Rape gang survivor Fiona Goddard has said the length of time it is taking to get perpetrators to trial is failing victims again.
Speaking on GB News, Fiona said: “In 2014 I forced West Yorkshire Police’s hand and exposed my care record to the news which led to Operation Dalesway being opened with a historical sexual abuse hub. They used the Smith Algorithm to identify other victims.
“This girl’s case was identified in 2015 but yet 11 years later, it’s only just ended in the perpetrators being sent to prison. That is not normal. It’s not good enough.
“And this is not the only one. Bradford is playing catch up at the moment. You will see these cases coming out in Bradford over and over again over the next few years.
“If these are the first cases only just reaching trial after my case in 2014 was taken on, then there is a big, massive backlog.
“The problem is that these girls were failed in the first place by not being identified at the time, and left to suffer their abuse. And then they’re having to wait 10, 11, 12 years just to get justice once they have finally been identified.
“And then the sentences themselves; this is a systematic rape of children we’re on about here. But yet these men are receiving sentences where they will be out of prison in six to eight years.
“How is this normal?
“This is the problem; how many other cases, as well, are currently under lock and key with reporting restrictions? How many more do we not know about? How many more are on bail, walking about the streets?
“How many more? And this is the problem when you are repeatedly facing reporting restrictions on these cases to try and control the public’s response to this, then you’re failing these people over and over again.”
