‘My mother begged Oxford social services to rescue me from sex abuse NINE YEARS AGO’: Victim known as Girl C, 13, says claims were dismissed as ‘inappropriate’
- ‘Girl C’ says Oxfordshire County Council gave her ‘no support or help at all’
- Contradicts council claims they were ‘closely involved’ in supporting her
- She was one of several victims of child sex gang who abused up to 22 girls
- Seven men yesterday found guilty of catalogue of child sex offences
- They have been remanded in custody to await sentencing next month
PUBLISHED: 11:55, 15 May 2013 | UPDATED: 10:20, 16 May 2013
One of the youngest victims of the Oxford paedophile ring has accused
Oxfordshire County Council of lying about the support it has offered to
her and her family.
The girl, who was first abused at 13 by the gang, who threatened to
cut the head off the baby she had by one of them, says she was
repeatedly let down by social services, despite their claiming they were
‘closely involved’ in supporting her.
The accusation comes as seven men were found guilty at the Old Bailey
of a catalogue of offences including conspiracy to rape, child
prostitution and trafficking over an eight-year period in the university
city of Oxford.
Police and social workers have apologised to their victims for
failing to rescue the vulnerable schoolgirls who were plucked from the
streets and care homes to be drugged, raped and sold into prostitution.
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The girl said she was ignored by social services, despite their director Jim Leivers claiming he’d supported her
Two sets of brothers, Akhtar Dogar, 32, and Anjum Dogar, 31, and
Mohammed Karrar, 38, and Bassam Karrar, 33, were convicted along with
Kamar Jamil, 27, Assad Hussain, 32, and Zeeshan Ahmed, 27.
The woman, known as Girl C to protect her anonymity, said that her
adoptive mother begged social services for help in 2004 but agencies
failed to help.
Two years later the council agreed to put her in a temporary care
home, but by then she had fallen under the control of the gang, who
plied her with crack cocaine. She said that when she tried to talk to
staff at the care home, she was told the conversation was
‘inappropriate’.
Abuse was carried out at the Nanford Guest House in Oxford. Pictured is a room at the guest house
In an interview with The Guardian,
Girl C said: ‘The council put out a press release claiming they had
offered wraparound care to all the girls and their families, but the
first we heard from them in five years was a letter on April 13 from Jim
Leivers [director for children, education and families at the council],
where he says he’s been ‘closely involved in providing support’ to me.
‘That’s a complete lie. My family have had no support or offers of
help at all from Oxfordshire. Nothing. Not at any point. Not even a
phone call.’
She said the last contact she had with Oxfordshire County Council was
five years ago when her mother begged them to help stop (Girl C)
getting into trouble, and said that they ignored her then and ever
since.
Girl C told police she was attacked by Bassam Karrar in a guest house
in Oxford in November 2006 while he was said to be high on cocaine.
Officers found the girl in the basement ‘extremely distressed, crying and shaking’.
Assad Hussain was cleared of raping Child A but convicted of having sex with a child
She told police she had been held against her will, drugged, raped and repeatedly smacked in the face.
The 14-year-old girl was taken to a police station where photographs were taken of her injuries.
But she later dropped her complaint after pleas from another girl who was seeing Karrar at the time.
A spokesman for the council said: ‘We are sorry the abuse was not
stopped sooner. One of the elements of the Serious Case Review will be
an investigation of the support offered to the girls by agencies
including social services.
‘Our offer of a meeting with Girl [C] and her family was very sincere
and similar offers to the other girls have been accepted. We want to do
everything we can to help all the girls rebuild their lives and our
door is open to Girl [C] and her family.’
Yesterday, fighting broke out in the dock at the Old Bailey after two
other defendants – Mohammed Hussain, 25, and a man who cannot be named
for legal reasons – were cleared. Zeeshan Ahmed struck out at Mohammed
Hussain before being bundled out of the dock by officers.
The admissions of failure from the authorities came as it became
apparent that police missed several chances to catch gang members before
they were finally arrested.
Some victims relived their ordeals during the four-month trial,
describing how they were groomed, beaten, betrayed and sold into
prostitution around the country.
Joanna Simons, the council’s chief executive, apologised to the girls.
She said: ‘Oxfordshire County Council would like to pay tribute to
the bravery of the witnesses that lin giving the evidence that led to
the convictions that have been secured in court…
‘We would like to publicly apologise for not stopping this abuse
sooner and to reassure everybody that we have learnt a huge number of
lessons in terms of how to tackle this type of abuse and that we are now
taking decisive action to stop it happening again in Oxfordshire.’
VIDEO: Oxfordshire County Council chief executive apologises (video can be found within the main article, link below
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