Barrow victim breaks silence on grooming ordeal and justice denied

This is a story about the grooming, rape and abuse of children in Barrow, Cumbria. Of girls sometimes still in their school uniform.

It is a familiar tale – Rotherham and Rochdale now bywords for the historic grooming scandals which rocked the country – and from which famously, lessons were supposed to have been learned.

A month ago, three brothers were convicted of a raft of serious sexual offences against children across Barrow, and in Leeds. Any conviction of historical abuse must be seen as a success. But tonight we can reveal that police knew some of what was happening in Barrow as far back as 2009. It has taken 15 years for some of the abused girls to get justice.

Our report focuses on one young woman, Ellie Reynolds. She identified one of the brothers to police as her alleged abuser six years ago but her case never got to court. Instead, the authorities tried to prosecute her. She has taken the extraordinary step of waiving her right to anonymity to tell us what happened.

Barrow is a town which went to war with itself – after another girl’s claims of abuse at the hands of an Asian grooming gang turned out to be lies.

For Ellie Reynolds, the legal process has kept her silent until now, when, for the first time, we can tell her story of justice denied.

Warning – this report contains descriptions of rape and sexual assault which some may find distressing.

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