Grooming gang victim has convictions quashed

The convictions of a woman who was groomed and sexually exploited as a child have been quashed.

In 2002, at the age of 14, the woman referred to as Ms AB from the North West of England received a non-custodial sentence after being convicted of being carried in a stolen motor vehicle, possession of an imitation firearm and assault.

The convictions have now been overturned after a referral by the Criminal Cases Review Commission (CCRC) which concluded there was a real possibility they would not be upheld because the prosecution, following her arrest by a police force not identified by the review, may have 'amounted to an abuse of process'.

The CCRC's investigation found compelling evidence that, at the time of the offences, Ms AB had been the victim of child sexual exploitation and grooming.

During an interview with the CCRC the woman explained how a man would bring food to her house, flatter her and make her feel special.

Within months, the interactions with the man became sexual, and she was encouraged to have sex with his friends.

She explained he would use violence and emotional blackmail to get her to comply.

The CCRC referral followed publication of Baroness Louise Casey's National Audit on Group-based Child Sexual Exploitation and Abuse, which highlighted widespread institutional failings in protecting children from grooming gangs.

This was the first case referred by the Commission involving the convictions of a grooming gang victim in light of those findings.

Dame Vera said: "Ms AB was just 14 when these offences were committed. Rather than being recognised as a vulnerable child in need of protection, the evidence shows she was failed by the very institutions that should have kept her safe.

"One can only lament the lack of insight, in particular, from the police at the time, that she was prosecuted, when she should have been protected.

"She would have had no choice but to plead guilty at the magistrates' court, which she did, exactly as she had no choice but to commit the offences, since she was, at both times, in the grip of a groomer.

"Our investigation concluded there was a real possibility that, because of those failures, her prosecution amounted to an abuse of process.

"The Crown Prosecution Service Court has now reached the same conclusion and did not oppose the application. We are grateful to them for their careful consideration of Ms AB's case."

She continued: "Many children who were victims of grooming and sexual exploitation were treated as offenders rather than children in need of protection.

"We now have a better understanding of the devastating impact that exploitation, coercion and control can have on a young person's ability to make free choices."

Dame Vera said the Commission has received other applications concerning grooming gangs, and it has a "body of in-house expertise" to help with them now.

"We will always be ready to talk with such applicants with the help of a trauma-informed member of a trafficking charity or anyone else who the applicant would like to be with them, so that there is a lesser risk of re-traumatising them by the need to re-visit, perhaps, long-ago times which they will remember potentially with great pain."

She added: "I hope this decision and this reassurance will give confidence to others who may have been in similar circumstances."

The CCRC said where new evidence demonstrates a conviction may be unsafe, it will investigate carefully and independently.

Dame Vera said: "People do not have to approach us on their own; they can ask a solicitor, charity or support organisation to help them make an application."

Maggie Oliver set up her foundation to help survivors of abuse, after leaving Greater Manchester Police, where she was a whistleblower over the force's inaction over grooming gangs. She said the overturning of this particular conviction was a "historic moment" and added that she hopes it is "the first of many".

"For years, vulnerable children who had been groomed, raped and exploited were treated as criminals instead of victims.

"It was easier for police and other statutory agencies to prosecute traumatised children than to investigate the men abusing them or confront their own failings."

She added: "It was a shameful failure by the very organisations entrusted with protecting children. Thousands of young lives were blighted, not only by the horrific abuse they endured but by being criminalised for their own exploitation."

She said the Maggie Oliver Foundation are supporting several survivors to overturn convictions they received as children while they were being abused.

"We will continue to fight for every one of them."

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