First, just so we are clear, you make me sick. Each and ever one of you that knew what was happening to the children in Manchester and didn’t do enough to stop it. You should be ashamed of yourself not only as professionals but also as humans, as parents. Yu have caused many years of damage. Damage that will last a lifetime. Damage that will affect children that have not even been born yet.
In 2003 a 15-year-old child named Victoria Agoglia died. Greater Manchester Mayor Andy Burnham, who commissioned the report into Victoria’s death said the report had
“exposed a network of paedophiles brazenly abusing young people in care… [who] should have been brought to justice but, appallingly, most escaped and some were left to reoffend”.
BBC news reports that GMP Chief Constable Ian Hopkins apologised for the police failures which allowed the abuse of children in care to continue. He said,
“I want to say that I am personally disgusted that these children were not cared for and by the awful abuse that they suffered.”
Well I am saying That’s not good enough. Not then and not now. Because, And I am just putting it out there…these are my own personal opinions…. but I would be bold to say that the sexual exploitation of the children of Greater Manchester did not only happen in the year 2004. I would be even bolder to say that it was going on way before then…I will also state that it continued for many years after. But that’s just my opinion.
Manchester City Council’s (MCC) chief executive Joanne Roney said some social work at the time “fell far below the high standards we now expect”, adding: “We want to reassure people that, more than a decade and a half of learning later, we are in a much better place.”
She said all the social workers and managers involved in the cases were no longer working for the council and four had been referred to the Health and Care Professions Council for possible disciplinary action.
Not good enough.
Victoria, the child that died, was in the care of Manchester City Council when she was killed. She had been placed in care after the death of her mother. She was placed in care to keep her safe. Her level of vulnerability would have been known. Those around her had a duty of care.
The report found her carers were aware of her being subjected to “multiple threats, sexual assaults and serious sexual exploitation” and had been told that she was being “injected with heroin by an older Asian man [but] no action was taken by the police or social care”.
Read the above again. A child in care reported that she was being injected with heroin by an older Asian man, but no action was taken by the police or social care.
Every single person that the above applies to are truly disgusting creatures. You knew a child was being destroyed and you either did nothing or not enough. You, the people that should have kept her safe, did nothing. And I personally will never forgive any of you and I want you to know that if you were involved in the case that you contributed to this child’s death. I’m sure people may be saying it was not your fault or that it was the people above you or whatever. I just want you to know that I think it’s your fault.
At the time she died, Manchester Social Services said it had done everything possible to keep Victoria safe. In 2004, a 50-year-old man was cleared of her manslaughter but admitted two offences of injecting her with heroin and was jailed.
So, this is bigger than failings just by the police and social services. The courts didn’t convict this “man” of murder despite the fact he was injecting a child with Heroin and exploiting her.
Injecting…a…child…with Heroin…. But you don’t charge him with murder.
You have also failed so many children and if you were involved in the case then you should never work with cases that involved children again. Once again…my opinion.
After Victoria’s death, GMP launched Operation Augusta, which subsequently identified at least 57 children “as potential victims” and up to 97 “persons of interest” involved in the crimes against them.
The report found the operation was ultimately “prematurely closed down… before it could complete its work”, a decision that was driven by a desire to “remove the resources”, rather than by having “a sound understanding that all lines of inquiry had been successfully completed or exhausted”.
“The authorities knew that many [children] were being subjected to the most profound abuse and exploitation but did not protect them from the perpetrators,” it said.
Wait…. let’s just get this straight…so far, we have social services, the police, the courts and others in authority all allowing the sexual abuse and exploitation of the children in Manchester. Wow.
The report also found that after Victoria’s death it has been said that at least 8 men have been identified to go on and commit serious sexual assaults including rapes of children under 16.
The report has also said Victoria’s family and the other exploited children must have their allegations “fully investigated” and the mayor, GMP and MCC must look at “how the people who appeared to present a risk to children in 2004 can now be brought to justice”.
Nooooo….no…no. These failings would have been going for a loooong time. People in these departments would have been ignoring things over a long period of time. People were too comfortable with the culture. There are way too many people involved not doing anything about all of this to even start to think we need to investigate those involved in 2004.
No.
We as a country need to go in and investigate Manchester’s files from day one. From the start of the services. We need to discover who the founding fathers were of this abuse network where. Because that’s what it is…a network. If the police, social services and the courts…and I would imagine many others all turned a blind eye to this abuse then we can only presume that people in high places would have been aware. We must start from the top down. We must investigate every case.
Every single child who has been failed must be given justice. But will this happen.
This is not ancient history. These failures happened in 2004 and 2005.The new Children Act had just been passed. The authorities were promising lessons had been learned about always putting children first. But reading today’s review, it is clear many lessons had not been learned.
If people have not learned from all the horrific deaths of children in this country….all the failings that have been made public…all the reports that have taken place…the serious case reviews…all this stuff and yet still another case like this is exposed….then why will anything change this time?
Look I’m gonna say this…and once again…my personal opinion…There is too much training available, information, learning that has taken place….cases pulled apart….for anyone to say they didn’t know what was happening to those children in Manchester was wrong or anywhere else in the country to be fair.
Its just bollox.
So, what went wrong? As the Mayor of Greater Manchester Andy Burnham put it, there was an institutional mindset in which young, vulnerable girls were not seen as the victims but as the problem. They were children in our care. Children some of those in authority labelled as prostitutes and promiscuous. Children who it was said had chosen to be exploited. And the perpetrators were all from an ethnic minority which the authorities recognised had itself been a victim of prejudice and racism. However demanding and difficult they may be, the welfare of children must always come first.
Stoooop. Just stop. A man was injecting a child with Heroin and was asking for help. Don’t chat shit about it being an institutional mindset. Everyone involved was born with free will and any professional that was aware that Victoria was suffering in the way she was and did nothing should never work with children again. It was 2003…yes… But, just looking at one single case, Victoria, what about all the other stuff she was reporting. Why was it being ignored? What…everyone involved can use institutional mindset as an excuse to ignore the abuse of a child…. I think not.
Stop making excuses. Just stop.
I could go on and on, going through all the news reports and stating why it is all just excuses.
Children are experiencing what Victoria was in 2003 right now.
Make sure you read that again. Children are experiencing what happened to Victoria in 2003 right now.
Children were experiencing what happened to Victoria many many years before that.
I saw people asking for help. I asked for help.
I had a child this Monday ask me for help.
All of us victims of child sexual exploitation. All of us failed by people that should have kept us safe. Spanning over years. Different counties. Different professionals.
It is up to each one of us to make sure that this does not continue. If you see something in your workplace that concerns you…tell. Whistle blow…. call the police.
Do something.
If anyone I worked with turned a blind eye to the suffering of any child in any way and I would make sure they were held accountable. Why? Because that’s just the right thing to bloody do as a human.
I am sure that in 2003 no person could find any excuse for a 15-year-old child to be sexually abused and injected with heroin by a 5-year-old man. How could any human being know that and do nothing?
But they did. People that would have been mothers and fathers went home to their own children whilst in the knowledge that others were being harmed. Some of the professionals could have been grandparents. Some could have no children. What ever the case….and I only speak for myself……one professional to another…I want you all to know that if you ever knew about a child suffering and did nothing then you are disgusting. And I will never forgive you.