"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

A 12-year-old girl who was raped multiple times by different men was failed by Oldham authorities and police missed opportunities to bring her abusers to justice, a damning report has concluded.

Almost three years after being commissioned, a review into allegations of historic child sexual exploitation has found that children in Oldham were being exploited and let down by services which tried and failed to protect them.

Among its damning findings, the review has uncovered that:

In an individual case, the review found that Sophie - not her real name - fell into the hands of predators after trying to report a sexual assault at Oldham police station, which led to a further 24 hours of torment in which she was raped repeatedly.

The review, commissioned by Oldham council in 2019 and written by experts Malcolm Newsam and Gary Ridgway, looked at the way authorities have dealt with child sexual exploitation between 2011 and 2014, and one specific case dating back to 2005.

It was launched on the back of allegations made on social media which have gained a large following and have begun to exert significant influence within Oldham politics - contributing to the dethroning of two council leaders in just two years.

However the report states that it has found no evidence of a widespread cover-up of sexual exploitation in the borough, and between the years 2011 to 2014 services endeavoured to prevent at risk young people from being taken advantage of. But the authors say that while strategies were good on paper, they frequently did not translate into protecting children on the ground from abuse.

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The ‘Messenger’ service, which was set up in 2006, aimed to safeguard children against