Rape gang victims are being “sacrificed for votes” amid fears of upsetting Pakistani and Asian communities, a survivor has warned.
Sammy Woodhouse, who was just 14 when she was raped by drug dealer Arshid Hussain in Rotherham, said Prime Minister Sir Keir Starmer should resign over one of Britain’s most shameful scandals.
Ms Woodhouse, 39, insisted the Government must order investigations into “every” council and police force.
A bombshell report by Baroness Louise Casey said society cannot “move on” until “all the organisations involved are able to stand up and acknowledge the failures of the past”.
The Peer confirmed Pakistani and Asian men were “disproportionately” represented in grooming cases and warned crimes were covered up to protect community relations and avoid accusations of racism.
Asylum seekers and foreign nationals were also linked to a “significant proportion” of cases. Baroness Casey said she felt “rage on behalf of the victims” because no one has been held accountable for the decisions they made.
And she warned “nobody is learning the lessons they should learn to make sure this doesn’t happen again”.
Ms Woodhouse, 39, told the Daily Express: “We were sacrificed for votes. They know what the scale of this is. And they are very much in fear of upsetting the Pakistani, Muslim community.
“It is a complete betrayal of girls in our country. Personally, I don’t want an apology. I want resignations. I’m writing an email to Keir Starmer saying he needs to stand down.
“I want accountability. I want people to face accountability. Whistleblowers like me have been put through absolute hell and back.”
The Prime Minister announced a statutory inquiry into grooming gangs at the weekend after refusing to do so for month and criticising those who were calling for an investigation “jumping on far-right bandwagon”.
Children as young as 10 were singled out by predators, Baroness Casey’s report revealed.
Home Secretary Yvette Cooper confirmed the Government will accept the former civil servant’s 12 recommendations, including establishing the national inquiry and tightening up rape laws.
Baroness Casey suggested there had been a widespread cover-up, with public bodies using flawed data to enable them to dismiss claims about Asian grooming gangs as “sensationalised, biased or untrue”.
And she said: “Despite reviews, reports and inquiries raising questions about men from Asian or Pakistani ethnic backgrounds grooming and sexually exploiting young white girls, the system has consistently failed to fully acknowledge this or collect accurate data so the issue can be examined effectively.”
Ms Woodhouse said: “What they need to do is a full investigation into every single council and police force.
“That is the only way we are really going to get to the bottom of this.
“They know what the scale of this problem is and they’ve just been brushing it under the carpet and hoping it will go away.
“It’s not going to go away. It’s going to get bigger and bigger and bigger.
“If you start doing an investigation into every council and police force, you’re going to uncover a lot of truth.
“I’m telling you now, it’s going to be happening in every town and city. I think they know that and that’s why they are only picking a handful.
“When this was going on, they were trying to cover it up because of the race and religious element. People are so scared to upset communities.
“I don’t give a toss what race or religion you are. If you are raping children, you should be held to account.
“The evidence has always been there. The problem is, they don’t want to do anything. The only reason they are doing something is because people like me are putting that constant pressure on.”
Baroness Casey, in her scathing report, revealed how predators and paedophiles targeted vulnerable young girls, particularly those in care, and would convince them they “loved” them.
The audit told how one 15-year-old was raped by an older man “and did not want to leave him or support a prosecution” because she believed they were in love.
Police and the local council were aware of the abuse, the report said, but did not take action.
Emma*, not her real name, was raped by three men after first being abused in 2012, aged just 13. Only the two ringleaders of the five-man gang have been jailed.
One of her rapists is set to be released from prison soon. This newspaper is withholding key details to protect Emma’s identity.
She told the Daily Express: “When I lived in a children’s home, the care home allowed these abusers to be around us, to spend time with us, they allowed the abusers to enter the home, supply us with drugs and alcohol.
“They were quite happy to allow it.
“They were was no real justice.
“My mum put me in care thinking they will do their best to look after me, but actually they didn’t care about me at all. They allowed these men to groom us girls and make us believe they loved us and wanted us.”
The gang abused three girls, including two living at the care home.
Emma added: “A lot of it happened in their homes. They would supply alcohol and drugs and get us out of our heads, for them to do what they wanted to do to us.
“The staff knew I was coming home high, they knew I was coming home with ripped clothes. The only people I was socialising with were these older men.
“People don’t realise the impact and the trauma you go through. When you are a young girl, you don’t expect to go through things like that. You always get flashbacks. I always feel like I’m being used.
“Change needs to happen. It can’t keep going on like this.
“You make sure a child is getting placed in the right place. If a child discloses something, even if it is minute, you make sure you look into that.
“I kept telling the care home, not necessarily that I had been raped, but that I was hanging round with these guys, I was getting stoned.
“I felt failed by the police. Police have a duty of care to make sure I was protected at all times. But I felt like I was a troubled girl, to them. I would do things for a cry for help, like setting fire to a bin. When it did come out what happened to me, I felt like I had no support.
“Even to this day, even though court is done, probation officers get hold of me to give me updates. It has just ruined my whole life. It’s never ending. It’s just a constant battle.”
Whistleblower and campaigner Maggie Oliver added: “If this was Keir Starmer’s daughter, I can tell you now, we wouldn’t be in this position. It is 150% still going on.
“You know, you speak to the victims, survivors, you go to any town in the north of England. I would say it is more prevalent in the north of England, from my experience. But it is going on everywhere.
“And the reason is, is that it is very rare that one of these men is ever arrested or charged. If a man who got a 13-year-old pregnant is out of prison in just over three years, that sends a signal out that actually it’s not a bad crime.
“He should be in prison for the rest of his life.”
Richard Scorer, head of abuse law and public inquiries at Slater and Gordon who has represented multiple grooming gang victims: “We welcome the announcement of a national investigation with statutory powers and the integration of local inquiries.
“However, critical questions remain unanswered. Is this truly a full public inquiry, or merely a “commission,” as the Home Secretary described? The distinction matters deeply for victims, survivors, and the public.”
