Rape Gang Victim Names 18 Abusers, Police Charge Nobody

The victim of a Muslim grooming gang in Walsall, England, gave police the identities of 18 abusers in 2013 but no-one was ever charged and officers lost 30 hours of her interview tapes, prior to reopening the investigation in 2019.

“Hannah”, whose name has been changed to protect her identity, is from a Pakistani heritage Muslim family. Her cousins began to abuse her after they took a recording of her smoking a cigarette and blackmailed her, aged ten, into performing sexual activities or else they would tell her strict Muslim parents.

These were also recorded, leading to a cycle of blackmail and abuse over a period of seven years, broken only when she fled her family entirely as a result of her father attempting to subject her to a forced marriage.

Police are now being accused of failing Hannah after losing 30 hours of interview tapes and failing to pursue the investigation.

Hannah came forward about her abuse after fleeing her family and revealing something of what had happened to her to a counsellor at a refuge.

“I ended up talking to her and said that from a young age my cousins were blackmailing me’… but she listened to what had happened and [said] ‘It wasn’t blackmail, it was sexual abuse,” she said.

When she did finally go to the police, she provided them with many names of both abusers and other victims.

Hannah said the abuse took place at school, at a local park, and in alleyways around Walsall. She said she also knew of other girls who were “plied with vodka… and got raped behind the church by these guys”.

Hannah gave West Midlands Police details of houses, hotels, and even a public library where the abuse took place — but after arresting nine males who gave no-comment interviews, nothing happened, with the force dropping the case in 2015.