A woman who was raped and abused by at least 50 men has said she feels insulted after her compensation claims were denied by authorities.
Fiona Goddard was just aged 14 when she was abused by a gang of Asian men in 2008 in a children’s home in Bradford.
It would not be until 2019 that the nine grooming gang members would face justice when they were jailed for more than 130 years.
However, Ms Goddard has said it was ‘really insulting’ to see ‘another level of dismissal’ after she made a legal claim against West Yorkshire Police and Bradford Council.
A safeguarding review revealed her mother had voiced worries about child sexual exploitation in 2008, and there was evidence her daughter was in contact with adult males, but ‘this was not acted upon by the police or children’s social care’.
It added that Ms Goddard went missing ‘on an almost daily basis’, being described as ‘unauthorised absences’ resulting in police response to a grading of similar to ‘missing’.
In a letter sent to Ms Goddard’s solicitor, West Yorkshire Police said: ‘The claims in negligence, misfeasance and conspiracy to injury are, with respect, entirely without merit.’ The force told the Daily Mail: ‘As this is an ongoing legal matter, we are unable to provide further comment.’
Speaking to the BBC, Ms Goddard said: ‘Publicly to the media, they’re accepting they failed, they’re accepting that they did stuff wrong but in private they’re trying to gaslight me.
Fiona Goddard was just aged 14 when she was abused by a gang of Asian men in 2008 in a children’s home in Bradford. She has said it was ‘really insulting’ to see ‘another level of dismissal’ after she made a legal claim against West Yorkshire Police and Bradford Council
‘It’s not just West Yorkshire Police, Bradford Council have also denied liability but yet they’ve made public statements saying there were huge failings and they’ve apologised to me.’
Ms Goddard, one of the first to go public about the abuse she endured in Bradford, has previously said she had to fight ‘tooth and nail’ to have her abusers jailed, having repeatedly reported the case to police for five years.
‘Over the years from 2008 and 2013 I was found in cars with men and they [police] said I was the reason society was going downhill by putting working class men in danger,’ she said.
Ms Goddard said she has spoken about her compensation case because other victims are concerned about facing criticism for seeking compensation.
She admitted that no amount of compensation will ever be ‘enough to give back everything I lost so I’m quite happy to talk about it for those people that are still scared to’.
Amy Clowrey from Switalski’s solicitors said: ‘Publicly the authorities have apologised for their failures but then privately obviously they’ve taken a different approach.
‘However, it is quite standard in these types of cases that the authorities don’t admit when they’ve done something wrong.’
Ms Goddard was among the grooming gang survivors who quit a national inquiry panel covering the scandal – amid claims ministers are ‘shying away’ from the racial or religious motivations behind sexual abuse.
She accused the Home Office of watering down the probe and the government of creating a ‘toxic environment’ for fellow survivors.
Baroness Anne Longfield, Former children’s commissioner, was announced as chair in December.
A Home Office spokesman said: ‘Any suggestion that this inquiry is being watered down is completely wrong – we are committed to delivering a robust, thorough inquiry that will get to the truth and provide the answers that survivors have so long campaigned for.’
Ms Goddard was raped and abused by at least 50 men in Bradford from the age of 14.
She had been groomed by a gang of Asian men in the early 2000s when she and another girl ran away from her care home.
She had asked a man for a lighter, and what followed was months of them targeting her vulnerabilities and ‘trying to make me feel like I had somewhere to belong’.
She previously revealed how she was trafficked to Blackburn, Rotherham, Rochdale, Birmingham, Edinburgh, and Oldham.
By the age of 15 Fiona became pregnant by one of her rapists and gave birth days after her 16th birthday.
But the newborn was soon taken from her arms and given up for adoption as she was told she could not keep her daughter.
Yet the abuse carried on for another two years, with police laying the blame on her, and it would not be until 2019 that the nine grooming gang members faced justice when they were jailed for more than 130 years.
Basharat Khaliq, known as Bash, was found guilty of five counts of rape and one count of assault by penetration. He was sentenced in 2019 to 20 years imprisonment.
He was given 16 years for each of the five counts of rape, served concurrently, and four years for assault by penetration, to be served consecutively.
Saeed Akhtar, known as Sid, was found guilty of one charge of rape and two charges of causing or inciting child prostitution He was jailed for 20 years.
Naveed Akhtar, and known as Nav, was found guilty of two counts of rape and not guilty of a third allegation of rape. He was jailed for 17 years.
Parvaze Ahmed, known as Pav, was found guilty of three charges of rape. He was jailed for 17 years.
Izar Hussain, known as Billy Joe Joe, was found guilty of one rape and one attempted rape, and acquitted of two rapes. He was given a 16-year sentence.
Izar Hussain (pictured left) was given a 16-year sentence and Parvaze Ahmed (pictured right) was jailed for 17 years
Saeed Akhtar (left) was found guilty of one charge of rape and two charges of causing or inciting child prostitution. Zeeshan Ali (right) was found guilty of one charge of sexual assault. He was jailed for 18 months
Fahim Iqbal (pictured left) was jailed for 7 years for aiding and abetting rape. Kieran Harris (pictured right) was jailed for 17 years, he was described by one of his victims as ‘an evil, pixie-faced man’
Basharat Khaliq (pictured left) was sentenced to 20 years imprisonment and Naveed Akhtar (pictured right) was jailed for 17 years
Mohammed Usman was found guilty of two counts of rape. He was jailed for 17 years
Kieran Harris was found guilty of two counts of rape. He was jailed for 17 years and was described by one of his victims as ‘an evil, pixie-faced man’.
Fahim Iqbal was found guilty of aiding and abetting one of rape. He was jailed for seven years.
Mohammed Usman, known as Manny, was found guilty of two counts of rape. He was jailed for 17 years.
Zeeshan Ali, known as Twinny or T, was found guilty of one charge of sexual assault. He was jailed for 18 months.
Following the case, Ms Goddard said she ‘didn’t want people to think this was a reason to be ashamed anymore’, adding: ‘I didn’t do anything wrong.’
She told ITV’s Good Morning Britain in June last year that at times the abuse had left her feeling ‘subhuman’ on being shunned by society.
She said: ‘Over the years from 2008 and 2013 I was found in cars with men and they [police] said I was the reason society was going downhill by putting working class men in danger.
‘I was called a child prostitute. I was accused of exchanging sex in return for gifts by 14. And described as running a brothel by 17.
‘Repeatedly they said I was streetwise and knew how to look after myself that even though I was a missing person it wasn’t a concern and they downgraded it.’
