{"id":232828,"date":"2025-10-29T22:06:07","date_gmt":"2025-10-29T22:06:07","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/232828\/"},"modified":"2025-10-29T22:06:07","modified_gmt":"2025-10-29T22:06:07","slug":"female-survivors-of-grooming-gangs-demand-apology-from-nigel-farage-grooming-gangs-inquiry","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/232828\/","title":{"rendered":"Female survivors of grooming gangs demand apology from Nigel Farage | Grooming gangs inquiry"},"content":{"rendered":"

Five women have asked for an apology from Nigel Farage<\/a> after he suggested they were not victims of grooming gangs.<\/p>\n

They described the comments by the Reform leader as \u201cdegrading and humiliating\u201d, and accused him of \u201cignorance\u201d of the issues.<\/p>\n

Last week, they wrote to Keir Starmer<\/a> saying they would only remain on a panel advising the government\u2019s inquiry into the issue if the safeguarding minister Jess Phillips stayed in post and \u201canyone who believes their evidence should be included\u201d could contribute.<\/p>\n

But Farage suggested on Monday that the women were victims of other types of child sexual abuse.<\/p>\n

A statement from the women said this had left them \u201cfeeling like we have to defend ourselves and prove that we are victims again\u201d.<\/p>\n

The women said: \u201cNigel Farage should apologise. What he said about us is categorically untrue, saying we shouldn\u2019t be on the panel because we are watering it down and we are survivors of other abuse, not grooming gangs. We are survivors of grooming and grooming gangs.<\/p>\n

\u201cFarage\u2019s lack of knowledge and assumptions about our experiences as victims and survivors of grooming gangs proves he should not have a platform to make decisions about us or our input.<\/p>\n

\u201cHis ignorance and untrue statements about us, our experiences and the validity of our involvement, his lack of understanding or care to look into our lives to make sure what he was saying was true, has meant he has dismissed people who this inquiry is for.\u201d<\/p>\n

The inquiry was ordered in June, on the recommendation of the Whitehall troubleshooter Louise Casey, who carried out an audit into group-based child sexual exploitation.<\/p>\n

Casey\u2019s review found \u201cdisproportionate numbers of men from Asian ethnic backgrounds\u201d were among \u201csuspects for group-based child sexual exploitation\u201d in some areas of the country but cautioned that it was difficult to paint an accurate national picture as there was no ethnicity data in most cases.<\/p>\n

The women who backed Phillips added that, while they had been abused by Asian men, they were \u201caware the inquiry is not just about us\u201d. Some of the group were also abused by men from other ethnic backgrounds.<\/p>\n

About 30 people who have suffered group-based abuse were asked to join a panel to help appoint a chair and shape the terms of reference. Five have resigned amid claims the government tried to dilute the scope of the inquiry beyond street-based grooming gangs. The panel was asked if it should have a \u201cbroader focus\u201d and look at other types of child sexual abuse. They have said they will return only if Phillips resigns.<\/p>\n

Ellie-Ann Reynolds, who quit the panel saying the process had become \u201cless about the truth and more about a cover-up\u201d, appeared on Monday alongside the Reform leader at a press conference in London.<\/p>\n

Farage said: \u201cFive of the grooming gang victims, those that feel insulted, have withdrawn from the inquiry, but you\u2019ll be told there are five who insist that Jess Phillips stays in place and that the inquiry continues.<\/p>\n

\u201cBut here\u2019s the truth about the other five. There are two very distinctly different groups of young people who are sexually abused and raped by adults.<\/p>\n

\u201cAnd what has happened with this inquiry is the government have, quite deliberately, from the very start, widened the scope out from those who were victims of Pakistani grooming gangs and brought in other women.<\/p>\n

\u201cI\u2019m not demeaning or diminishing in any way the treatment that [they] have been through. I\u2019m just pointing out they were victims, survivors now, of a very different kind of sexual abuse.\u201d<\/p>\n

The women who backed Phillips said they worry that focusing only on street grooming will exclude those whose group-based exploitation had begun online, through peers or family members.<\/p>\n

They added: \u201cThere is no point holding an inquiry if the scope is so small the decision is already made before it begins.\u201d<\/p>\n

Two of the group have written memoirs about their experiences of predominantly Asian grooming gangs, using the pseudonyms Scarlett Jones and Caitlin Spencer.<\/p>\n

Two more survivors, using the pseudonyms Claire and Katie, said they felt unable to share details of their abuse \u201cthrough fear of their safety\u201d, but insisted they were victims of \u201ctraditional\u201d grooming gangs.<\/p>\n

Samantha Walker-Roberts, who was kidnapped in 2006 from a police station in Oldham, Greater Manchester, and trafficked around the town to be abused, aged 12, by multiple men, also signed the letter backing Phillips.<\/p>\n

Although her experiences took place over a short period of time, she wants them to be examined by an inquiry as she fears the group who targeted her may have other victims.<\/p>\n

The Reform MP Lee Anderson said the party would \u201cneed to have a proper, grown-up, adult conversation\u201d with the women about the nature of their abuse.<\/p>\n

He added: \u201cWith regards to what Nigel has said, that\u2019s up to Nigel. We will speak to him later about that.\u201d<\/p>\n

Reform UK has been approached for comment.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"Five women have asked for an apology from Nigel Farage after he suggested they were not victims of…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":232829,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[2],"tags":[49,50,51,47,52,48],"class_list":{"0":"post-232828","1":"post","2":"type-post","3":"status-publish","4":"format-standard","5":"has-post-thumbnail","7":"category-headlines","8":"tag-headlines","9":"tag-news","10":"tag-top-news","11":"tag-top-stories","12":"tag-topnews","13":"tag-topstories"},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/232828","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=232828"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/232828\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/232829"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=232828"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=232828"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=232828"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}