The tragic scandal inspired the BBC’s controversial drama Three Girls, which has moved audiences to tears and seen thousands call for its real-life subjects to be awarded OBEs.
Though, the trauma lives on for the 47 known victims of the Rochdale sex ring, while one, who went under the false moniker of “Lily” on the ITV show, has spoken out about being groomed from as young as 11-years-old.
“They build the trust first and the first time I got taken into a taxi nothing happened,” she told hosts Kate Garraway and Ben Shephard. “They just took me home and gave me some like fags, and that to me was kind of like they are looking after me – they are trying to keep me safe.
“They took me off the street and brought me home.”
When asked by Shephard whether that was the first time she felt like there was an adult looking after her, Lily said: “Yeah, yeah I did. You know, that was the first time I kind of felt accepted, wanted, safe.”
Recalling what happened after she reported the abuse, Lily explained: “I just felt like I was ignored because I’d been told that this thing that happened to me was really, really horrific, but when I actually tried to report it nothing happened.
“That kind of made me go back to thinking, well there’s nothing wrong with what’s going on because if there was something wrong, and it was really bad, then the police would have done something.”
Lily also revealed that she had a horrific encounter with one of her attackers just “weeks ago”.
“I thought, ‘What can I do?’” she sighed. “He’s done his time, he’s free.”
She admitted that while her life is “a lot better”, she gets terrified of going out.
“I’m scared about what I’m going out to,” she said.
Good Morning Britain airs weekdays at 6am on ITV.
Daily Express :: TV and Radio Feed
