- Published
Warning: This story contains details of sexual violence
Survivors of an Oxford grooming gang say they still see men who sexually abused them, and who have not been brought to justice, walking around the city.
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who → publish → city
"A shop, a petrol station, a restaurant - everywhere you can imagine - you'll see a man that's done something," one survivor, Sarah, tells BBC Panorama.
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survivor → imagine → Panorama
Sarah and two other survivors believe "hundreds" of perpetrators are still free.
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hundreds → believe → perpetrators
An ex-police detective who led the initial investigation into grooming gangs in Oxford agrees.
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It is the first time that Sarah (whose name we have changed) and one of the other women have spoken out publicly about what they were subjected to.
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Sarah says she was sexually abused and plied with heroin from the age of 11.
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More than two decades later, three men were found guilty of abusing her after she testified against them in court.
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she → find → court
They were jailed for between five and 24 years in 2020.
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But it was too little, too late for Sarah, who has battled drug addiction for most her life and has spent time in jail.
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who → battle → jail
"I think they should stay in there forever, because obviously they've taken my life," she says.
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she → think → life
Chloe, another survivor whose name we have changed, says she also sees some of her abusers in her local area.
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Like many survivors, she chose not to go through a police investigation.
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"It's difficult because this is where I live, it's where I grew up.
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There is a few of them that I've seen a few times, even just in the supermarket, driving around," she explains.
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She feels "sick, cold" when she sees them, she says.
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A third woman, Rachel - again, whose name we have changed - was abused between the ages of 12 to 15 and says many of those men are still free.
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many → change → men
She was a key witness in the first trial of Oxford grooming gang members, in 2013, when seven men were convicted.
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men → convict → 2013
That trial revealed the grooming, trafficking and rape of six girls over an eight year-period in the city.
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trial → reveal → city
But subsequent prosecutions have identified many more victims, and it was estimated in 2015 that more than 370 children were affected.
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Rachel says, for years, police did not believe her when she told them what was happening to her.
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She and the other women say the investigations have not gone far enough.
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Thames Valley Police works tirelessly to investigate offenders involved in these horrific crimes and bring them to justice, a spokesperson said.
"It is never too late to come forward", the spokesperson continued, and the force will listen and do everything it can to support victims, survivors and their families.
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Gangs of men were found to have sexually exploited and abused underage girls in several towns and cities - including Rotherham, Rochdale and Telford, as well as Oxford - between the 1990s and 2010s.
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Oxford was one of the places where most of the perpetrators were identified as older men of Pakistani heritage.
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most → identify → heritage
In some cases, such as in Rotherham, police were accused of hesitating to act out of fear of being seen as racist.
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But in Oxford a serious case review found no evidence that this had been a factor.
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Now, the government has launched a national inquiry to address why vulnerable children were not protected in England and Wales - including whether attitudes to the girls or the ethnicity of the perpetrators contributed to the failings.
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attitudes → launch → failings
Trapped in a cycle of abuse and addiction
Sarah says the cigarettes she was given by her groomers were laced with heroin.
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she → trap → heroin
"My addiction through my whole life now has resulted from them giving us those cigarettes," she says.
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she → result → cigarettes
She agreed not to take drugs before speaking to Panorama and received support from her case worker.
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Sarah says the men who gave her the cigarettes - and alcohol - then told her she was in debt and needed to have sex with them in order to pay them back.
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"They're like, 'well you know, you owe me this money now, so you're going to have to do this'," she says.
"
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They used to say 'drink this, drink that' to the point where I'm throwing up and sick.
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They used to just lock us in.
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"Then before you know it, there's one, two, six, seven people turning up.
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Rachel, from the age of 12, also found herself in a cycle of sexual abuse and drug addiction.
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Rachel → find → abuse
She was trafficked to other towns and cities where men paid the gang for sex with her.
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men → traffic → her
A police officer even tried to take advantage of her in Oxford, she says, but she never reported the incident.
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she → try → incident
"I was put in the back of a police van on the Cowley Road and there was two male officers and one of them said, 'Well, we know what you're about.'"
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He then asked her to perform oral sex on him, she says.
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she → ask → him
…and 23 more, not listed.
The Aporia
