I was abused by sex beast dad from age 8 then gang-raped by old men in Britain’s ‘worst ever’ grooming scandal
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I WAS just eight when dad sexually abused me for the first time, forcing me to rub soap all over his body in the shower as he muttered: "Help me out, Princess".
It was a confusing moment - yet, as I dried my tiny hands, it would pave the way for years of horrific abuse that eventually saw me being pimped out to old men by a grooming gang.
During my childhood from hell, my innocence was brutally ripped away as my own father repeatedly raped me, ordered me to perform vile sex acts, and dressed me up in suspenders.
And when I turned 14, the situation only worsened - with my first ever 'boyfriend', aged 19, turning out to be a member of a violent grooming gang in my hometown of Telford, Shropshire.
Up to 1,000 kids abused by perverts
Back then, numbed by dad's abuse, I thought being raped was normal for girls.
But I'd later discover I was among up to 1,000 kids feared to have been exploited by Telford perverts since the 1980s, in what has been dubbed Britain’s 'worst ever' grooming scandal.
It's an ordeal I could have never imagined facing during the first five, carefree, years of my life, when I lived with mum, dad and my siblings in a farm cottage in the same town.
From idyllic childhood to horrific abuse
A child of the '70s, I loved playing in the fields surrounding our home. Some days, I'd try to catch fish in the nearby canal, or play hide-and-seek with my siblings in old farm buildings.
It was idyllic - yet behind closed doors, my parents were struggling financially.
We eventually moved into miserable council housing in Telford, where dad swapped being a farmhand for taxi driving, and mum spent her days shouting "you f***ing kids".
But while neither I, nor my siblings, seemed to bring mum any joy, our father developed a soft spot for me: he'd never beat me and would often give me huge bear hugs.
‘Where’s my princess?’ he’d ask as soon as he got home from work.
Then aged six, I'd run over and giggle happily in his arms.
Before long, his affections had progressed into him asking me to scratch his back. Yet even then, itching his skin with my little nails, I couldn't have guessed his true, sick intentions.
It was two years later, in 1978, that the shower incident happened.
Plonked on the sofa watching the kids' TV drama Grange Hill, while mum was out at afternoon bingo, I heard dad call out for me while he was taking a shower upstairs.
He asked me to give his aching back "a good scrub" - but as I lathered up my hands and patted his skin, he suddenly turned around and clamped his hands over my own.
"Sssh," he whispered, making me touch his private parts.
When I finally returned downstairs, with 10p from dad to buy myself "some sweets", Grange Hill had ended. I didn’t know it then, but so had my childhood.
I was nine when my father raped me for the first time. The pain was indescribable: to this day, I can’t find the words to explain it
Scarlett Jones, in her 40s
After that, dad's 'special showers' became a weekly occurrence.
"Well done Scarlett!", he'd tell me, while I felt sick.
He also started making me touch him on his marital bed.
Then, when I'd just turned nine, my father raped me for the first time.
The pain was indescribable: to this day, I can’t find the words to explain it.
Afterwards, dad threatened me with being "taken away" if I told anyone. He wasn't scared I'd tell mum, though: he knew she was completely disinterested in me.
Britain's 'worst ever' child grooming scandal
AS many as 1,000 children may have been drugged, raped and abused in Telford since the 1980s, child abuse experts say.
If this figure is correct, it would mean there are more victims per head of population than in the similar scandals that hit Rochdale and Rotherham.
The youngsters' hell went on for decades as authorities repeatedly failed to stamp out a network of paedophiles in the Shropshire town.
Social workers are said to have known about the abusers' activities as far back as the 1990s, but it took cops a decade to launch a probe, called Operation Chalice.
It has been claimed council staff viewed the underage girls as prostitutes instead of victims, and authorities failed to keep details of abusers from Asian communities for fear of 'racism'.
According to a Sunday Mirror investigation, three people were murdered in incidents linked to the scandal.
Operation Chalice identified more than 100 potential victims, abused between 2007 and 2009, and led to seven men being locked up for a combined total of almost 50 years.
One of these men was child grooming gang leader Mubarek Ali, pictured left.
In 2018, West Mercia Police launched another probe, Operation Vapour, to investigate non-recent cases of child sex exploitation (CSE) - which saw four men jailed in December for abuse offences in Telford.
Senior Investigating Officer, Detective Inspector Rob Rondel, said at the time: “Our enquiries as part of Operation Vapour continue and will continue as we look to bring to justice those responsible for sexually exploiting others, even if that exploitation took place years ago.”
An in Telford, commissioned by Telford & Wrekin Council, is now underway.
Survivors and witnesses have been urged to come forward to share their stories and information.
Forced to dress up in suspenders & stockings
By the time I was 10, I had been raped so often it was less painful.
My body was used to it. Let that sink in.
Sometimes, my father made me read out 'stories' from hardcore pornography magazines to him before he raped me. Other times, he dressed me up in suspenders and stockings.
The abuse continued well into secondary school and, when I got my period, dad simply moaned: "We’ll have to use johnnies [condoms] now. Can’t have you getting pregnant."
Utterly broken, I started wishing I was dead.
Once a happy little girl who loved animals and schoolwork, I began drinking, got into trouble at school, and walked the streets every evening to avoid going home.
It was during one of these walks, on a Telford street, that I first met Ed.
A good-looking Pakistani man with perfect teeth and his own car, he wasn't bothered that I was wearing school uniform and aged just 14 - five years younger than him.
Instead, he told me I was "pretty" and that his pal fancied me.
Ed's sex attack honestly didn't play on my mind. After years of abuse, I thought girls like me had been put on Earth to satisfy men's urges
Scarlett
We arranged to meet later so he could give me his friend's phone number - but when we did, he took me to a shabby-looking, empty house and raped me on a filthy mattress.
That night, at home, the attack honestly didn't play on my mind.
After years of abuse, I thought girls like me had been put on Earth to satisfy men's urges.
In fact, I thought I loved Ed: he'd been nice to me, and didn't mind my age.
But in following months, my new 'boyfriend' repeatedly used me for sex - including at The Wrekin, a local beauty spot where, I now know, so many young girls have been abused.
He never used protection and, not long after I turned 15, I realised I was pregnant.
Dad's sick reaction
I knew the baby was Ed's: dad was raping me with condoms - though, when he found out, he sickeningly declared: "I don’t have to use protection any more! Better for both of us."
That day, I vowed my father would never rape me again. And he didn't.
But Ed continued to physically and sexually abuse me, even paying a woman to batter my stomach in the hope I'd miscarry. Fortunately, my unborn child survived the attack.
Ed eventually sorted out a house for me and our baby boy, Danny, to live in - but imposed a strict 3.30pm curfew. If I dared to disobey it, he'd shatter my nose and lip.
One night, Ed turned up at the house with his pal Asad, and told me to "sort him out". I knew exactly what he meant: sex. With Danny asleep nearby, I was too terrified to disagree.
And it wouldn't be the last time I was loaned out.
How do I report child sexual abuse?
YOU can talk directly to the police or your local children's social services - and this can be anonymous.
You can also get advice or report your concerns anonymously to the NSPCC by phoning their free helpline on 0808 800 5000 (or you can report sexual abuse to them
The NSPCC has more .
If you are concerned about your own thoughts or behaviour towards children, you can phone Stop It Now! in confidence on 0808 1000 900 or email [email protected].
If you are a child and someone is sexually abusing you, you can get help and advice from – phone 0800 1111, calls are free and confidential.
Pimped out to dribbling old men
Ed started pimping me out to other perverts - including a really old man who stank of death. He hobbled into my living room on two sticks, with saliva dribbling down his chin.
On another occasion, aged 17, I was taken to a house by Asad, where at least 10 men were sitting around, spitting out insults at me like "white s**g" and "wh***".
Every man there raped me, one after another.
I couldn't see a way out.
But one day, after a particularly severe beating from Ed, something inside me changed: a voice woke up and I found the courage to flee from the house of horrors with Danny.
The council placed us in a hostel for a while, before we moved into a new home.
My path from victim to survivor wasn't easy: I endured further violence from Ed and even temporarily lost custody of Danny to my own mum, who wanted him for herself.
I also lost all faith in the authorities, after police failed to answer my pleas for help. When I told one officer about Ed's violence, he simply shrugged: "Sounds like a domestic to me."
But fortunately, in the end, I got my justice.
Decades after my childhood was torn apart, my sister - who was also abused by dad - approached me and we went to the police together, this time speaking to officers who truly cared.
The case went to court and, at a second retrial, dad was convicted of 32 counts, including rape, gross indecency with a child, and indecent assault, and jailed for 15 years.
Following dad's conviction, I wondered: should I also try to make Ed pay for his crimes? I ultimately decided against it: I couldn't go through yet another horrific trial.
After Dad's conviction, I wondered: should I also try to make Ed pay for his crimes? But I couldn't go through yet another horrific trial
Scarlett
Today, I'm a mum-of-five in my 40s, and I'm proud of how far I've come.
I've dedicated my life to raising awareness of child sexual exploitation (CSE), including by helping to fight for a public enquiry into the situation in Telford, which is now underway.
In the town alone, there have been at least five deaths, including 16-year-old abuse victim Lucy Lowe, who died after her home was torched by the sex beast who'd impregnated her at 14.
Another Telford abuse victim, Becky Watson, was killed in an unexplained car crash aged 13. And a third, Vicky Round, died aged 20 after her abusers got her hooked on crack at 12 and heroin at 14.
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But CSE is happening elsewhere, too.
It's taking place right under people's noses, all over Britain.
It's why I've penned my new book, Just A Girl - one of my proudest achievements. I hope it encourages other victims to speak out, and helps them to see there IS life after abuse.
Today, if I could tell them - and my childhood self - anything, it would be that it was never their fault.
It wasn’t what you wore, what you said, or how you looked.
It was never you.
- Just A Girl by Scarlett Jones, with Linda Watson-Brown, is published by Mirror Books and available
- Names and some details have been changed to protect identities