A grooming gang victim has slammed Cabinet Minister Lucy Powell for her “dog whistle” comments. Steph, who waived her anonymity while speaking to the BBC, told how she feels “betrayed” by politicians
Ms Powell made a Commons apology this week after she was accused of “dismissing” concerns over grooming gangs. When a recent Channel 4 documentary about five women’s stories of being groomed and abused by gangs was raised by a fellow panellist during BBC Radio 4’s Any Questions programme, Ms Powell replied: “Oh, we want to blow that little trumpet now, do we? Let’s get that dog whistle out, shall we?”
On what it’s like hearing the political conversation about grooming gangs, Steph said: “It makes me angry, especially the comment of the dog whistler and stuff like that. It’s not very nice to us as victims.”
When asked about Ms Powell’s comments, she said: “She’s not been through nothing herself, has she? She doesn’t know how we actually feel. We’ve got a constant reminder of it every day and it’s still going on”.
When she was 12, Steph was living in a children’s home and would go out drinking and taking drugs with friends.
She said it was at that time that she was routinely abused by men. She believes one of them was a police officer.
Speaking to Laura Kuenssberg, she said: “[I was] just locked in a house. Just passed to people, people taking turns on me.”
She added: “You see young girls still doing what I was doing,” she tells Kuenssberg, adding that she feels “betrayed” by politicians.
Greater Manchester Police said they have accepted and apologised for past failings and are committed to ensuring victims are listened to and supported, regardless of who committed these offences and how long ago it occurred.
