Drugged and gang-raped at 14 after my mate lured me to a party – and some of my attackers are still free
Only two of Philippa Briggs' attackers have been caught
PHILLIPA Briggs was just 14 and at a party when she was gang-raped by a group of men - egged on by her then-friend.
Two of the men were jailed for rape, but the others have not been caught.
Now, Philippa, from Buckinghamshire, has waived her anonymity to share her heartbreaking story with Fabulous Digital.
I’ll never forget the horrifying evening my entire life changed. It was a snowy night in December 2009, and I was hanging out with my friend Janine*, at the children’s home where we both lived.
I was 14 and things at home had become pretty turbulent for me.
I was six when I was adopted but as I reached my teens, I began to argue with my adoptive parents more and more.
Eventually, I became too much for them to handle and they turned to social services, who agreed to place me in a children’s home until they figured out what to do with me."
I was terrified when I arrived at the home, but Janine soon took me under her wing.
She was two years older than me, and I really looked up to her.
She was always going to cool parties and had loads of older friends.
Whenever she came home from a night out, I would beg her for all the details. I’d hear about cool, older boys.
I wanted more than anything to fit in with Janine and her older friends, but I was always too nervous about breaking our strict curfew.
If we weren’t in after 8pm staff at the home said they would call the police, and I couldn’t risk getting into any more trouble than I already was.
But when the festive season began, I started feeling more and more lonely. So one night in December, when Janine asked if I wanted to go to a party with her, I decided to go.
Truthfully, I was worried I wouldn’t fit in.
Once we got to the party, there were lots of people crammed into a small house. Most of them were drinking and taking drugs. The music was deafening.
One guy recognised Janine and waved at us. I immediately felt uncomfortable.
I wasn’t sure the party was my kind of scene – especially when people started drinking.
He offered me a vodka, but instead I asked for an orange juice.
But just minutes after gulping down the drink, my head started to spin. I looked around frantically for Janine, but she was nowhere to be seen.
I felt so dizzy I couldn’t get any words out. Then everything went black. When I opened my eyes, I was on a cold bathroom floor and my vision was blurry.
I tried to get up, but to my horror I realised I was being pinned down by something extremely heavy. Terror ran through me as I realised there was a man on top of me.
Who was jailed for the attack of Philippa?
Kashif Amjad was jailed for 10 years for rape. He was ordered to sign the Sex Offenders' Register for life. He was disqualified from working with children for 10 years.
Sakib Sadiq was jailed for 10 years for rape. He was ordered to sign the Sex Offenders' Register for life. He was disqualified from working with children for 10 year.
Janine* was charged with causing a female child under 16 to engage in sexual activity and given a four-month detention and training order.
I couldn’t make out his face, and when I opened my mouth to try to scream no sound came out. I drifted in and out of consciousness as he raped me, too weak and woozy to fight him off.
When I woke again, I was alone. Pain tore through me as I tried to get up and I looked down to see my legs were covered in blood.
I felt sick, but I knew I had to get help and fast. I was distraught when I realised the door was locked. I was completely trapped. As I desperately tried to figure out how to escape, I passed out again.
When I woke sometime later, my trousers were round by my ankles again.
My stomach knotted with fear as I realised I must have been raped for a second time. I screamed and banged on the door until finally, Janine came to get me.
Sobbing my eyes out, covered in blood and shaking, I must have looked like a victim from a horror movie, but Janine didn’t bat an eyelid.
I tried to explain that I wasn’t drunk, but Janine shook her head and led me out the house, before going back in.
I couldn’t believe she would leave me on my own but there was no way I was going back into that house.
I had no idea where I was, but I managed to walk around the corner before collapsing in pain and shock. I curled up in a ball to try to warm up, and eventually passed out again.
As I had missed my curfew, the children’s home called the police to go and look for me. A police officer found me hours later in the snow, freezing cold and covered in blood.
Sobbing my eyes out, covered in blood and shaking, I must have looked like a victim from a horror movie
Phillippa Briggs
I was taken to a rape centre where medics explained I’d been drugged, and my appalling injuries showed that I was raped by as many as five men.
Disgust flooded through me as they tested me for sexually transmitted diseases. They gave me the morning after pill and told me I would also need to take a pregnancy test in a few weeks.
Thankfully, they managed to find the DNA of two of my attackers on me - Kashif Amjad, 31, and Sakib Ali Sadiq, 35, - and both were arrested.
Janine was also arrested for her part in the attack.
I was devastated my friend could turn her back on me so easily. In many ways that was the biggest betrayal of all.
It took two agonising years for the case to go to court, but in June 2011 I gave evidence via video link at Aylesbury Crown Court and the monsters, of Buckinghamshire, were jailed for 10 years each for raping me.
Janine was given a two-year detention training order for causing a child to engage in sexual activity.
Justice had been done for two of my attackers, but knowing that there was at least three others out there was difficult.
I suffered with post-traumatic stress after the attack and doctors put me on antidepressants.
Even now, Christmas is a difficult time for me, but I feel stronger with each year that passes.
I won’t let those monsters steal a second more of my future.
*Janine’s name has been changed for legal reasons
Thames Valley Police has not yet responded to a request for a comment
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