‘Terrified’ victim of Hull grooming gang beaten and burned during violent rape
An alleged victim of a Hull grooming gang has told how she was bitten, beaten and burned during a violent rape – and that police and her school had concerns she was being abused but failed to stop it.
Warning: This article includes graphic content
The teenage girl’s mother was so worried after her daughter repeatedly went missing with the men that she placed a tracker in her bag.
She is the second young woman to tell Sky News of her ordeal at the hands of grooming gangs allegedly still at large in the East Yorkshire city.
Several young women have told Sky News they were abused by grooming gangs in Hull
The first woman, Sarah (which is not her real name), previously told how she was raped by around 150 men from the age of 13.
Please use Chrome browser for a more accessible video player
‘I was raped by 150 men’
Sky News has been given exclusive access to diaries and other documents that appear to support the claims of the second alleged victim, Anna (also not her real name).
Both Sarah and Anna have accused at least one of the same men of rape.
A two-year investigation by Humberside Police stalled after officers concluded there was not enough evidence to take the case to court.
But after seeing the evidence gathered by Sky News, former police chief Jim Gamble said it was “time to declare war” on criminals getting away with “rape by appointment”.
The dossier of evidence compiled by Anna includes her teenage diary, the account of her school welfare officer and images of bruising and strangulation, which she says was caused by her abusers.
Anna suffered bruising to her neck
Anna’s diary, which was seized by police but later given back to her, appears to offer insight into the world of a young abuse victim.
“I feel like I’m living a double life,” she wrote.
“Normal Anna spends time with friends and family and goes out. A normal teenager – this is the Anna most people see.”
But underneath she tells of a different Anna.
“Scared, terrified and abused Anna,” she wrote.
“The Anna that feels controlled like a puppet.”
Anna drew an image depicting a puppet in her diary
Anna was 16 when the abuse started – so during the police investigation there was a greater need to prove she was coerced by the men.
However, that evidence does seem to exist.
Firstly, she took photos of the bruising on her neck and arms, which match injuries she mentions in her diary.
Anna also suffered bruising to her arm
She also regularly updated her school’s welfare officer who made her own log on what was happening.
Over the course of 18 months there are 290 logs, mostly referring to concerns about child exploitation.
In the logs, Anna constantly refers to the fear she has of the men she is seeing when she goes missing from school.
An extract from 22 January 2019 reads: “Anna had a small red mark on left cheek, I could see blood stains on her left knee.
“She knows what they do is ‘harm’ but she ‘normalises’ it. (She says) If she ignores their calls / messages, then there is more harm.”
A school log noted an injury on Anna’s face
In the log, Anna’s teacher notes seeing messages saying: “‘I’ll actually kill you’ and ‘Don’t ignore me’ from a man who works in a local takeaway shop and has been outside school.”
In total, Anna provided more than a thousand pages of evidence which Sky News has shared with Mr Gamble, the former head of the Child Exploitation and Online Protection Centre.
A school log noted a death threat sent to Anna
He told Sky News: “Having looked at the information that is there, there is no true consent that I can see. And anyone who just looks at a few of these papers will see that.
“Consent needs to be freely given it needs to be a true consent. It doesn’t come with threats to kill your parents. It doesn’t come with threats to be waiting outside your school.”
It is clear Anna’s school and police had real-time knowledge that she was repeatedly going missing, and there were multiple concerns she was being intimidated and abused yet they seem unable to stop it.
Anna’s mother told Sky News she was so concerned she placed a tracker in her daughter’s bag and would sometimes email the police with information about where she was.
Anna spoke to Sky News about the sexual abuse she suffered
She said on one occasion Anna was picked up by police in the company of older men and the family received threats when her daughter started resisting the gang.
“We’ve had the odd few cars outside the house, with Asian men actually looking in,” Anna’s mother said.
“And they’ve messaged Anna saying: ‘I’m outside your house’, which was quite frightening for Anna as well as myself.”
Anna’s mother said she also saw threatening Snapchat messages including one that read: “If you don’t come with us tonight, you s**g, I will do whatever to you, or I will kill your parents”.
“There was just a lot of threatening messages, very nasty messages towards Anna,” she added.
The abuse is first logged in an entry in Anna’s diary on 1 November 2018, when she describes a violent sexual assault from someone she says was an older boy at school.
Anna wrote: “Physical abuse: bitten, hit/slapped, dragged by legs, pinned down, hand over mouth, spat on, burnt, drink thrown at me, choked, neck locked tight.”
She continued: “Rape… I can’t write anymore yet, too fresh.”
Anna described being beaten and burnt during a violent rape
After this, a group of different older men seem to take control of her life.
She was contacted with explicit requests and her account tells of a man taking her to a forest, strangling her and threatening to kill her.
Anna told Sky News: “The main thing that was in my head was if I don’t do this something worse is going to happen. So, I’ll have to go.
“I felt I was protecting my family by going back. And it’s just the whole cycle you’re in, it’s hard to get out of.
“When you’re so far into it, you’re just normalised to it
“When no-one’s offering you help, you kind of think ‘well it can’t be that bad if no one’s bothered’.”
Her frustration comes off the page of her diary in emotions, poems, lists of days when she is missing or abused and graphic accounts of the attacks.
Anna noted in her diary that ‘one day I will have a body you never touched’
Amid notes about school homework, there are thoughts like this: “Today in science class I learned every cell in our body is replaced every 7 years. How lovely it is to know one day I will have a body you never touched.”
Mr Gamble describes the passage as one of the most powerful things he has read in his career.
He said “We’re almost at the point where we need to declare war on this type of behaviour, we need to say it as a priority.
“It’s not just about exploitation, it is about rape by appointment. It is about brutal individuals who are hurting our children.”
Please use Chrome browser for a more accessible video player
‘I was sold into the sex trade’
The diaries also offer an insight into the brainwashing that is part of the grooming process.
Sometimes Anna thinks the men love her and she expresses concern about them. She seems wired to their control.
Jo Wagstaff, a psychotherapist who has worked with victims of the gangs including Anna, told Sky News: “I think deep down, these girls know that it’s not okay, especially at the point where they’re being hurt.
“In the beginning, I think there is an element that it feels like they’re in a friendship or a relationship, or that they’re loved and cared for by these people. And that that’s very real to them.
“That’s where the brainwashing comes in. In that, ‘actually, I’ve done this for you, and I’ve given you everything’. So now you need to pay me back.'”
Humberside Police have told Sky News that following arrests and the seizure of 150 devices from suspects and after following thousands of lines of inquiry, they have not reached the evidence threshold to take Anna or Sarah’s case to court.
However, they added that if more victims or witnesses come forward, they would be keen to interview them.
In the final report in this series, Sky News will meet Kate – another alleged victim – who it seems was completely off the police radar and has not yet been interviewed by them.
A 14-year-old boy has died and a 13-year-old boy is in a critical condition after getting into difficulty in the River Tyne.
Emergency teams launched a large rescue operation yesterday afternoon after receiving reports two boys had got into trouble in the water near Ovingham, Northumberland.
One of the boys, aged 13, was rescued from the river and taken to hospital, where he remains “in a critical condition”, Northumbria Police said in a statement on Sunday morning.
Ovingham Bridge on the River Tyne connects Ovingham with Prudhoe. Pic: Google Street View
Police cordon set up near Prudhoe, across the River Tyne from Ovingham
A huge search, which involved the police, ambulance, fire and mountain rescue services, then continued as crews raced to find the second boy.
“Sadly, the 14-year-old’s body was later found in the water and he was pronounced dead at the scene,” police said.
A police cordon was set up across a footpath near Prudhoe, across the River Tyne from Ovingham
Chief Superintendent Helena Barron, of Northumbria Police, said it was an “absolutely tragic incident”.
She added: “Our thoughts are with the families of both boys at this difficult time as we continue to support them.
“A number of agencies were involved in the incident and their support was hugely appreciated.
“It is with great sadness that we could not provide a more positive update.”
Police said the parents of both boys are being supported by specially-trained officers.
Billionaire Sir Jim Ratcliffe has told Sky News that Britain is ready for a change of government after scolding the Conservatives over their handling of the economy and immigration after Brexit.
While insisting his petrochemicals conglomerate INEOS is apolitical, Sir Jim backed Brexit and spent last weekend with Labour leader Sir Keir Starmer at Manchester United – the football club he now runs as minority owner.
“I’m sure Keir will do a very good job at running the country – I have no questions about that,” Sir Jim said in an exclusive interview.
“There’s no question that the Conservatives have had a good run,” he added. “I think most of the country probably feels it’s time for a change. And I sort of get that, really.”
Politics live: ‘We are in existential battle’ over world order, defence secretary warns
Please use Chrome browser for a more accessible video player
Man Utd ‘is a very big challenge’
Sir Jim was a prominent backer of leaving the European Union in the 2016 referendum but now has issues with how Brexit was delivered by Tory prime ministers.
“Brexit sort of unfortunately didn’t turn out as people anticipated because… Brexit was largely about immigration,” Sir Jim said.
“That was the biggest component of that vote. People were getting fed up with the influx of the city of Southampton coming in every year. I think last year it was two times Southampton.
“I mean, no small island like the UK could cope with vast numbers of people coming into the UK.
“I mean, it just overburdens the National Health Service, the traffic service, the police, everybody.
“The country was designed for 55 or 60 million people and we’ve got 70 million people and all the services break down as a consequence.
“That’s what Brexit was all about and nobody’s implemented that. They just keep talking about it. But nothing’s been done, which is why I think we’ll finish up with the change of government.”
Read more:
Sir Jim’s mission to succeed at ‘the one challenge the UK has never brought home’
UK needs to get ‘sharper on the business front’
Prime Minister Rishi Sunak has indicated an election is due this year but Monaco-based Sir Jim is unimpressed by the Conservatives’ handling of the economy.
“The UK does need to get a bit sharper on the business front,” he said. “I think the biggest objective for the government is to create growth in the economy.
“There’s two parts of the economy, there’s the services side of the economy and there’s the manufacturing side. And the manufacturing, unfortunately, has been sliding away now for the last 25 years.
“We were very similar in scale to Germany probably 25 years ago.
“But today we’re just a fraction of where Germany is and I think that isn’t healthy for the British economy… particularly when you think the north of England is very manufacturing based, and that talks to things like energy competitiveness, it talks to things like, why do you put an immensely high tax on the North Sea?
Analysis: Labour on ‘smoked salmon offensive’ – and it’s working
Sir Jim Ratcliffe’s comments carry weight because of who he is.
A billionaire business boss and Brexit backer who employs thousands of people should be naturally allied to the Tories.
Instead he seems to be calling time on them. Symbolically, that matters.
But what’s more important is that this mirrors what appears to be going on in business more broadly.
Labour has made a concerted effort to woo the private sector, with senior figures embarking on a “smoked salmon offensive” of breakfast meetings with top executives. And it’s working.
Commerce events held by Labour now pack out as firms pick up on the electoral direction of travel. Tensions still exist though.
Labour plans for a strengthening of workers’ rights and union power unnerve some.
Then there’s the persistent worry about the wider instincts of the party towards the commercial sector.
Or to put it another way, there are plenty of people in Labour that think someone like Sir Jim – a billionaire petro-chemical boss based in tax-free Monaco – is not part of the solution, but part of the problem.
“That just disincentivises people from finding hydrocarbons in the North Sea, in energy.
“And what we need is competitive energy. So I mean, in America, in the energy world, in the oil and gas world, they just apply a corporation tax to the oil and gas companies, which is about 30%. And in the UK we’ve got this tax of 75% because we want to kill off the oil and gas companies.
“But if we don’t have competitive energy, we’re not going to have a healthy manufacturing industry. And that just makes no sense to me at all. No.”
‘We’re apolitical’
Asked about INEOS donating to Labour, Sir Jim replied: “We’re apolitical, INEOS.
“We just want a successful manufacturing sector in the UK and we’ve talked to the government about that. It’s pretty clear about our views.”
Sir Jim was keener to talk about the economy and politics than his role at struggling Manchester United, which he bought a 27.7% stake in from the American Glazer family in February – giving him an even higher business profile.
Old Trafford stadium in Manchester. Pic: AP
Push for stadium of the North
He is continuing to push for public funds to regenerate Old Trafford and the surrounding areas despite no apparent political support being forthcoming. Sir Keir was hosted at the stadium for a Premier League match last weekend just as heavy rain exposed the fragility of the ageing venue.
“There’s a very good case, in my view, for having a stadium of the North, which would serve the northern part of the country in that arena of football,” Sir Jim said. “If you look at the number of Champions League the North West has won, it’s 10. London has won two.
“And yet everybody from the North has to get down to London to watch a big football match. And there should be one [a large stadium] in the North, in my view.
“But it’s also important for the southern side of Manchester, you know, to regenerate.
“It’s the sort of second capital of the country where the Industrial Revolution began.
“But if you have a regeneration project, you need a nucleus or a regeneration project and having that world-class stadium there, I think would provide the impetus to regenerate that region.”
UK
Strictly Come Dancing star Giovanni Pernice denies claims of ‘abusive or threatening behaviour’ on show
Strictly Come Dancing star Giovanni Pernice has rejected allegations that he displayed “abusive or threatening behaviour” while working as a professional dancer on the show.
The 33-year-old Italian dancer said he was “surprised” amid reports the BBC is looking into complaints about his conduct.
A legal firm acting on behalf of the complainants said the broadcaster is “evidence gathering” – but the BBC has not confirmed that any probe has been launched.
In the statement shared on Instagram, Pernice wrote: “To my dear fans, you will be as surprised as I am that allegations have been made about my dance teaching methods in the media this week.
“Of course, I reject any suggestion of abusive or threatening behaviour, and I look forward to clearing my name.”
He added: “Those who have followed my journey on Strictly Come Dancing over the last decade will know that I am passionate and competitive.
“No one is more ambitious for my dance partners than me.
“I have always striven to help them be the very best dancers they can be.
“This has always come from a place of love and wanting to win – for me and my dance partners.”
Pernice signed off the message by writing: “Thank you all once again for your continued love and support! Giovanni.”
Read more from Sky News:
Sarah Harding cancer research helps identify at-risk women
Is buying vinyl bad for the planet?
Blue Peter host claims Rolf Harris assaulted her
A statement from law firm Carter-Ruck to the PA news agency said: “There have been numerous serious complaints made to the BBC who are now in the process of evidence gathering.
“As it is still an ongoing matter no further comment can be made at this stage.”
The Sun, which first reported suggestions that an investigation was underway, also claimed Pernice had quit the show.
Neither the BBC nor Pernice has confirmed his departure.
Sicily-born Pernice has been on the BBC One celebrity dancing show since 2015.
In 2021, he lifted the Strictly glitterball trophy for the first time alongside EastEnders star Rose Ayling-Ellis, who was the first deaf contestant to win. He had appeared in three show finals previously.
Keep up with all the latest news from the UK and around the world by following Sky News
He also holds the Guinness World Record for most jive kick and flicks in 30 seconds, which he achieved on the BBC’s Strictly It Takes Two show in 2016.
The BBC was approached by Sky News but declined to comment.
-
Sports2 years ago‘Storybook stuff’: Inside the night Bryce Harper sent the Phillies to the World Series
-
Sports1 year agoMLB Rank 2023: Ranking baseball’s top 100 players
-
Environment12 months agoJapan and South Korea have a lot at stake in a free and open South China Sea
-
Sports1 month agoStory injured on diving stop, exits Red Sox game
-
Sports7 months agoGame 1 of WS least-watched in recorded history
-
Sports3 years ago
Team Europe easily wins 4th straight Laver Cup
-
Environment1 year agoGame-changing Lectric XPedition launched as affordable electric cargo bike
-
Environment1 year agoTesla advances Powerwall pilot project with German electric company