click to share on X/Twitter (Opens in new window) Click to share on Facebook (Opens in new window) SHE was viciously raped and beaten hundreds of times, forced to have an abortion and used 'like a sex doll' from the age of just 14. Grooming gang victim Sammy Woodhouse gave birth to her rapist's baby - yet even when her abuser was behind bars her ordeal wasn't over. 4 Grooming gang victim Sammy Woodhouse was viciously raped and beaten hundreds of times Credit: PP. 4 Arshid 'Mad Ash' Hussain was jailed in 2016 for 23 offences including rape and assault on victims as young as 11 Credit: Handout The 39-year-old mum, targeted in Rotherham, South Yorks, had a child at 15 following sexual and physical abuse by gang ringleader Arshid Hussain. She said she had to face a further 'nightmare' when she was told the convicted paedophile could apply for parental rights over her son, despite serving a 35-year prison sentence. After being repeatedly abused from the age of 14, Sammy has tirelessly campaigned for victims. She welcomes the newly announced national inquiry but called Sir Keir Starmer 'vile' for initially opposing it, then finally making a humiliating U-turn last week as he travelled to the G7 conference in Canada. Sammy told The Sun on Sunday: 'I support a national inquiry as long as it will bring real change. They're saying it could take three years, but I'd wait a lifetime if it's effective. 'As well as holding people to account — including those in positions of power at the council, police and social services — I'm hoping it will address the issue of children born to perpetrators. 'Almost laughable' 'I haven't seen anything yet about abusers losing parental rights to children conceived as a result of rape, and that is something I have been campaigning for since 2018. 'Surely it's just common sense that they should be stripped of having access to their kids born as a result of grooming?' She said of her own son, born as a result of rape: 'Rotherham Council invited his father to apply for parental rights over my child without informing me, even though it was proven in court that he was a danger to myself and other children. 'It was another nightmare I had to live through. He'd had no involvement with my son, was in prison for the abuse I suffered, and wasn't even on the birth certificate. 'But I was told that the council had reached out to him — he hadn't even requested access himself — because human rights laws meant he had a right to family life. 'It's almost laughable. What about my rights, my son's rights?' Sammy's campaign to change the law has been backed by politicians including Rotherham MP Sarah Champion and former shadow policing minister Louise Haigh. Ms Champion said ministers could sign off new guidance making it clear that any rapist, abuser, or anyone who is a risk to a child does not have the right to comment on their future, adding: 'They could do that today but they don't. 'They sort of shove it out to councils to make their interpretations.' As it stands, the law allows a father to apply through courts for access or visitation rights to his children. That means he could have a say over his child's education, healthcare and where they can live. The victim and their children would have to attend court and could be cross-examined — having to relive the trauma all over again. A law introduced last year means perpetrators will automatically have parental responsibility stripped, but it applies only to those who have raped a victim aged under 13. It also applies only when someone has abused their own child or stepchild. CHANGE TO LAW IS VITAL By Natalie Fleet, Labour MP, Bolsover ONE in four of us has been raped or sexually assaulted, yet barely anyone is speaking about it. My rape was statutory rape, I was 15 and he was an older man. I have my birth certificate, my daughters, and a DNA test that proves it. Most women don't have that kind of proof a rape has been committed. That's why I'm using my platform to speak out about rape, despite me wishing it wasn't my story to tell. We estimate there are ten births per day from rape in the UK, yet there is no advice on the NHS website to tell you where to get help, no charity to support you, very few laws to protect you. I'm fighting for a change to the law. As it stands, a man can rape a woman, cause a pregnancy and have rights over the child he does not deserve. I'm tabling an amendment to the Victim and Courts Bill that means where a child is born as a result of rape, the father does not get parental responsibility. It's shocking children are the only proceed of crime a criminal can have lifelong access to. I'm determined to change that. Sammy, who has written a book about her ordeal, Just A Child, bravely waived her right to lifetime anonymity to expose the Rotherham grooming scandal. But she became pregnant at 15 in 1999, so the law would not apply to her. She said: 'I don't see how the Government can carry out a national inquiry and fail to address this huge issue. It hasn't just affected me and my son — so many victims of grooming gangs have suffered the same. 'It has happened all over the country, not just Rotherham. 'Children are being removed, being given to rapists and murderers, for their families to have access. I call it child trafficking through the system. 'Rape victims are also having to go to support centres to share access and see the men that raped them. 4 Sammy was repeatedly abused from the age of 14 4 Top row from left to right: Arshid Hussain, Bannaras Hussain, Karen MacGregor. Bottom row from left to right: Basharat Hussain, Shelley Davies, Qurban Ali Credit: Handout 'Women and children are being put at direct risk. It's just wrong, plain and simple.' Arshid 'Mad Ash' Hussain, who is ten years older than Sammy, was jailed in 2016 for 23 offences including rape and assault on victims as young as 11. He is not named on Sammy's son's birth certificate and has never had parental responsibility for him under its legal definition. But he was listed as a respondent in court proceedings instigated by Rotherham Council in 2017. Officials told him he could seek visits from his son and promised to keep him informed of all future proceedings. At a family court hearing, Sammy was told — with no prior warning — that Hussain could attend and seek legal representation. He chose not to, but would have been entitled to request visitation rights, or for his son to be given into the custody of his relatives. I just felt like a dead body on a slab in a morgue. Sammy Woodhouse Sammy said: 'Thankfully he never wanted any part in his son's life so never applied. But the point is, he should never have been given the option. I felt like his rights were put before mine or my son's.' In a statement at the time, Rotherham Council said: 'At no stage has it been the intention of the council to put any child at risk, or to allow any convicted child sexual exploitation offender to have care of any child.' It sought clarification from the Ministry of Justice as to how legal directions relating to Family Court proceedings should be applied. An MoJ statement said: 'Local authorities can apply to courts to request permission not to notify parents without parental responsibility about care proceedings, and courts should consider the potential harm to the child and mother when making this decision. 'This is obviously a very distressing incident and the relevant departments and local authority will work urgently to understand and address the failings in this case.' Victims' Commissioner Baroness Newlove said it was a 'perverse situation', adding: 'A victim of the worst sexual violence faced the prospect of continuing to be abused by her perpetrator, this time via the family courts.' Sammy's 2018 campaign calling for the amendment of the 1989 Children Act to 'ban any male with a child conceived by rape from applying for access/rights' attracted nearly half a million signatures. 'Absolute monster' She is also campaigning for grooming gang victims to have their criminal convictions quashed when they were coerced into crimes by their abusers. And she wants those in positions of power who turned a blind eye to the gangs to be held to account. She said: 'They should face criminal convictions. It's the only way to stop it happening in the future. 'At the very least, they should be stripped of their pensions.' Sammy has also campaigned — successfully — for children born from rape to be legally recognised as victims, so they can access any support they may need. She felt passionate about the issue after witnessing at first hand how hard it was for her son to come to learn that his father was a rapist. The new law was introduced in 2023, making England and Wales among the first nations in the world to officially confer victim status to children born of rape. Sammy was subjected to horrendous abuse from the age of 14, including rape, assaults and coercion, with threats to kill her family at the hands of Hussain. She has previously said: 'I was pretty much his sex doll. He was an absolute monster. 'I just felt like a dead body on a slab in a morgue.' In 2013, after years of abuse, she approached The Times anonymously with her claims. The resulting coverage led to the 2014 Jay Inquiry, which exposed the Rotherham gang and led to the discovery of more than 1,400 abuse victims in the town between 1997 and 2013.
The Irish Sun
21-06-2025
- Politics
- The Irish Sun
My Rotherham grooming gang rapist was offered access to our son from jail… it felt like his rights were put before mine
SHE was viciously raped and beaten hundreds of times, forced to have an abortion and used 'like a sex doll' from the age of just 14. Grooming gang victim Sammy Woodhouse gave birth to her rapist's baby - yet even when her abuser was behind bars her ordeal wasn't over. 4 Grooming gang victim Sammy Woodhouse was viciously raped and beaten hundreds of times Credit: PP. 4 Arshid 'Mad Ash' Hussain was jailed in 2016 for 23 offences including rape and assault on victims as young as 11 Credit: Handout The 39-year-old mum, targeted in Rotherham, South Yorks, had a child at 15 following sexual and physical abuse by gang ringleader Arshid Hussain. She said she had to face a further 'nightmare' when she was told the convicted paedophile could apply for parental rights over her son, despite serving a 35-year prison sentence. After being repeatedly abused from the age of 14, Sammy has tirelessly campaigned for victims. She welcomes the newly announced national inquiry but called Sir Keir Starmer 'vile' for initially opposing it, then finally making a humiliating U-turn last week as he travelled to the G7 conference in Canada. Sammy told The Sun on Sunday: 'I support a national inquiry as long as it will bring real change. They're saying it could take three years, but I'd wait a lifetime if it's effective. 'As well as holding people to account — including those in positions of power at the council, police and social services — I'm hoping it will address the issue of children born to perpetrators. 'Almost laughable' 'I haven't seen anything yet about abusers losing parental rights to children conceived as a result of rape, and that is something I have been campaigning for since 2018. 'Surely it's just common sense that they should be stripped of having access to their kids born as a result of grooming?' She said of her own son, born as a result of rape: 'Rotherham Council invited his father to apply for parental rights over my child without informing me, even though it was proven in court that he was a danger to myself and other children. 'It was another nightmare I had to live through. He'd had no involvement with my son, was in prison for the abuse I suffered, and wasn't even on the birth certificate. 'But I was told that the council had reached out to him — he hadn't even requested access himself — because human rights laws meant he had a right to family life. 'It's almost laughable. What about my rights, my son's rights?' Sammy's campaign to change the law has been backed by politicians including Rotherham MP Sarah Champion and former shadow policing minister Ms Champion said ministers could sign off new guidance making it clear that any rapist, abuser, or anyone who is a risk to a child does not have the right to comment on their future , adding: 'They could do that today but they don't. 'They sort of shove it out to councils to make their interpretations.' As it stands, the law allows a father to apply through courts for access or visitation rights to his children. That means he could have a say over his child's education, healthcare and where they can live. The victim and their children would have to attend court and could be cross-examined — having to relive the trauma all over again. A law introduced last year means perpetrators will automatically have parental responsibility stripped, but it applies only to those who have raped a victim aged under 13. It also applies only when someone has abused their own child or stepchild. CHANGE TO LAW IS VITAL By Natalie Fleet, Labour MP, Bolsover ONE in four of us has been raped or sexually assaulted, yet barely anyone is speaking about it. My rape was statutory rape, I was 15 and he was an older man. I have my birth certificate, my daughters, and a DNA test that proves it. Most women don't have that kind of proof a rape has been committed. That's why I'm using my platform to speak out about rape, despite me wishing it wasn't my story to tell. We estimate there are ten births per day from rape in the UK, yet there is no advice on the NHS website to tell you where to get help, no charity to support you, very few laws to protect you. I'm fighting for a change to the law. As it stands, a man can rape a woman, cause a pregnancy and have rights over the child he does not deserve. I'm tabling an amendment to the Victim and Courts Bill that means where a child is born as a result of rape, the father does not get parental responsibility. It's shocking children are the only proceed of crime a criminal can have lifelong access to. I'm determined to change that. Sammy, who has written a book about her ordeal, Just A Child, bravely waived her right to lifetime anonymity to expose the Rotherham grooming scandal. But she became pregnant at 15 in 1999, so the law would not apply to her. She said: 'I don't see how the Government can carry out a national inquiry and fail to address this huge issue. It hasn't just affected me and my son — so many victims of grooming gangs have suffered the same. 'It has happened all over the country, not just Rotherham. 'Children are being removed, being given to rapists and murderers, for their families to have access. I call it child trafficking through the system. 'Rape victims are also having to go to support centres to share access and see the men that raped them. 4 Sammy was repeatedly abused from the age of 14 4 Top row from left to right: Arshid Hussain, Bannaras Hussain, Karen MacGregor. Bottom row from left to right: Basharat Hussain, Shelley Davies, Qurban Ali Credit: Handout 'Women and children are being put at direct risk. It's just wrong, plain and simple.' Arshid 'Mad Ash' Hussain, who is ten years older than Sammy, was jailed in 2016 for 23 offences including rape and assault on victims as young as 11. He is not named on Sammy's son's birth certificate and has never had parental responsibility for him under its legal definition. But he was listed as a respondent in court proceedings instigated by Rotherham Council in 2017. Officials told him he could seek visits from his son and promised to keep him informed of all future proceedings. At a family court hearing, Sammy was told — with no prior warning — that Hussain could attend and seek legal representation. He chose not to, but would have been entitled to request visitation rights, or for his son to be given into the custody of his relatives. I just felt like a dead body on a slab in a morgue. Sammy Woodhouse Sammy said: 'Thankfully he never wanted any part in his son's life so never applied. But the point is, he should never have been given the option. I felt like his rights were put before mine or my son's.' In a statement at the time, Rotherham Council said: 'At no stage has it been the intention of the council to put any child at risk, or to allow any convicted child sexual exploitation offender to have care of any child.' It sought clarification from the Ministry of Justice as to how legal directions relating to Family Court proceedings should be applied. An MoJ statement said: 'Local authorities can apply to courts to request permission not to notify parents without parental responsibility about care proceedings, and courts should consider the potential harm to the child and mother when making this decision. 'This is obviously a very distressing incident and the relevant departments and local authority will work urgently to understand and address the failings in this case.' Victims' Commissioner Baroness Newlove said it was a 'perverse situation', adding: 'A victim of the worst sexual violence faced the prospect of continuing to be abused by her perpetrator, this time via the family courts.' Sammy's 2018 campaign calling for the amendment of the 1989 Children Act to 'ban any male with a child conceived by rape from applying for access/rights' attracted nearly half a million signatures. 'Absolute monster' She is also campaigning for grooming gang victims to have their criminal convictions quashed when they were coerced into crimes by their abusers. And she wants those in positions of power who turned a blind eye to the gangs to be held to account. She said: 'They should face criminal convictions. It's the only way to stop it happening in the future. 'At the very least, they should be stripped of their pensions.' Sammy has also campaigned — successfully — for children born from rape to be legally recognised as victims, so they can access any support they may need. She felt passionate about the issue after witnessing at first hand how hard it was for her son to come to learn that his father was a rapist. The new law was introduced in 2023, making Sammy was subjected to horrendous abuse from the age of 14, including rape, assaults and coercion, with threats to kill her family at the hands of Hussain. She has previously said: 'I was pretty much his sex doll. He was an absolute monster. 'I just felt like a dead body on a slab in a morgue.' In 2013, after years of abuse, she approached The Times anonymously with her claims. The resulting coverage led to the 2014 Jay Inquiry, which exposed the Rotherham gang and led to the discovery of more than 1,400 abuse victims in the town between 1997 and 2013.
The Sun
21-06-2025
- Politics
- The Sun
My Rotherham grooming gang rapist was offered access to our son from jail… it felt like his rights were put before mine
SHE was viciously raped and beaten hundreds of times, forced to have an abortion and used 'like a sex doll' from the age of just 14. Grooming gang victim Sammy Woodhouse gave birth to her rapist's baby - yet even when her abuser was behind bars her ordeal wasn't over. 4 4 The 39-year-old mum, targeted in Rotherham, South Yorks, had a child at 15 following sexual and physical abuse by gang ringleader Arshid Hussain. She said she had to face a further 'nightmare' when she was told the convicted paedophile could apply for parental rights over her son, despite serving a 35-year prison sentence. After being repeatedly abused from the age of 14, Sammy has tirelessly campaigned for victims. She welcomes the newly announced national inquiry but called Sir Keir Starmer 'vile' for initially opposing it, then finally making a humiliating U-turn last week as he travelled to the G7 conference in Canada. Sammy told The Sun on Sunday: 'I support a national inquiry as long as it will bring real change. They're saying it could take three years, but I'd wait a lifetime if it's effective. 'As well as holding people to account — including those in positions of power at the council, police and social services — I'm hoping it will address the issue of children born to perpetrators. 'Almost laughable' 'I haven't seen anything yet about abusers losing parental rights to children conceived as a result of rape, and that is something I have been campaigning for since 2018. 'Surely it's just common sense that they should be stripped of having access to their kids born as a result of grooming?' She said of her own son, born as a result of rape: 'Rotherham Council invited his father to apply for parental rights over my child without informing me, even though it was proven in court that he was a danger to myself and other children. 'It was another nightmare I had to live through. He'd had no involvement with my son, was in prison for the abuse I suffered, and wasn't even on the birth certificate. 'But I was told that the council had reached out to him — he hadn't even requested access himself — because human rights laws meant he had a right to family life. 'It's almost laughable. What about my rights, my son's rights?' Sammy's campaign to change the law has been backed by politicians including Rotherham MP Sarah Champion and former shadow policing minister Louise Haigh. Ms Champion said ministers could sign off new guidance making it clear that any rapist, abuser, or anyone who is a risk to a child does not have the right to comment on their future, adding: 'They could do that today but they don't. 'They sort of shove it out to councils to make their interpretations.' As it stands, the law allows a father to apply through courts for access or visitation rights to his children. That means he could have a say over his child's education, healthcare and where they can live. The victim and their children would have to attend court and could be cross-examined — having to relive the trauma all over again. A law introduced last year means perpetrators will automatically have parental responsibility stripped, but it applies only to those who have raped a victim aged under 13. It also applies only when someone has abused their own child or stepchild. CHANGE TO LAW IS VITAL By Natalie Fleet, Labour MP, Bolsover ONE in four of us has been raped or sexually assaulted, yet barely anyone is speaking about it. My rape was statutory rape, I was 15 and he was an older man. I have my birth certificate, my daughters, and a DNA test that proves it. Most women don't have that kind of proof a rape has been committed. That's why I'm using my platform to speak out about rape, despite me wishing it wasn't my story to tell. We estimate there are ten births per day from rape in the UK, yet there is no advice on the NHS website to tell you where to get help, no charity to support you, very few laws to protect you. I'm fighting for a change to the law. As it stands, a man can rape a woman, cause a pregnancy and have rights over the child he does not deserve. I'm tabling an amendment to the Victim and Courts Bill that means where a child is born as a result of rape, the father does not get parental responsibility. It's shocking children are the only proceed of crime a criminal can have lifelong access to. I'm determined to change that. Sammy, who has written a book about her ordeal, Just A Child, bravely waived her right to lifetime anonymity to expose the Rotherham grooming scandal. But she became pregnant at 15 in 1999, so the law would not apply to her. She said: 'I don't see how the Government can carry out a national inquiry and fail to address this huge issue. It hasn't just affected me and my son — so many victims of grooming gangs have suffered the same. 'It has happened all over the country, not just Rotherham. 'Children are being removed, being given to rapists and murderers, for their families to have access. I call it child trafficking through the system. 'Rape victims are also having to go to support centres to share access and see the men that raped them. 4 4 'Women and children are being put at direct risk. It's just wrong, plain and simple.' Arshid 'Mad Ash' Hussain, who is ten years older than Sammy, was jailed in 2016 for 23 offences including rape and assault on victims as young as 11. He is not named on Sammy's son's birth certificate and has never had parental responsibility for him under its legal definition. But he was listed as a respondent in court proceedings instigated by Rotherham Council in 2017. Officials told him he could seek visits from his son and promised to keep him informed of all future proceedings. At a family court hearing, Sammy was told — with no prior warning — that Hussain could attend and seek legal representation. He chose not to, but would have been entitled to request visitation rights, or for his son to be given into the custody of his relatives. I just felt like a dead body on a slab in a morgue. Sammy Woodhouse Sammy said: 'Thankfully he never wanted any part in his son's life so never applied. But the point is, he should never have been given the option. I felt like his rights were put before mine or my son's.' In a statement at the time, Rotherham Council said: 'At no stage has it been the intention of the council to put any child at risk, or to allow any convicted child sexual exploitation offender to have care of any child.' It sought clarification from the Ministry of Justice as to how legal directions relating to Family Court proceedings should be applied. An MoJ statement said: 'Local authorities can apply to courts to request permission not to notify parents without parental responsibility about care proceedings, and courts should consider the potential harm to the child and mother when making this decision. 'This is obviously a very distressing incident and the relevant departments and local authority will work urgently to understand and address the failings in this case.' Victims' Commissioner Baroness Newlove said it was a 'perverse situation', adding: 'A victim of the worst sexual violence faced the prospect of continuing to be abused by her perpetrator, this time via the family courts.' Sammy's 2018 campaign calling for the amendment of the 1989 Children Act to 'ban any male with a child conceived by rape from applying for access/rights' attracted nearly half a million signatures. 'Absolute monster' She is also campaigning for grooming gang victims to have their criminal convictions quashed when they were coerced into crimes by their abusers. And she wants those in positions of power who turned a blind eye to the gangs to be held to account. She said: 'They should face criminal convictions. It's the only way to stop it happening in the future. 'At the very least, they should be stripped of their pensions.' Sammy has also campaigned — successfully — for children born from rape to be legally recognised as victims, so they can access any support they may need. She felt passionate about the issue after witnessing at first hand how hard it was for her son to come to learn that his father was a rapist. The new law was introduced in 2023, making England and Wales among the first nations in the world to officially confer victim status to children born of rape. Sammy was subjected to horrendous abuse from the age of 14, including rape, assaults and coercion, with threats to kill her family at the hands of Hussain. She has previously said: 'I was pretty much his sex doll. He was an absolute monster. 'I just felt like a dead body on a slab in a morgue.' In 2013, after years of abuse, she approached The Times anonymously with her claims. The resulting coverage led to the 2014 Jay Inquiry, which exposed the Rotherham gang and led to the discovery of more than 1,400 abuse victims in the town between 1997 and 2013.
Telegraph
19-06-2025
- Politics
- Telegraph
Starmer should quit over grooming gang scandal, says survivor
Sir Keir Starmer should quit as Prime Minister over his failings around the grooming gang scandal, a campaigning survivor has said. Sammy Woodhouse, who helped expose the Rotherham abuse scandal, said she was disgusted by Sir Keir's conduct in recent months, adding that any politician who had rejected calls for a national inquiry should resign. Ms Woodhouse was just 14 years old when she was groomed and raped by 24-year-old Arshad Hussain, who was the leader of a child exploitation gang. She eventually spoke about her ordeal publicly and her testimony helped bring about Prof Jay's inquiry, which revealed that at least 1,400 children had been abused in Rotherham between 1997 and 2013. Her abuser was later jailed for 35 years and she became a leading campaigner fighting to expose the national grooming gang scandal. Speaking to the Planet Normal podcast, Ms Woodhouse told Allison Pearson of her anger at the way the Prime Minister had initially dismissed the need for a national inquiry and had accused those in support of jumping on a far-Right bandwagon. She said: 'Well, I'm not far-Right and I'm not jumping on a bandwagon. He is just a coward. At the end of the day we're talking about children being groomed, abused, raped, tortured, trafficked, murdered, impregnated, criminalised. 'We are talking about the most heinous crimes that could ever happen, and he wants to just throw these stupid comments in, that we're far-Right and racist, it's absolutely disgusting. 'I don't think he should be prime minister. People are asking me: 'Do you want an apology from him?' Well, no, I don't want an apology. I want a resignation. 'All these politicians that voted no to an inquiry should not be politicians. It's absolutely disgusting that they still are. I think they've just shown their true colours.' Ms Woodhouse said her abuser and rapist believed he was untouchable because people in authority were frightened of being perceived as racist or Islamophobic. She said: 'I was never treated as a victim. I was treated as his mistress, as his girlfriend, and as though, you know, the whole thing was consensual. 'Pretty much all the children were treated like that. If you look at my files, he was invited to medical appointments.' She said: 'In my own files it shows that an anti-racism coordinator was actually attending my meetings.' She also alleged that one of the police officers investigating her case – who was later killed – had bought drugs from her abuser. Ms Woodhouse told the podcast that the Government should ensure that any convicted rapists or child abusers who hold dual citizenship are deported once they have served their sentence. She said: 'I think we have a very weak government, and we have people – and I think it's probably worse now than what it was back in my day, as a child – that don't want to upset the Pakistani Muslim community. 'Now, I don't care what race you are, what religion you are, what gender you are, if you are raping children, you should be prosecuted. And if you're not from this country, get 'em out.'
Times
17-06-2025
- Times
Gangs raped ‘lost' girls because no one cared
I t's always Sammy Woodhouse I think of when politicians start trading insults about who is to blame for the grooming gangs. The prettiest little girl in Rotherham dreamt of becoming a dancer but ended up 'like a dead body on a slab' after meeting Arshid (Mad Ash) Hussain, 24, a married father of two from Pakistan. When she was just 12, she told me, he started picking her up from school, showering her with gifts and making her feel special, until he plied her with vodka and spliffs while she was in her uniform. He began to abuse her with his accomplices on stained mattresses in abandoned flats. 'He could treat me like a queen. Then he used to get pissed off and beat and rape me. I felt it was my fault, and he was doing it to teach me to behave.' Everyone in authority knew: the police, teachers, shopkeepers and social services. 'It wasn't some dirty secret. I was dismissed as a slag, his sex doll.'
