'Condescending and controlling!': Grooming gangs victim hits out at 'manipulative' inquiry panel after resignation

The panel is supporting the Government’s national inquiry into the grooming gangs scandal, which Sir Keir Starmer ordered earlier this year, after a report by Baroness Casey found that there were still widespread problems with how the state understood and tackled the issue.

Fellow victim Fiona Goddard alleged the "secretive conduct and conditions imposed on survivors" on the Victims/Survivor Liaison Panel had led to a "toxic, fearful environment".

Speaking to GB News, Ms Reynolds said: "The way they came across was very controlling and manipulative. They almost well, they did gaslight us into thinking we had nowhere to turn except to them.

"We weren’t allowed to talk to each other, even as survivors on the panel. If we felt overwhelmed and needed support, we couldn’t speak to other survivors or to family.

"We had to go through them. When you look at it in the wider view, it felt like an exploitation mechanism, which is very sad because we all had faith that this inquiry would deliver justice.

"There was an uproar; people wanted it done. I wasn’t necessarily keen on Keir Starmer, who never wanted it in the first place and was very reluctant, but we genuinely had faith this inquiry would serve its purpose.

"And now we’ve watched it collapse under us. Fiona said she felt silenced, and the limits on how survivors could speak to each other were extreme.

"One survivor still on the panel told me last week that these restrictions felt even stricter than those placed on a jury in a criminal trial, who can’t speak to one another outside of court."

She added: "My message to the Government as they continue attempting to launch this national inquiry is: get it right. It needs to be chaired by a judge.

"A police officer or social worker would be instantly biased; these professions have failed us in the past.

"Some are scared because if they fail again, their jobs are at risk. If you’re not going to do it properly, why do it at all?

"My message to the Home Office and Government is: you underestimated the power of the survivors again. When you realise you can’t control us, it will serve you well."

Ellie Reynolds said survivors became cautious about discussing ethnicity. She claimed there was, consciously or not, an effort to expand the inquiry’s remit beyond grooming gangs.

"Every time we mentioned that many grooming gangs were predominantly Asian men, it was shut down very quickly," she said, leaving survivors apprehensive about even raising the issue.

"Sometimes these conversations need to be uncomfortable; we need to be able to talk about the ethnicity of abusers because it is relevant," Reynolds added.

She warned this approach risked creating a "whitewash," watering down the reality that active grooming gangs in the UK are predominantly Asian men.

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