Connect with us

Published

on

The chief constable of South Yorkshire Police has offered to meet a young woman who was groomed and abused by a gang of paedophiles in Sheffield 10 years ago – after she alleged to Sky News that a police officer was one of her abusers.

Leona Whitworth, 28, has waived her anonymity to tell her story.

It comes in the week a damning report revealed thousands of corrupt officers may be serving in England and Wales.

Leona, whose mother was disabled with mental health problems, was easy prey for a woman called Amanda Spencer, who was convicted eight years ago of grooming young girls in Sheffield and selling them for sex.

“I genuinely thought I loved her,” said Leona. “She understood everything I said, and she listened, and she said she loved and cared about me. I thought she cared about me.”

Spencer would take young girls to parties, where she introduced them to the men. Aged 13, Leona says she was drugged and woke up to find a man raping her. She says she was beaten by Spencer and a number of men until she became compliant.

She told Sky News: “I spent weeks with them getting beaten and raped and drugged. And then I was allowed to go home, I was allowed to go to school, I was allowed to see my friends, because they knew they could come and get me whenever they wanted.”

To begin with, she thought she was being punished for doing something wrong.

She said: “I suppose that’s how kids think, don’t they? If they grow up always being in the wrong, always being the bad child, then if something bad happens, that’s always going to be your fault. You’ve obviously done something to start that happening.”

For months, she was convinced by her abusers that she had to keep the whole thing a secret, and she says authorities including police, social workers and teachers showed a lack of curiosity whenever she disappeared.

She said: “The thing was not ‘what have you been doing?’ It was, ‘what do you think you’re doing?’ My answer was always, ‘I don’t know. I’m sorry.’

“Nobody would have believed me. They convinced me of that. Nobody’s going to believe me and if I do say something, what’s going to happen to my family. They knew where I lived. My mum was a disabled woman. What’s she going to do? She’s going to ring the police?”

Leona Whitworth
Image:
Leona Whitworth spoke to Sky News about her experiences

Leona’s faith in the police was shattered further, she alleges, when she discovered one of her abusers was a police officer. She claims she realised this when he picked her up once after she went missing.

She says he pretended not to know her.

“He just spoke to me like the police officers do,” she recalls. ‘You know everybody’s been worried about you, don’t you? You can’t keep putting your family through this. You’ve got a lot of people out there looking for you, and you’re wasting our resources by doing this.'”

This allegation comes after the police inspectorate warned earlier this week that poor vetting was allowing sexual predators to join police forces.

The review, commissioned following the murder of Sarah Everard by a serving Met Police officer, found it was currently “too easy for the wrong people” to join and to stay in the police.

Responding to Leona’s claims, South Yorkshire Police Chief Constable Lauren Poultney said: “What happened to Leona at the hands of her abusers is simply unforgivable, and I am extremely concerned to hear today that the trauma she faced may have involved an officer who was serving with the force.

“There is no place in policing for individuals who abuse their position for criminal behaviour, and we proactively root out those who do so.

“I want to say to Leona directly that I would welcome the opportunity to meet with you to obtain as much detail as you can provide in relation to this officer.

“We are here to listen and, if you feel ready to make a report, I will personally ensure this matter is thoroughly investigated by the specially trained officers in my counter corruption unit.

“If you feel more comfortable speaking to a third party, you can go to Crimestoppers or even the National Crime Agency’s Operation Stovewood, which is dedicated to the investigation of child sexual exploitation offences in Rotherham between 1997 and 2013.

“To Leona, and to any other victims or survivors who haven’t yet felt ready to tell someone what happened to them – please be assured it is never too late to make that report.”

Leona Whitworth

Leona didn’t report the incident with the police officer at the time. Eventually she escaped to Norfolk – and one day the police came knocking after she’d been identified by others as a child victim.

She had been trying to forget and told Sky News that when the police arrived it “felt like the earth ate me.”

She says: “I had tried to pretend it weren’t real. If it’s a bad dream, it doesn’t hurt, does it? If it’s a bad dream, it never happened. It’s not real.”

In May 2014, after a trial at Sheffield Crown Court, Spencer was sentenced to 12 years in jail along with one of the abusers.

Detective Chief Inspector Bob Chapman, who led the investigation, said Spencer had carried out “sustained and calculated abuse” and that she had “preyed on some of the most vulnerable people in our community, grooming them under the pretence of friendship, using the lure of drink and drugs in order to coerce them into doing what she wanted and when her demands weren’t met she would threaten violence, intimidating them into submission”.

But years later, for Leona, the demons don’t go away.

She can’t remember how many men abused her during the period she was under Spencer’s control.

She said: “I don’t know. And as weird as it might sound, I don’t want to know.

“I don’t want to know because the amount that I do know, whether it was my fault or not, I still feel dirty.”

Leona has shown incredible courage to speak out, but it is a mark of the damage she still carries that she ended the interview asking herself whether she was somehow to blame.

There is, of course, no blame on any 13-year-old-girl in that situation, but sometimes it takes years to come to terms with it, and the memories can never be erased.

Continue Reading

UK

Girl, 10, and father, who died in caravan park fire in Lincolnshire named

Published

on

By

Girl, 10, and father, who died in caravan park fire in Lincolnshire named

Two people who died following a fire at a caravan site near Skegness have been named by police.

Lincolnshire Police said 48-year-old Lee Baker and his 10-year-old daughter Esme Baker, both from the Nottingham area, were killed in the blaze.

However, formal identification is still yet to take place and “could take some time”, the force said.

Emergency services were alerted to a fire at Golden Beach Holiday Park, in the village of Ingoldmells, at 3.53am on Saturday.

In a statement issued through police, a member of the Baker family said: “Lee and Esme were excited to be spending the first weekend of the holidays together.

“We are all utterly devastated at what’s happened.

“This loss is incomprehensible at the moment, and we ask for people to give us space to process this utterly heartbreaking loss.”

A GoFundMe page set up for the victims’ family described the father and daughter as “two peas in a pod” who were “both happy-go-lucky people who loved life”. It has so far raised more than £3,000.

The police force, together with Lincolnshire Fire & Rescue, are continuing to investigate the cause of the blaze.

Detective Inspector Lee Nixon said: “We believe we might be close to arriving at a working hypothesis.

“We are working hard to validate the facts available to us to be able to provide answers for the family and loved ones of those who were very tragically taken by this fire.

“Yet the evident intensity of the fire has made this task incredibly challenging.”

Dan Moss, from Lincolnshire Fire & Rescue, said: “Our thoughts and deepest condolences are with the family at this time.

“Our Fire Investigation Team is working with colleagues from Lincolnshire Police, and a full investigation into the cause of the fire is ongoing.

“Once investigations are complete, local fire crews and our community fire safety team will be on hand to talk to people in the area and address any fire safety concerns they may have, at what will be an upsetting time.”

Continue Reading

UK

Man arrested over wildfire that triggered ‘major incident’ in Northern Ireland

Published

on

By

Man arrested over wildfire that triggered 'major incident' in Northern Ireland

A man has been arrested by police investigating a “significant” wildfire that triggered a major incident in Northern Ireland.

More than 100 firefighters and 15 fire appliances were deployed on Saturday to Sandbank Road, Hilltown, to tackle the blaze which is believed to have been caused deliberately, fire chiefs said.

Northern Ireland Fire and Rescue Service (NIFRS) said the fire had a front of approximately two miles “including a large area of forestry close to property”.

It was extinguished at 2.53am on Sunday and the major incident status lifted, the NIFRS said.

“The cause of this fire is believed to have been deliberate,” chief fire and rescue officer Aidan Jennings said.

The Police Service of Northern Ireland said on Sunday that a 25-year-old man had been arrested “on suspicion of arson being reckless as to whether life would be endangered, and non-related driving offences”.

“He remains in custody at this time as enquiries continue into the circumstances surrounding the fire,” the force added.

A wildfire broke out in Northern Ireland. Pic: Sky Watch NI
Image:
The wildfire on Sandbank Road, Hilltown. Pic: Sky Watch NI

A wildfire broke out in Northern Ireland. Pic: Sky Watch NI
Image:
More than 100 firefighters were at the scene of the fire. Pic: Sky Watch NI

Various fires erupted across England this week amid uncharacteristically warm and dry conditions for the time of year.

On Saturday, helicopters were deployed to tackle Scotland’s fourth wildfire this week, with police saying a blaze “which started in the Newton Stewart area has spread northwards and is expected to reach the Loch Doon area of East Ayrshire around 12am on Sunday”.

Police Scotland added: “As a precautionary measure members of the public are asked to avoid the Loch Doon area and anyone who may be camping in the area is advised to leave.”

Dorset wildfires
Image:
Moors Valley Country Park blackened by fires this week

Elsewhere in England, Devon and Cornwall Police said they were assisting the fire service with temporary road closures on the A30 in the Bolventor area as they tackle “a number of fires” on moorland.

In Dorset, Moors Valley Country Park was forced to close after multiple wildfires broke out there on Wednesday.

Read more from Sky News:
Zelenskyy makes dig at US over its response to Russian attack
What hopes are there for the future of Prince Harry’s charity?

Please use Chrome browser for a more accessible video player

Wildfires spread across nature reserve

Separate incidents were then reported at Upton Heath in Poole on Wednesday, and nearby Canford Heath in the early hours of Thursday.

Friday was officially the warmest day of the year so far – with temperatures in the south of England reaching 23C (73.4F) – the highest since 21 September last year, according to the Met Office.

The weather conditions triggered a “severe” wildfire rating for parts of the UK on Tuesday.

Continue Reading

UK

Man shot dead in Stanley, County Durham

Published

on

By

Man shot dead in Stanley, County Durham

Police are investigating after a man was shot dead in County Durham.

Officers were called to an address in Elm Street, Stanley, at about 5.20pm on Saturday after reports of a “disturbance”, Durham Constabulary said.

A man in his 50s was found to have been shot and despite the efforts of paramedics he was pronounced dead at the scene.

His family have been told and are being supported by specially trained officers.

Specialist crime scene investigators are at the scene, and officers are carrying out house-to-house enquiries.

A cordon is in place and is expected to stay there for some time.

Detective Superintendent Neil Fuller said: “This is a truly shocking incident in which a man has been shot and has sadly died.”

He added: “Residents may see an increased police presence in the area. I would like to thank them for their support while we carry out this investigation.

“Our thoughts are with the man’s family at this time.”

Read more from Sky News:
Furious row after Labour MPs denied entry to Israel
Man arrested over wildfire that triggered ‘major incident’

Durham Constabulary has urged anyone who witnessed the incident or has dashcam footage or CCTV to contact the force.

Continue Reading

Trending