Aiden J Worthington

I still feel like many people don’t understand the level of evil inflicted by Pakistani-Muslim grooming gangs. Think of your sister, daughter, or granddaughter as a child. Picture them. Think of how young and vulnerable they were. Lucy Lowe was 14. Sarah Wilson was 11 Fiona Goddard was 14. Charlene Downes was 11 or 12. Sammy Woodhouse was 14. Victoria Agoglia was 13. And there are countless more. They were children. Many barely out of primary school, so young and in no way responsible for the atrocities committed against them. Think about what gangs of Pakistani-Muslim men put those little girls through. Now imagine it was your sister, daughter or granddaughter. Pakistani-Muslim grooming gangs plied them with alcohol and drugs, they raped them in graveyards, they put them into the back of taxis and drove them to be gang-raped by 20+ of their friends, they dismembered them and sold them as kebab meat, they inserted a pump into their anal cavity and had multiple men sodomise them at once, they raped them on filthy mattresses above takeaway shops, they forced panties down their throat to muffle the screams, they threatened to murder them if they told anyone, they brutally beat them, they killed them and torched their houses with their family inside, they picked them up from local authority care homes to be raped, they forced them to take crack cocaine and heroin, they convinced them they loved them so they could abuse them, they killed their unborn children, they targeted the most vulnerable and marginalised, they told them no one would believe them, they forced them to get abortions, they passed them round like a piece of meat, they threatened to kill their families, they gaslit and manipulated them. And that is just a fraction of the abuse inflicted by Pakistani-Muslim grooming gangs in Telford, Rochdale, Rotherham, Oldham and elsewhere. That is just a tiny percentage of the horror that thousands of little girls faced at the hands of their abusers. Now think about the people that were meant to protect them. Who comes to mind? Police, local councils, social services, sexual health clinics, schools, care homes. But they didn’t. Those in positions of power turned a blind eye for decades while little girls were being raped, tortured, and murdered. They branded them “white slags”, “child prostitutes”, and “paki shaggers”. They walked in on victims naked and drugged with 20+ adult men and only arrested the child, they arrested girls for prostitution and handed them back to the same men that were exploiting them, they added the victims to dockets as co-defendants in their own abuse, they downplayed the scale of abuse, they refused to investigate reports, they paid for the taxi rides the girls got raped during, they silenced whistleblowers, they blamed the girls for their own abuse, they tried to block inquiries, and more. Imagine all of this happened to your sister. Or your daughter. Or your granddaughter. Now think again about how young they were, how vulnerable, how innocent. And understand the true horror of child sexual exploitation and the depravity of Pakistani-Muslim grooming gangs.

Today marks the end of the survivor participation for our rape gang inquiry hearings. I simply have no words that describe the bravery and courage of these women who have come forward. No words. What they have been through is indescribable. It has been a life-changing experience for me. I never thought such evil was possible. Never. Not here, in Britain. In our towns, in our communities. It is pure evil. These men are so utterly depraved. If it were up to me, thousands of them would receive the death penalty. To do what they did, on such an industrial scale, to innocent young girls - many of whom were already in such an incredibly vulnerable place? There is no redemption possible. The world is a better place without them in it. I started this inquiry because so many others failed. Speaking honestly, I did not understand how deep this evil is rooted in our society. Police, politicians, council officials, the NHS, social workers, children’s homes - it is everywhere. IS everywhere. Not was. IS. Meeting these women, and men, listening to how severely they were failed by those tasked to protect them? My views have changed forever. I knew it was bad. I never knew how bad it was. Every single one who has come forward is a hero in my view. The courage and grace in how they have conducted themselves is unlike anything I have seen in my life. All because they don’t want others to suffer the same fate. That is an extraordinary sacrifice. They could have just moved on with their lives. Tried to forget. But no, they chose to do this. I am in awe of all of them. Our hearings will finish tomorrow, following the contribution of three more expert witnesses. Then the next stage begins. We will produce a report, and then we will seek to put people in prison. There are FAR more testimonies and evidence to release - this will keep coming and coming and coming. Even with a media blackout, we have reached tens of millions. We have made real progress. And following such immense demand, we will reopen the portal so that more women can tell their stories. This is just the beginning. Politicians from all parties have failed these girls, again and again and again. I do not intend to join that list. To everyone who donated, thank you. To our team, thank you. And especially to the survivors, thank you. I believe that together we can start to make Britain understand what is happening, and then finally do something about it.