Belief that children being sexually exploited were 'troublesome' lay at the heart of authorities failure to protect them, leaders admit

A belief that children who were being groomed and sexually exploited were ‘troublesome’ lay at the heart of authorities’ failure to protect them from abuse, leaders have admitted. The acknowledgement over attitudes towards victims of abuse was made at a press conference on Monday announcing the findings of a damning review into child sexual explotiation (CSE) in Oldham.

The report lays out the tragic story of 12-year-old ‘Sophie’ - not her real name - who fell into the hands of predators after trying to report a sexual assualt at Oldham police station. After being told to ‘come back with an adult when she ‘was not drunk’, she suffered a further 24 hours of torment in which she was raped repeatedly.

Social services had previously been dismissive when Sophie separately told them she was forming a relationship with an older man over the internet, accusing her of being ‘prone to fantasise’ and ‘putting herself at risk’. Baroness Bev Hughes, Deputy Greater Manchester Mayor for policing and crime, told reporters that while the review had found no evidence CSE was covered up by Oldham council or Greater Manchester Police (GMP), it did uncover ‘serious failings’ by both organisations.

READ MORE : "I'm sorry for the hurt and on-going trauma... there are no excuses": Sexually exploited children in Oldham were failed by those who were meant to protect them, damning report finds

“Children, some as young as 12 or 13 were not safeguarded from very serious sexual assault as a result,” said Baroness Hughes, also chair of the child sexual exploitation steering group. The review also found that social workers and police officers compounded that abuse by not believing the children, by not taking them seriously as victims, but rather seeing