373 girls as young as 11 in Oxfordshire were drugged, raped and forced into prostitution but officials did nothing because thought they 'brought it on themselves'
- Serious case review reveals how hundreds of victims were not protected
- The almost 400 victims were raped and trafficked between 1999 and 2014
- Six girls alone reported missing 500 times in 5 years but nothing was done
- Police and social workers said some lied or brought abuse on themselves
- Gangs of predominantly Pakistani men were able to abuse girls unhindered
- One Asian gang was able to abuse 50 girls over eight years in Oxford
- Victims said 'snide' officials had said they 'brought it on themselves'
- Officials 'lacked curiosity' when a 12-year-old was using contraceptives
A
total of 373 girls suffered sexual abuse in Oxfordshire but police and
social workers believed many 'brought it on themselves', a report into
'indescribably awful' child sexual exploitation has found.
Over
15 years hundreds of victims as young as 11 were groomed, raped and
forced into prostitution by gangs of men of 'predominantly of Pakistani
heritage', a serious case review has found.
Today
police and council bosses said they were 'horrified' and 'ashamed' by
what happened between 1999 and 2014 but it appears nobody has been held
to account for their systemic failures.
The
damning 114-page report said for years victims were in a 'living hell
from which they couldn't extricate themselves' after 'hostile' officials
wrote some off as 'difficult girls making bad choices' when they begged
for help.
Six
girls who were being abused were reported missing 500 times in five
years but the authorities failed to act, today's report said.
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Abuse: More than 300 young people,
mainly from Oxford, pictured, were groomed, raped and sometimes forced
into 'sex slavery' by gangs over the last 15 years, a damning report
will reveal today
Some
girls were raped repeatedly by groups in attacks that would last for
'days at a time' in guest houses and empty flats, and some were tortured
with baseball bats, meat cleavers and sex toys.
Men
from other cities would also visit girls for sex 'by appointment' set
up by Oxford paedophiles, who would also transport their underage sex
slaves to London and Bournemouth to be abused.
In
harrowing testimony the report said one Oxford victim told
investigators: 'I turned up at a police station, blood all over my body.
They dismissed me as being naughty, a nuisance'.
Social
services 'washed their hands' of one victim and told her 'It's your
choice' while another manager said: 'She's streetwise, she loves it',
the report said
One
gang of Asian men was responsible for abusing and enslaving 50 girls,
mainly from Oxford, but the men were also able to sexually torture girls
for eight years after a series of missed opportunities to stop them.
The devastating 114-page revealed today that:
- Girls were offered drink and drugs before being offered for sex in Oxford and across Britain
- Professionals showed a 'lack of curiosity' even though they knew a girl was using contraceptives at 12
- The victims were 'white girls' and the perpetrators were 'predominantly of Pakistani heritage'
- Those abused by gangs who went to social workers or police were often 'disbelieved' or told they were 'bringing problems upon themselves'
- Children who said they were being abused were considered to be consenting to sex with adults and written off as 'difficult girls making bad choices'
- Police and the Crown Prosecution Service decided that a 13-year-old's abuse case could not be pursued because 'she is a 13-year-old girl who could be mistaken for being 16'
- Staff made 'snide remarks' and were 'hostile' to girls who came to them for help
- Girls were tortured with meat cleavers, baseball bats and sex toys by men who would also bite, scratch, suffocate, burn them and even urinate on them
- Parents who complained their child was missing or had been raped were seen as 'part of the problem'
- The perpetrators told one parent of a girl they habitually abused: 'They threatened to kill me and behead my daughter's baby'
Victims
were groomed using drugs, alcohol and gifts before they were physically
assaulted, forced into prostitution, raped and drugged, the report
said.
Their abusers kept them 'hooked in' by making the girls dependent on alcohol and drugs, which they then 'paid for' with sex.
However,
investigations of the response of organisations including Oxfordshire
County Council and Thames Valley Police found that victims' accounts
were not believed or they were seen as exaggerated
Scores
of professionals across a string of organisations or departments 'took a
long time to recognise child sexual exploitation (CSE), used language
that appeared at least in part to blame victims and see them as adults,
and had a view that little could be done in the face of 'no
co-operation',' the report said.
Jailed:
Brothers Akhtar Dogar (left) and Anjum Dogar (right) were each given a
life sentence with a minimum of 17 years at the Old Bailey in 2013 for
their role in the Oxford abuse
Abusers:
Mohammed Karrar (left), 38, was given life with a minimum of 20 years
for the 'dreadful offences' he committed against the girls. His brother
Bassam Karrar (right), 34, was also handed a life sentence with a
minimum of 15 years
Attackers:
Kamar Jamil (left), 27, was jailed for life with a minimum term of 12
years while Assad Hussain (right) , 32, was sentenced to seven years in
prison
Alan
Bedford, the author of the independent review, wrote: 'What happened to
the child victims of the sexual exploitation in Oxfordshire was
indescribably awful.
'The
child victims and their families feel very let down. Their accounts of
how they perceived professional work are disturbing and chastening.'
One
gang of Asian men was responsible for abusing and enslaving 50 of the
girls, mainly from Oxford, but the men were also able to sexually
torture girls for eight years after a series of missed opportunities to
stop them.
Some
were abused for up to eight years despite asking for help from the
authorities, who instead refused to believe them or blamed them.
Their
abusers fed them drink and drugs before taking them to graveyards, a
B&B and flats rented just for the rape and torture of children.
Paedophile: Zeeshan Ahmed, 28, was jailed for seven years for two counts of sexual activity with a child
One
12-year-old girl was taken to a Reading house for a backstreet abortion
during a six-year period where she was passed between groups of men who
raped her in what she called 'torture sex'.
The
plight of the victims was laid bare in 2013 when seven members of a
sadistic gang were jailed for a total of 95 years for their 'depraved'
and 'evil' abuse of vulnerable girls.
Five gang members were given life sentences and two others were jailed for seven years for 'crimes of the utmost gravity'.
The paedophile network groomed more
than 50 vulnerable girls in Oxford between 2004 and 2012 with gifts,
alcohol and drugs before subjecting them to extreme physical and sexual
violence.
They used knives, meat cleavers and baseball bats to inflict severe pain on the girls for their twisted pleasure.
But a catalogue of opportunities to stop the abuse was missed as early as May 2005.
On numerous occasions girls told
police officers, social workers and care staff in children's homes how
they were raped or seriously sexually abused – but no charges were
brought against the gang.
Three of the girls who gave evidence
at the trial were reported missing from residential care on 254
occasions.
And
the judge in the case, Judge Peter Rook, said 'police and social
services missed tell-tale signs' about the abuse that was taking place.
One
social worker had earlier told the trial that 'nine out of ten' people
who were meant to be caring for the girls 'knew what was going on'.
Life
sentences were handed to Akhtar Dogar, 32, and his brother Anjum, 31,
who were both jailed for a minimum of 17 years, Mohammed Karrar, 38, who
will serve a minimum of 20 years, his brother Bassam, 33, jailed for a
minimum of 15 years and Kamar Jamil, 27, jailed for a minimum of 12
years. Assad Hussain, 32, and Zeeshan Ahmed, 27, were jailed for seven
years.
The
report said: 'The association, not of all CSE but group-based CSE, with
mainly Pakistan heritage is undeniable, and prevention will need both
national understanding, communication and debate, and also work with
faith groups at a local level.'
However,
the report said that there was 'no evidence ... of any agency not
acting when they should have done because of racial sensitivities'.
The
latest serious case review came weeks after the true scale of abuse in
Rotherham was revealed, where at least 1,400 girls fell into the
clutches of paedophiles, mainly from Pakistani backgrounds.
Whistleblowers
who tried to raise concerns lost their jobs, and police officers often
did not seem to believe the girls, their families or those who reported
problems, and did not treat them as victims.
One
former police officer said: 'They were running scared of the race
issue… there is no doubt that in Rotherham, this has been a problem with
Pakistani men for years and years. People were scared of being called
racist.'
Similar paedophile rings were uncovered in Rochdale, Greater Manchester, and Derby.
Yesterday ten men were charged as part of an investigation into child grooming and sexual exploitation in Rochdale.
The
men, nine of whom are Asian, are accused of a catalogue of serious sex
offences against seven victims, aged as young as 13 at the time of the
alleged offences, between 2005 and 2013.
They
were held after police launched Operation Doublet into the child sexual
exploitation of teenage girls by older men in Rochdale.
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