Rotherham grooming gang victim bravely tells how she was blamed and ignored after being sexually abused

A victim of a Rotherham grooming gang has said she was “blamed and ignored”, describing it “disgusting” that “not one person will ever be held to account on this.”

Samantha Woodhouse, an activist against child sexual abuse was speaking on GB News after a long-awaited report into more than 200 allegations of police failures in relation to child sexual exploitation in Rotherham was released earlier today.

Speaking about the new report on GB News’ Mark Steyn, Ms Woodhouse said: “I’m not surprised about anything that I’ve read in it, I’ve been speaking about this now for 10 years.

Mark Steyn and Samantha Woodhouse
GB News

“I’ve lived here, I saw exactly what’s going on, it just feels like there’s just report after report after report.

"Let’s just remind people what happened in Rotherham, we’ve got thousands of children that were groomed, abused, raped, trafficked and some murdered.

“We were blamed, we were ignored and I’m hearing many professionals saying ‘well we didn’t understand grooming back then’, that’s absolutely nonsense.

“10 and 11-year-old children were being gang raped, professionals are educated people, it’s not rocket science to know that was wrong.

“The fact that not one person will ever be held to account for this is disgusting.”

A police and crime commissioner (PCC) said the report “fails to identify any individual accountability” and “lets down victims and survivors”.

South Yorkshire Police (SYP) admitted “we got it wrong and we let victims down” after the report by the Independent Office for Police Conduct (IOPC) concluded the force “failed to protect vulnerable children”.

A total of 47 current and former officers were investigated by the IOPC after it was revealed at least 1,400 girls were abused, trafficked and groomed in the town between 1997 and 2013.

But the final report, published on Wednesday, confirmed that no officer lost their job despite 265 separate allegations being made by more than 50 complainants.

The IOPC’s investigation catalogued how teenagers were seen as “consenting” to their abuse by officers, who were told to prioritise other crimes.

It detailed how one parent concerned about a missing daughter said they were told by an officer “it was a ‘fashion accessory’ for girls in Rotherham to have an ‘older Asian boyfriend’ and that she would grow out of it”.