Survivors of Child Abuse

Heather Wheeler Excerpts

Tuesday 17th March 2015 Westminster Hall

[John Mann (Bassetlaw) (Lab)]

It gives me no pleasure to open a debate on the lack of support for child abuse survivors. The issue is predominant in the media at the moment; there is almost a frenzy of activity going on, with media and public interest in the issue of prominent people and child abuse.

One of the great dilemmas for anyone provided with information by people out there is understanding the context of what was going on. The context is worth spelling out a little bit, because it affects understanding of how those who survived childhood exploitation and abuse were treated at the time. One of the dilemmas regarding the involvement of Members of Parliament, politicians and other prominent people is that there is a fine line to be drawn between MPs in the past who were secretly homosexual, those who were secretly homosexual and paying for sex with teenage boys, although it used to be illegal for men to have sex under 21, and those who were doing so with younger children. Of course, if MPs—or anyone else—are paying for sex with teenage boys, they probably do not ask, “Are you 18, 19, 14 or 15?” Part of the problem of exposing the past is precisely that. Who are the real perpetrators?

There is a separate side to this that is equally difficult. The vast majority of adults who come to me having been abused as children raised issues with the authorities as small children, but were treated as being the problem, as we saw rather graphically recently in Rotherham. Rotherham is no different from anywhere else—no different from Nottingham or Bassetlaw, which in turn is no different from the rest of the country.

For example, I have spoken to someone who, aged 11, was fostered out with nine other children and alleges multiple abuse, including rape, of these young children, some of whom were younger than him. He was forced into slavery—forced to work, in a workplace that I can identify in my constituency, from age 11 to 15, for nothing, the money going to his foster parents. The head teacher of his school wrote—I have seen the letters—saying that he did not want the child in the school, and claims in the attendance records that he was there when he was not. He was working for nothing in a foundry—a foundry!—aged 11, 12 and 13. He came forward for the first time to see me, his MP. Why me? I do not know, but he did. He has not been to anyone else. He is going to the police. He will go public, I am quite certain. The media will get a phenomenal story on what was going on. More victims will emerge, I know, because I have already done my own investigations. It was not a one-off; this was going on for years.

I have to tell my constituent that in a court case last week, it was ruled that children in foster care cannot make a civil claim against a local authority, because the local authority has no liability. I look at what local authorities across the country are doing, and I see documents about liability insurance and liability. They do not have a problem with kids in foster care, because the courts just ruled that there is no liability, but hang on a minute: what support is there for my constituents who were put into slavery aged 11 and abused? My constituent’s sisters and brothers were abused, too.

What support is there now for a constituent of mine who was raped repeatedly as a child in different care homes and foster homes? She made multiple allegations that take in different police forces and Crown prosecutors across the country. She spent three days in hospital under sedation, after giving her statement to the police and reliving the trauma, to try to get one of the prosecutions off the ground, and we are dealing with councils that are worried about insurance liability and are writing papers on that as their priority. That is what is fundamentally not understood.

I could give a list of MPs past and present suspected of involvement in child abuse. Most of the names would be accurate, although they would not all be, and that is why I am not going to do it. It would hinder the police. I spoke to the police minutes before coming in here about whether it would be helpful to do that. They are neutral, but my judgment is: let the police follow the evidence. One way or another, the names will get out. I want the people out in a court of law, being prosecuted and imprisoned. That is the appropriate thing. Critically, what I want from this debate is a system that supports these adults. The woman who was repeatedly raped and was sedated going into hospital after giving a statement—can you imagine what it is like, reliving the trauma in detail to give a statement so that a prosecution can be considered?

[Heather Wheeler (South Derbyshire) (Con)]

I congratulate the hon. Gentleman on securing the debate this afternoon. It is a pleasure to serve under your chairmanship, Mrs Dorries. The hon. Gentleman is getting to the nub of the problem. It is not just about the huge courage the victims have to have to come forward; the system needs to support them afterwards. My constituent, Jo, was repeatedly raped at 15. She has suffered because there are inadequacies with the Crown Prosecution Service and the Parole Board, and her perpetrator is back out on the streets. He had five life sentences. Will the hon. Gentleman expand on his issues with how the system has been letting people down, such as my constituent, Jo?

[John Mann]

It has been letting down the hon. Lady’s constituents and mine alike. Three girls were repeatedly raped from age 5 onwards. There is no case to answer, because their statements taken at the time, when they were young kids, do not add up. The Crown Prosecution Service said, “Oh, there is nothing we can do. We will not win in court.” What support is there for them? I will tell you what support there is: me. That is who they come to. I will give them support, but what I need from the state and national and local government is properly resourced mental health services that do not, as they did to my constituent, send people away—she needed to be sedated for three days, having made a statement about the multiple rape and other violence—and say, “Come back in a month’s time.” That happened in Nottinghamshire this year to one of the victims. Mental health services are totally disjointed when it comes to support.

I am dealing with children’s social services, but some of these adults are in their 50s or 60s. They will not be going to children’s social services, so where is the support from adult social services? There is no system in place that gives them that. I have constituents who have been hung out to dry by the police and given no support. They were not even referred to the support agencies, having come and said, “We were raped as children.” What on earth is going on when we have no support systems in place?