His force is now at the forefront of the war against the grooming gangs, Asian or otherwise, but it’s also come under investigation by the Independent Police Complaints Commission for its handling of the Rochdale case.
Things have changed massively among British police forces, not least the one in Greater Manchester, and there’s certainly a greater awareness of what always was, and remains, a comparatively small pocket of crime.
But in the future they will have to remain vigilant, and they’ll have to be prepared to investigate what they see in front of them: not hide from it because it might make for some uneasy issues to be dealt with.
Mr Afzal justifiably took the plaudits in the aftermath of the Girl A trial and since then he’s gone on to become a passionate campaigner on the issue of child sexual exploitation. But it shouldn’t be forgotten that the CPS did not bring my case to court all those years earlier.
Rochdale Social Services, though, are the people I blame the most. The top brass at Rochdale Council remain so scared of what might still come out of the woodwork that they keep sending a girl from their legal department scurrying from hearing to hearing, trial to trial, so they can be ready to deal with the issues they suspect are heading their way.
Whatever the issues, I’m guessing they’ll be expensive. Steve Garner, the man in charge of children’s social care, left the council ‘with fond memories’. And both he and two former chief executives were hauled up before the Home Affairs Select Committee of the House of Commons.
However, heroines have emerged, namely Miss Crabtree, who tried so hard to help me at school, and Sara from Crisis Intervention. Sara gave evidence to the Home Affairs Committee and, bless her, she told it as it was.
‘It was about attitudes towards teenagers,’ she said. ‘Vulnerable young people did not have a voice. They were overlooked. They were discriminated against. They were treated appallingly by protective services.’
She had tried her best, she said. ‘I told everybody these children were being abused.’
And then Jane. Jane who has seen so many girls like me that she must have spotted straight away just how vulnerable I was; how at risk.
For all that I tried to throw her off the scent, she battled through even the worst of times to reach out to me: in her office, at school, at the Asda café in Pilsworth, and on all those harrowing journeys to and from the VIPER parades.
Mum and Dad, for so long bewildered and out of their depth, came through for me and are even now fighting desperately hard to help save kids like the one they almost lost.
Sometimes I think about the other girls too. The other victims. About Shannon who’d gone before me; about Roxanne who never stood a chance; about Leah, who might have been saved if only people had acted sooner; and about all the other girls who have over so many years just slipped, unnoticed, between the gaps in the care that was supposed to protect them.
Courtney wouldn’t even admit to me what had happened to her, let alone open up to the police. She’s moved away now and we’ve lost touch. I’ve no idea what happened to Paige, but I fear for her because she’s another of the girls who wouldn’t tell her story to the police.
Nadine’s still out there, still believing herself to be ‘in love’ with the Asian men who see her as easy meat, still refusing to talk to the police about them so they can go on trial for what they did to her when she was twelve and thirteen. Maybe, just maybe, she’ll come forward.
I even think about Emma. Emma the recruiter, who once, a long time ago, was also one of us. I hope that even she has found some sort of peace.
In darker moments I recall that some of the men who abused me are still out there, perhaps because I’d not recognised them in the VIPER parades, sometimes because the police never managed to trace them, or else because they’ve fled to Pakistan. Men like Mulla and Megamuncher, like Boss and Juicy, like the ‘gangster’, Lateef, like Gulshan, and like Ali and the others from Leeds and Bradford.
They and all the others can all go to hell as far as I’m concerned and, in Daddy’s case, I think Lanika would back me on that one. It’s not Christian, I know, and it’s not Muslim either, but I imagine it’s the way we both feel.
Jane is still in Heywood, still doing the same job she’s done for years. She rang me the other day to see how I was.
‘Yeah, I’m fine,’ I said. ‘I’m in my own place now with Chloe. She’s thriving and I’m finding that, yes, I actually do have a future. I really do.’
Acknowledgements
I would like to thank my mum and dad and all of my family and friends for their love and support. Thanks to the support services that gave me their time and guided me through this experience. And, a special thank you to Nigel Bunyan for his hard work and passion while helping me to tell my story.
About the Author
Since fighting for justice as a victim of the Rochdale child trafficking ring, Girl A has been focusing on building a happy and normal life for herself in the north of England.
Copyright
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First published in 2013 by Ebury Press, an imprint of Ebury Publishing
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