A GROOMING gang survivor, who has told how she was raped and abused by over 50 Asian men from the age of 12, says she is desperate for justice but does not trust it will ever be delivered.
Jamie Leigh Jones, who has bravely waived her right to anonymity, told The Sun how gangs of Asian men would pick her up from her care home and even climb in her window as staff turned a blind eye.
Jamie pictured as a child around the same time the abuse began[/caption]
Police circulated this mugshot of Jamie as a vulnerable teen[/caption]
One time, police actually found her being raped by an illegal immigrant on an industrial estate in Oldham, but shockingly they did not arrest the perpetrator – they put her in handcuffs despite her only being 14.
Care records she has shared with The Sun show that she was classed as so vulnerable she was at risk of being murdered by the gangs, but social services still did nothing to stop her being picked up by groomers.
Sometimes care workers would even drop her off to meet her abusers and buy her a McDonald’s so she wouldn’t tell anyone.
Police, who knew she was a vulnerable child who had reported several raped to them, circulated a mugshot of her age 14 with quotes from a police chief saying: “We will run young yobs out of town”
By the time she was 15, she was the most reported missing child in Oldham – with 152 incidents of going missing recorded.
Both Oldham Council and Greater Manchester Police have admitted failings in Jamie’s case – but she remains desperate for answers for herself and all the other survivors of abuse in Oldham.
Now she and another survivor of trafficking Amelia* who was abused from the age of 14 by people in positions of power, have told The Sun they have been “cut off” by their council in Oldham, Greater Manchester, and have received no update on a local inquiry promised last May for weeks.
Amelia says she is also disappointed in the lack of updates from the national inquiry into grooming gangs, announced by PM Keir Starmer in June.
They are concerned that these delays may be even lengthier since the appointment of new home secretary Shabana Mahmood and a sweeping reshuffle of her department following Angela Rayner’s exit – and they urge her to put the national inquiry at the top of her list.
The pair say they feel let down and “re-traumatised” at the delays and have more trust in billionaire Tesla boss Elon Musk over the issue than any UK official.
Jamie said: “Since the Oldham inquiry was announced last year we were getting an update from the council about once a fortnight, then once a month.
“But since the national inquiry was announced, we’ve heard absolutely nothing. We’ve not had an update since the start of summer – so we don’t even know if that’s still going ahead.
“We’re getting treated awfully, like we don’t exist or we don’t matter, it’s inhumane.”
Jamie and Amelia said they had been emailing councillors and MPs to ask for an update but were just getting “stonewalled”.
Amelia, who has remained anonymous, says some survivors have been left suicidal over the inquiry saga[/caption]
They have called on new home secretary Shabana Mahmood to prioritise the inquiry[/caption]
Amelia said: “They’re using the excuse now that the government have announced their inquiry and so they don’t know how it’s going to work in Oldham.
“So instead of communicating with us and saying, ‘Right girls we’re still speaking to the Home Office to figure this out’ – we’ve just been cut off.
“I’ve been emailing the council, MPs and just getting ignored. I even went down to the council offices.
“It’s an absolute mess. No matter what the government announced in June, Oldham was supposed to be getting its own survivor-led inquiry.
“That was passed in the council chambers 18 months ago and we’ve had no progress.
‘It’s a s**tshow’
“We need some answers and we need them soon, because people are struggling. They are gaslighting us. It’s a s**t show.
“It has been said in numerous emails and press releases that survivors are at the heart of the inquiry, well in actual reality on the grounds here in Oldham that’s far from the truth.”
The women believe that Oldham Council are using the national inquiry as an “excuse” to kibosh its planned survivor-led inquiry.
They say the delay and lack of communication from officials has been traumatising for them, after they finally thought they would get answers about the horrific childhood sexual abuse they suffered.
They also accuse the council of providing them with no support through the inquiry process – even though it was promised.
A woman protesting at Oldham Council office holding a ‘Cover Up’ placard[/caption]
Protesters hold an Elon Musk banner at Oldham Council offices back in January[/caption]
Amelia said: “Some of us have been left suicidal because we finally thought we’d be getting justice through the inquiry after being let down by the police and social services and everything else.”
“Our lives are on hold while we’re waiting.
“We just feel ignored and let down, once again, and it’s re-triggering.
“It brings everything back, you start getting panic attacks and flashbacks and things.
Some of us have been left suicidal because we finally thought we’d be getting justice through the inquiry.
Amelia, grooming survivor
“It’s the being ignored, and distrust, it’s scary because we can’t help but think they are not disclosing things or being transparent to the very survivors that were supposed to be at the heart of the inquiry.
“When they know the level of what we’ve already been through in our lives from our abusers and with all these authorities, to not even reply to an email is disgusting.”
Jamie, who is currently setting up a group to help victims of grooming with two other survivors called Healing Hearts, added: “It all needs airing, they need outing we can’t let them carry on treating us like this. We can’t let them carry on allowing our children to be abused, raped and ignored.
“We don’t know how things are going to work now we have Shabana, is she as committed as her predecessor?
“I’m not confident about the new appointment if I’m honest.”
Keir Starmer announced a National Inquiry in June[/caption]
Oldham Council announced they would carry out a local inquiry last May[/caption]
Speaking back in May, Mahmood did appear to take a hard line against the grooming gangs, saying: “It doesn’t feel like proper accountability and justice for all of the victims.
“And that’s because there is still [an] outstanding question of why so many people maybe looked the other way, or why this wasn’t picked up and given the prominence that was needed, and so that’s why justice might technically have been delivered — but there’s still a moment of reckoning to come.”
However, the pair say they wish someone outside of our country and political systems could run the inquiry.
They say they trust billionaire Musk more than anyone in government and are grateful to him for keeping the issue of grooming gangs in the public eye.
‘Taking too long’
Amelia said: “They haven’t even appointed a chair for the national inquiry yet, I don’t know why it is taking so long.
“I personally think they need an independent chair from outside of this country – I’m starting to lose all faith that there will be a full and fair inquiry by somebody here.
“I almost wish Elon Musk could get involved and appoint somebody because he’s been way more supportive over the issue than our politicians.
“It really shouldn’t take someone like Elon Musk to be getting involved.
“But he is keeping the pressure up because his posts on X reach millions.”
“It’s come to something when you have to trust an American billionaire on social media, more than your own police force or your own Prime Minister, it’s just unbelievable, but this is England for you.
She added: “We trust Elon Musk more than anyone in our local or national government, one million percent.
“If it wasn’t for him, there wouldn’t be a national inquiry, it was only because he got involved back in January and started calling out Kier Starmer that this got any traction.
“Elon has been so supportive of us all, he said he was going to pay for private prosecutions, for people who commit misconduct in public offices, well I have a list of people I’d love to send to him.
“It’s come to something when you have to trust an American billionaire on social media, more than your own police force or your own Prime Minister, it’s just unbelievable, but this is England for you.”
The pair believe it is important to have a local independent inquiry into Oldham as a national inquiry may not give the town’s issues as much attention as they need.
Amelia said: “Every town is unique, even though they’ve all got similar crimes going on, they’ve all got their own complexities and I feel in a national inquiry, which I do want to be part of as well, it might get overlooked.
“They’re going to be dealing with so many towns, Oldham might just be a few pages.
“We need to get to the bottom of every single failing to make changes in the future.”
An Oldham Council spokesperson said: “Since the announcement of a national inquiry in June, we have continued to work with the Home Office to understand how a national and local inquiry could work to ensure the voices of survivors in Oldham are at the heart of this process, and that they are listened to and believed.
“We all want this to happen as soon as possible, so as soon as we have further updates from the Home Office we will share them.”
A Home Office spokesperson said: “The sexual abuse of children by grooming gangs is one of the most horrific crimes imaginable, and every allegation must be thoroughly investigated, no matter where it leads.
“We have committed to a new national inquiry which will undertake specific investigations locally. We are in the process of appointing a chair, and we are consulting victims and survivors as part of this process, to ensure we get it right.”
*Amelia is not her real name
