The BBC has changed the names of the women in this article in order to protect their identity.
Three women who were left devastated by historical child sexual exploitation in Oldham have told the BBC ministers should have spoken to survivors before deciding not to conduct a government-led inquiry into grooming gangs in the town.
Jane and Amelia, who survived abuse more than 15 years ago, and Sarah, whose son was exploited in the town while he was in care, called on Prime Minister Sir Keir Starmer to meet them and hear their stories.
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Jane was 12 when she moved to Oldham. She made friends with a girl older than her who introduced her to a man in his late forties.
“He started coming round, buying me phones, telling me not tell my parents,” she said, “then he started introducing me to his friends.”
Now more than a decade later, Jane struggles to recall in detail the number of men involved – but says for six years she was abused by a British-Pakistani grooming gang.
“There was one specific incident when I was plied with alcohol, plied with drugs, and I could not move. There were a group of men coming in and out of the room, I think there must have been four or five, basically raping me.”
Jane told her mum, the police, the council and her social worker about what was going on.
“At one point, when the police had turned up, there was an illegal immigrant with me and they came and arrested me for prostitution,” she said.
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Article URL : https://www.bbc.co.uk/news/articles/c93qplwpll2o