It was good to read in the news today that further child abusers from Rochdale have been convicted and imprisoned.
The victim in this case had a learning disability. We often find when acting for the victims of abuse that the abusers target the most vulnerable in society. These can be children who are vulnerable because they are in care or vulnerable because of health factors, in this case a learning disability.
This victim was brave enough to come forward to the Police in 2012 and as a result if her evidence ten men have been imprisoned for jail terms of up to 25 years.
The concern remains that the Police investigation has still only uncovered the tip of a massive iceberg. The victim in this case describes having been approached by “hundreds” of men ringing her up wanting sex. For every man who has therefore been imprisoned today there will be at least another ten who have evaded prosecution.
The way remains that in Rochdale and in many other similar towns sex abuse has been continuing for over a decade and many of the abusers have escaped punishment.
We are still seeing a regular stream of client reporting abuse at various towns particularly in the North of England and I predict that it will not be long before another scandal hits the headlines to add to the terrible stories we have heard from Rochdale, Rotherham and Oxford.
We continue to act for victims of the Rochdale abuse scandal in claims against both the Local Council and the Police and if you have been affected by this type of abuse we would encourage you to contact the writer to explore how we can help.