Grooming gangs survivor says 'we shouldn't be doing all the work' after national inquiry launched: 'I am not holding my breath'

Grooming gangs survivor says 'we shouldn't be doing all the work' in national inquiry
GB NEWS
Gabrielle Wilde

By Gabrielle Wilde


Published: 16/06/2025

- 20:57

The Home Secretary earlier announced that more than 800 grooming gang cases have been identified for review, with the figure expected to rise above 1,000

Grooming gangs survivor Sammy Woodhouse has spoken out after the government's announcement on tackling child sexual exploitation, saying survivors "shouldn't have to be doing all the work".

Speaking to GB News after Home Secretary Yvette Cooper's Commons statement, Woodhouse said: "Well, today we've heard lots of promises, as usual. We get another report telling us how tragic this is, how people have turned a blind eye, covered this up."


She expressed frustration at being in "Groundhog Day", noting that issues highlighted in today's report were ones she had been "talking about publicly for 18 years".

The Home Secretary earlier announced that more than 800 grooming gang cases have been identified for review, with the figure expected to rise above 1,000.

Sammy Woodhouse

Sammy Woodhouse fumed that she is 'not holding her breath'

GB NEWS

Cooper told MPs that Baroness Casey's five-month audit found evidence of "over-representation" of suspects of Asian and Pakistani heritage in grooming gangs, with authorities refusing to examine ethnicity "for fear of appearing racist."

The survivor fumed to GB News: "What we've got to remember is, they didn't even want a national inquiry.

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"Only several months ago, people like me were called racists, far-right thugs, jumping on a bandwagon. And now they're making all these promises.

"I'm not going to hold my breath, and I won't rest until investigations into every single council and police force have been done.

"It's not just the councils and police forces we need to look at the courts, especially the family courts.

"We still have rapists allowed contact and custody of children born from rape, and I'm trying to strip them of their parental rights. This is an absolute nightmare that people like me are still fighting.

WATCH IN FULL - Yvette Cooper announces full inquiry into Grooming Gangs

"It's not often we talk about the aftermath of what we're going through we’re having to fight just for therapy, support, the courts."

She added: "It's left to survivors like me to go out and do all the work. I shouldn't have to be doing this.

"Neither should other survivors. We should be in a place where we’re trying to heal and move forward in life.

"But we have to do this, because politicians, police, and social workers either aren’t doing their jobs or don’t have the resources to do them properly."

Yvette Cooper

Yvette Cooper launched the national inquiry today

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The report identified victims as young as 10, with Cooper stating that "children as young as 10 plied with drugs and alcohol, brutally raped by gangs of men" had been "disgracefully let down again and again by the authorities who were meant to protect them".

Sir Keir Starmer announced at the weekend that he would accept Casey's recommendation for a national inquiry, reversing his previous position where he accused proponents of "jumping on the bandwagon of the far-right".

Woodhouse revealed she has a criminal record from crimes she was forced to commit while being groomed, despite campaigning for victims to have such records cleared.

"Unfortunately, I've just found out that I've lost my case. I won't be cleared. I'll now be left with a criminal record probably for the rest of my life," she said.