Greater Manchester Police accused of failing 14-year-old child sexual abuse victim
For three years, Marlon’s night-time routine was different to most dads. Instead of kissing his teenage daughter goodnight, he was driving around Manchester at dawn desperately looking for her.
Content warning: This article contains details of child sexual abuse
“I’d drive around most nights until three or four o’clock in the morning,” he says.
“One time, I found her at a property. It was midnight, the middle of winter. I contacted the police and they said someone would be there in 10 minutes. I was still there at 4am waiting for them to turn up.”
Marlon first contacted Sky News a year ago. His daughter Scarlett was repeatedly going missing, often just for an evening, but sometimes for up to two weeks.
She had shown him threatening text messages she had received – including a video of bullets being loaded into a handgun and fired out of a car window.
Among the intimidating messages was one that read: “Because you’re ignoring me, I’m coming to shoot your dad.”
Then a man wearing a black balaclava delivered a menacing letter to Marlon’s house – his presence was captured on the CCTV installed above the front door.
Marlon, from Hyde in Greater Manchester, was convinced his daughter was being sexually exploited but claims no one would listen.
“Numerous times, police officers have told me they’ve got more important cases to deal with,” he says.
Scarlett and her father Marlon
Police shouted at father
At a meeting with the Greater Manchester Police missing persons team, Marlon says he was shouted at and told to stop reporting his daughter missing.
“At the time when that happened, she was 14 years old.”
Scarlett, now 18, has waived her anonymity to talk about what was really happening. Her father’s worst fears were right, she was being sexually exploited by older men.
She says she first reported being physically and sexually assaulted by a gang aged 14.
She felt the police didn’t investigate properly. Her behaviour became more unstable and erratic, and she was an easy target for a groomer, in this instance a woman, who befriended her and led her into sexual exploitation by older men.
She would find herself waking up in hotel rooms, often with injuries, after getting drunk and being given drugs.
“I’d wake up and there would be loads of bruises on my legs and I didn’t know where they’d come from, but they were big bruises,” she says.
Images show her with bruises on her legs and face.
“I’d see things in the morning like condoms on the side, sex toys, big bottles of vodka, cocaine packets,” she says.
She doesn’t always recall exactly what happened but remembers her ‘friend’ going into the shower with one of the men, while another man stayed in the bedroom with her.
Scarlett knows that she was sexually exploited and has nightmares about it.
Sometimes she wakes screaming for her father. The recurring dream is of a shadowy man in her bedroom.
“The first few times dad reported me missing I feel like they (the police) took it seriously because I’d never been reported missing before,” she says. “It was so out of character for me.
“And then, it was as though, after more phone calls the police officers would say ‘oh I know you. I hear your name on the radio all the time’.
“Even if I’ve not met them, they’ll say, ‘oh we’ve heard of you’. I think they were just sick of my name coming up to be honest. So, the police just feel like I’m a problem to them.”
Video filmed by her abusers
Officers refused to arrest suspects
Even when she was picked up in cars with older men and her father reported her missing, Scarlett says officers lacked curiosity and if they’d bothered to search the car, they would have found drugs and a machete.
“The police wouldn’t even arrest them. We’d be in a car park at 3am. It’d just be: ‘What are you doing here?’
“They just took me home to my dad and said: ‘She’s been found in a car in a car park with older guys’. There were never any questions of ‘why are you acting like this?’
“The police would say to me, ‘give it five minutes ’til we’ve left, cos we know you’re going to go again, so just wait ’til we’ve gone’.”
Mobile phone footage of one of the hotel rooms she was taken to
Scarlett admits she would go back to her groomer.
She didn’t trust the police. She felt the authorities were sick of her, and she didn’t seem to understand she was being exploited because she thought it was “normal”.
“In the back of my head I knew it wasn’t right, but I just kind of ignored it because everyone else did,” she says.
Once, after her father reported her missing, officers arrived at his home in the dead of night.
CCTV captured one of the men telling the other to give ‘just a little tap’ on the door.
Marlon thinks it’s because they didn’t want to get involved. He didn’t hear them, and only knew they had visited from the images on his CCTV camera.
As a senior health worker who understands child safeguarding, Marlon knew the protocols to rescue his daughter from her groomer, which included trying to get a recovery order and what is called a Child Abduction Warning Notice (CAWN), which puts an alert out on a particular individual who might be a threat to a child.
But in a text exchange a social worker told Marlon that social services could not apply for a recovery order because his daughter had been put into care, neither could they apply for the warning notice because, they claimed, that was the responsibility of the police.
But the police texted back that it was in fact social services who would need to apply for a recovery order.
Marlon felt desperate and as if nobody was willing to help.
“While my daughter was missing from home for two weeks and being more traumatised by the experience of being groomed and sexually exploited, they just saw me as a problem, as a parent who gave them earache.”
Abduction notice took three years
It would be another three years before the police imposed a CAWN on the person who was allegedly grooming Scarlett.
Meanwhile, she was struggling to cope and the person she took her anger and upset out on was the person most trying to help her.
“I used to get so angry with my dad,” she says.
“I’d flip out at school because my emotions were all over the place. My way of dealing with it was to explode – it was like a volcano erupting.”
As a result of these outbursts, Scarlett ended up in the care system from which she also went missing.
If there is one thing she would like to tell her younger self it is that everything her father did was to keep her safe.
“I realise why he did it now,” she says, revealing a mind map she had drawn to convince care staff to let her move back in with her father.
“I used to get so angry with him sending all these emails and [arranging] all these meetings and I used to think ‘You’re an idiot. You’re embarrassing yourself. What are you doing? Because the police aren’t listening to you’.”
Mind map Scarlett drew to convince care staff to allow her to live with her father again
Sharing story to help other victims
Scarlett is sharing her story now because she wants people in that situation to know they have a choice and they can get out.
“I didn’t think anyone would be interested in what’s happened to me,” she says.
“Speaking out like this now, someone else might think ‘I’ve been in the same situation as her’ and there are things you can do, not just stay silent and suffer.”
Greater Manchester Police’s head of public protection, Detective Chief Superintendent Michaela Kerr, said safeguarding vulnerable young people is of “the highest importance” to the force.
“In recent years and in recognition of previous failures, the force has worked hard to ensure the consistent delivery of outstanding service, which fights crime; keeps people safe; and cares for victims. This work is ongoing,” she said.
“In relation to this case, GMP’s Professional Standards Branch and senior officers from the Tameside district have reviewed complaints.
“These have been resolved directly with the complainant and none of the outcomes have, so far, been appealed.
“The force and relevant partner agencies continue to work closely on this case and in relation to safeguarding generally.”
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A Tameside Council spokesperson said they were legally unable to comment on Scarlett’s case.
But they said: “Where any concerns or issues are raised we work closely with individuals, families and our partners to provide support and resolve, as appropriate.
“Where individuals aren’t satisfied with the services received, we do have a statutory complaints procedure and individuals can ultimately take their complaint to the Local Government & Social Care Ombudsman.”
Scarlett lost her childhood and much of her education.
Four years on from when it began, she is back with her father, who has paid for her to have therapy. They now have each other, but little faith in anyone else.
The Ministry of Defence have shared a picture of the British soldier who was killed in a “tragic accident” in Ukraine, as Volodymyr Zelenskyy prepares to give Donald Trump a revised plan for peace with Russia.
The Ukrainian president said his delegation is set to hand Kyiv’s proposal to Washington in the “near future”, ahead of talks between European leaders over the plan next week.
But they will comes after Mr Trump called European leaders “weak” and criticised them for failing to end the war between Russia and Ukraine.
As it happened: Soldier who died in Ukraine pictured for first time
Meanwhile, tributes have come in for Lance Corporal George Hooley, a 28-year-old paratrooper who died on Tuesday while observing Ukrainian forces testing a new defensive capability away from the frontline.
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Is Europe’s transatlantic relationship with America on life support?
The MoD said he joined the army in November 2015 and was regarded as “an exceptional soldier and an impressive junior leader with extensive operational experience”.
In a statement released through the ministry, Lance Corporal Hooley’s commanding officer said that the paratrooper had had an “incredibly bright” future in the Parachute Regiment.
“I have no doubt that he would have continued to perform at the very front of his peer-group over the coming years,” they added.
“All members of The Parachute Regiment mourn his loss; however, our sorrow is nothing compared to that being felt by his family, our thoughts and prayers are with them at this incredibly difficult time.”
Lance Corporal George Hooley with his dog Mabel. Pic: Ministry of Defence
‘If you met George Hooley, you remembered it’
The company commander added: “If you met George Hooley, you remembered it.” They said the paratrooper had a “rare gift” and was a “model of professionalism”.
Britain’s Defence Secretary John Healey said the Lance Corporal “served our country with distinction and professionalism” and was “an exceptional soldier who will be very deeply missed”.
“The tributes that have been paid to him are a testament to his exceptional attitude and ability,” Mr Healey said. “George’s tragic death reminds us of the courage and commitment with which our outstanding armed forces serve every day to protect our nation.”
Zelenskyy: Ukraine to share peace plan in ‘near future’
Mr Zelenskyy said that Ukraine was finalising a 20-point peace document to share with the United States.
“We are working very productively to guarantee future security and prevent a recurrence of Russian aggression,” he said.
But Mr Trump had accused Mr Zelenskyy of not reading the original American-backed version of the peace proposal, and in an interview with Politico on Tuesday, claimed the Ukrainian president was “using war” to avoid holding an election.
Read more: Trump’s 28-point Ukraine peace plan in full
Later on Wednesday, Mr Zelenskyy said Kyiv’s peace delegation held a “productive conversation” with the US, and “discussed key issues for recovery, various mechanisms, and visions of reconstruction”.
Prime Minister Sir Keir Starmer, German Chancellor Friedrich Merz and French President Emmanuel Macron also spoke with the US president by phone on Wednesday.
In Ukraine shelling at a hospital in the occupied southern Kherson region killed three medical workers and injured two others, according to a governor installed by Russia.
And on Wednesday morning, Ukraine said its energy infrastructure had been targeted by Russian drone strikes in the southern Odesa region.
UK
Sharaz Ali found guilty of murdering ex-partner’s sister and her three children in Bradford house fire
A man has been found guilty of murdering his ex-partner’s sister and her three children in a house fire.
Prosecutors said Sharaz Ali, 40, was “motivated by jealousy and fuelled by drink and drugs” when he set fire to Bryonie Gawith’s home early on 21 August last year.
Jurors heard that Ali went to the home in Westbury Road, Bradford, aiming to “take revenge” on his ex, Antonia Gawith, who was staying there after ending their “abusive” seven-year relationship earlier that month.
Antonia Gawith managed to escape, but Bryonie Gawith, 29, and her children Denisty Birtle, nine, Oscar Birtle, five, and 22-month-old Aubree Birtle died in the blaze.
Bryonie Gawith and her children Denisty, Oscar and Aubree Birtle died in the fire
Ali told a jury he had no intention of harming others when the house went up in flames, saying: “I didn’t want to hurt anyone but myself.”
But after a trial at Doncaster Crown Court, he was found guilty of four counts of murder and attempting to murder Antonia Gawith.
Calum Sunderland, 26, who went with Ali to the house and kicked the door in for him, was found guilty of the manslaughter of Bryonie Gawith and her three children, but cleared of the more serious charges of murder.
He was also cleared of attempted murder, and an alternative count of attempting to cause grievous bodily harm, in relation to Antonia Gawith.
Calum Sunderland. Pic: West Yorkshire Police
Mohammed Shabir, 45, who had also been due to go on trial, died of a heart attack in October after collapsing in prison.
After the verdicts, the judge, Mr Justice Hilliard, thanked jurors and said the case had been “distressing beyond measure – three children and their mother murdered”.
“I don’t think anyone who heard Antonia’s desperate cries for help will ever forget them,” he said.
“These are truly dreadful crimes.”
The judge also praised the “extraordinary bravery” of those who tried to save the children trapped in the house.
Ali and Sunderland, a convicted arsonist, were driven to the house by Shabir, stopping on the way to fill a seven-litre canister with petrol, the court heard.
Doorbell footage captured Ali telling Sunderland, who was carrying the petrol and a lighter, to “kick the door in”, which he did before running back to the car.
Antonia Gawith said she saw an “angry” Ali run into the house and begin pouring petrol on her while shouting before setting himself and the house on fire.
Antonia Gawith outside Doncaster Crown Court. Pic: PA
‘I couldn’t save them’
In a video interview played to jurors, she sobbed as she told police how she “couldn’t save” her sister, nieces and nephew, as she tried frantically to get back in the house through the back door.
“I was just screaming, trying to get back in the house and I couldn’t get in. I couldn’t save them,” she said.
Read more from Sky News:
‘Depraved predator’ jailed for rapes and sexual assaults
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West Yorkshire Police’s Detective Chief Inspector Stacey Atkinson said: “Bryonie and her three children would still be alive today if it wasn’t for the horrific and truly callous actions of Ali and Sunderland that day.
“They left a mum and her three children completely helpless whilst her sister and their auntie watched on in horror.
“Our thoughts and sympathies are with the family, who despite their immense strength of character now face the rest of their lives without them.”
Senior Crown Prosecution Service prosecutor Amanda McInnes said Ali was a “selfish killer who had no regard for anyone but himself”.
“He was motivated by jealousy and his actions have now needlessly robbed a family of their loved ones,” she said.
“Both men played their role and caused the deaths of a young family who should still be with us today.”
UK
‘I didn’t know where to turn’: Why ethnic minorities with gambling addictions struggle to get help
On a dark December morning two years ago, Kiki Marriott left her flat and started walking.
Content warning: This article contains references to suicide.
It was 5am, and she was heading for the station.
“I was numb at that point,” she says.
“I was just so done with trying to survive and just existing… feeling extremely lonely and isolated and didn’t know where to turn.”
She was trapped in a cycle of addiction, gambling all hours and taking cocaine for the maximum buzz.
‘I didn’t know where to turn,’ says Kiki
“I sat at the train station thinking about my daughter, thinking about the mistakes that I’ve made in the past, thinking that I didn’t want to live this life any more.”
Kiki was waiting for the first train.
But that train was late. And she changed her mind.
Instead of taking her own life, she decided to seek help.
Yet what she would find on that journey of recovery would shock her.
“I just realised that there wasn’t anybody that looked like me, sounded like me, and it got me to thinking, well I can’t be the only black woman suffering with a gambling or cocaine addiction.”
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‘I can’t be the only black woman suffering addiction’
Racial disparities
Research has shown that people from ethnic minority backgrounds are less likely to gamble than white people, but are more likely to suffer harm from gambling.
Despite that, too often they do not seek help.
And YouGov statistics shared exclusively with Sky News shed a light on why.
The survey of 4,000 adults for GamCare, which runs the National Gambling Helpline, found that two-thirds of people from ethnic minority backgrounds who’d gambled in the past year had spent more money than they’d planned, double the amount of white respondents.
They were also more than twice as likely to hide their gambling and nearly three times as likely to feel guilt.
Kiki is not surprised.
“For me, coming from a black community, a black background, what goes on indoors stays behind closed doors,” she says.
“You keep your mouth shut, and you handle your business yourself.”
And when she considered what an addict looked like, it wasn’t someone like her.
“I just thought it’s an old white man’s thing – that they go into the bookies, and they have a drink and they bet.
“I thought, well, that’s not me.”
But Dharmi Kapadia, a senior sociology lecturer from Manchester University, who focuses on racial inequality, thinks there’s more than just cultural pressure at play.
“These explanations of stigma have become dominant,” she says.
“We’ve found that what’s more important is that people don’t want to go and get help from gambling services because of previous racist treatment that they’ve suffered at the hands of other statutory services, for example, when they went to the GP.”
Dharmi Kapadia thinks there’s more than just cultural pressure at play
‘I needed to change’
The stigma felt very real for Kiki, so she hid what she was doing.
“I’ve had trauma in my life. I’ve been sexually abused as a child.
“As the years have gone on, a traumatic event happened in my family that really changed the dynamics of my life and that’s when I moved on from scratch cards to online slots.”
She became hooked – betting around the clock, spending her benefits on 10p and 20p spins on online slots and borrowing money from those around her.
Eventually her daughter moved out when she was 15.
“That’s when everything escalated. I didn’t have that responsibility of keeping up appearances.
“Before that, gas, electric, food shopping, all those things had to be in place.
“I just lived and breathed in my bedroom at that point and yeah, it was very lonely.”
When Kiki left the station that day, she called the National Gambling Helpline.
“For the first time in my life, I was completely honest about everything that I was doing – the lies, the manipulation when I was in active addiction, the secrecy.
“I was completely transparent because I wanted to change. I needed to change.”
‘Where’s all the women?’
Since then, she has undergone constant therapy, including a six-week stint in rehab.
And as she headed home in the taxi, her phone rang.
It was Lisa Walker, a woman who understood gambling addiction. She had won £127,000 playing poker at 29 before losing everything and ending up homeless with her young children.
Lisa Walker (left) sought help from Gamblers Anonymous and was among very few women at her meetings
When she finally asked for help, she too felt she was different, walking into a Gamblers Anonymous meeting to find she was one of only two women in a room with 35 men.
“I was thinking, where’s all the women?” says Lisa.
“I can’t be the only woman in the world with a gambling addiction, so that got me thinking, what services are out there for women?”
It was the catalyst to set up support for female gamblers in April 2022.
Since then, Lisa has helped close to 250 women, but all but four have been white.
One of those four was Kiki.
‘There’s no getting away from it’
“It just baffles me… Why aren’t they reaching out for support? Is it the shame? Is it stigma?” says Lisa.
But another concern is that it’s simply too easy to hide the gambling.
“Getting on the train this morning, 90% of people are on their phones, and we don’t know whether they’re playing slots,” she says.
“I could probably sit here now and sign up for 50 online casinos and probably get over a thousand free spins.
“I just think there’s no getting away from it because it’s 24 hours a day.”
Kiki says she now has an ‘amazing’ relationship with her daughter
Kiki’s flat in Woolwich, where once she couldn’t even go to the bathroom without gambling, has become the place where she runs her own online peer mentoring groups.
“Feeling understood and validated for your experiences, for how you was raised… the core beliefs that you’re taught from a young age, to have somebody that looks like you, talks like you, has the same cultural background… it’s extremely important to make you feel understood, to make you feel validated,” she says.
‘You can learn from it’
Kiki will need to attend support groups for life to keep her addictions at bay.
But she has a clear goal, just as Lisa did.
“My focus is to help other people, help empower other people to choose themselves, to show them that there is light after so much darkness… that you don’t have to be a victim of your circumstances, that you can choose to grow from it and learn from it and heal from it,” she says.
For Kiki, there was so much at stake.
“It was either I was going to die or I was going to become a woman and a mother that my daughter could come back to and respect again.”
And that has happened. Kiki’s daughter is 19 now.
Kiki now helps others suffering from gambling addiction
“We’ve got an amazing relationship today. I’ve took full accountability for the mistakes that I’ve made.
“She’s extremely proud of where I am today.”
It’s more than Kiki could have dreamt of two years ago.
Now all she wants is to help others escape the endless cycle of addiction.
Anyone feeling emotionally distressed or suicidal can call Samaritans for help on 116 123 or email jo@samaritans.org in the UK. In the US, call the Samaritans branch in your area or 1 (800) 273-TALK
To speak to an adviser on the National Gambling Helpline, call 0808 8020 133
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