A grooming gang survivor has said victims have been ‘denied justice’ after it emerged key evidence may have been destroyed – and she does not believe the ‘whole truth will ever be told’.
The Home Office has admitted delays in their requests to councils, police and other agencies to keep records could have led to crucial evidence being dumped.
It said it took seven months to formally request information relating to grooming gangs to be preserved.
Elizabeth Harper* was 14 when she was repeatedly raped for four-and-a-half years by a ‘countless’ number of men of Pakistani heritage in Rotherham, Yorkshire.
Ms Harper feels the Government has ‘denied justice’ to grooming gang survivors through the ‘delay and destruction’ of evidence.
She told the Daily Mail: ‘How many children, who are now adults, are trying to fight for justice and now have to go through this additional process?
‘How are they going to continue their battle without those files? By delaying and destroying evidence, they have denied justice.’
The 38-year-old believes the latest revelations add to a history of Government failures – and fuels fears the authorities are intentionally trying to ‘cover’ the truth.
Elizabeth Harper* was 14 when she was repeatedly raped for four-and-a-half years by a ‘countless’ number of men of Pakistani heritage in Rotherham, Yorkshire
The national inquiry into grooming gangs is scheduled to launch next week under Baroness Anne Longfield (pictured), the former children’s commissioner
She said: ‘Everybody has always known that there were files missing. The latest news puts a final stamp on it and shows that we were actually telling the truth. Yet again, it has been proved.
‘This is what the authorities do in this country. They cover it up, sweep it under the carpet, get rid of it, and destroy or corrupt it.’
This comes as the national inquiry into grooming gangs is scheduled to launch next week under Baroness Anne Longfield, the former children’s commissioner.
However Ms Harper doubts the success of the inquiry, and claims survivors are ‘always at the bottom of the pile of everything’ – which led her to quit the inquiry’s victims and survivors liaison panel in October, alongside three other survivors.
She said: ‘I don’t believe the whole truth surrounding grooming gangs will ever be told.
‘This is because of the implications we are also seeing today. They are finally admitting that the files are not where they are supposed to be. That they are gone, and it actually makes them complicit in the abuse.
‘They are being corrupt and they fear racial tensions,’ Ms Harper added.
Ms Harper believes the loss of the evidence could be intentional, she said: ‘It could be a knee jerk reaction to the national inquiry because they have put up every barrier they could to not let it happen. Or, someone has destroyed it because they knew they were going to get caught.’
Dame Karen Bradley, chair of the home affairs select committee, has written to Home Secretary Shabana Mahmood to raise concerns about ‘staggering’ Home Office delays
Dame Bradley asked Ms Mahmood why the Home Office took several months to act in preserving material related to the gangs
The delay in formally requesting records to be preserved follows a series of freedom of information requests by Robbie Moore, the MP for Keighley & Ilkley.
Mr Moore described the findings as a ‘staggering failure’, particularly as the retention of crucial records was a key recommendation in Baroness Louise Casey of Blackstock’s national audit last June.
He added it raised concerns about what data may have been lost and suggested the possibility of legal action against the Home Office.
The freedom of information requests revealed the Home Office did not begin contacting councils, police or other agencies until January 14, which was seven months after Baroness Casey’s first recommendation.
The formal request not to destroy potential evidence is viewed as critical due to many of the alleged offences taking place between 2010 and 2020.
While many local authorities and agencies have policies that allow them to destroy records after six years.
Ms Harper said because of ‘historical failings’ in previous cases, such as claims police officers did not follow up with accusations, the files become even more critical for survivors.
She said: ‘In my case alone, I went to court 18 years after the event. We haven’t got things like DNA evidence because they never took it. We haven’t got witness statements or anything like that.
Ellie-Ann Reynolds, Fiona Goddard, Elizabeth Harper and a woman signed only as ‘Jessica’ state in their letter of resignation (pictured) from the national inquiry
‘The majority of our evidence relies on witnesses and files. It is another way of denying us justice.’
Dame Karen Bradley, chair of the home affairs committee, has since written to Home Secretary Shabana Mahmood to ask why the Home Office took several months to act in preserving material related to the gangs.
She said the information was integral to the public inquiry.
Dame Bradley told Ms Mahmood: ‘The failure to provide timely direction to local authorities, police forces and other relevant agencies about the need to retain relevant documents means that some records which may be relevant to the independent inquiry into grooming gangs might have been destroyed.
‘What assessment has the Home Office made of the consequences – including for possible future legal action – of not directing local authorities, police forces and other relevant agencies not to destroy records which may be relevant to the independent inquiry into grooming gangs?’
The Conservative MP for Staffordshire Moorlands warned that some records may already have been destroyed.
She continued in her letter: ‘Has the Home Office asked local authorities, police forces and other relevant agencies whether they have destroyed any records that may be relevant to the independent inquiry into grooming gangs? If so, what have you found? If not, will you request this information?
‘If a local authority, police force or other relevant agency is found to have destroyed records that may be relevant to the independent inquiry into grooming gangs, what consequences would they face, given no direction to retain these records was issued by the Government?’
The national inquiry into grooming gangs will look into claims that councils covered up the scandals.
This includes the group-based child sexual exploitation that occurred in Rotherham from the late 1980s until 2013, with an estimated 1,400 girls impacted.
It will hold full statutory powers to compel witnesses to attend and pull on criminal investigations, including a new nationwide investigation by the National Crime Agency.
*The woman involved in this piece asked to use a pseudonym in order to remain anonymous.
The Home Office has been contacted for comment.
