Rotherham child sex abuse survivor Sammy Woodhouse fears exploitation is “never, ever going to stop”

Sammy Woodhouse, who became pregnant with her first son aged 14 after being groomed and raped, was one of the first survivors of the Rotherham Grooming Scandal to speak out about her ordeal.

After waiving her right to anonymity, Sammy now campaigns against child sexual exploitation.

Following councillor’s claims that child sex abuse in Rotherham ‘may be occurring on the same scale as in the past’, Sammy says the problem will never be stopped, and professionals must look at how they can reduce the abuse instead.

“Exploitation is never, ever going to stop in Rotherham, around the country, or around the world.

“You’re never going to stop it. It’s about reducing it as much as you can and about putting things in place when it’s actually happening. And obviously, for authorities to be actually dealing with it.”

Conservative Councillors in Rotherham have claimed that CSE is taking place in Rotherham, seven years after the Jay Report was published – and have demanded that the council and police take action.

“No-one wants to talk about exploitation anymore,” adds Sammy.

“When information is coming in, they need to be acting on that straightaway.

“A lot of children don’t know what grooming is. The younger generation don’t. There needs to be a lot of work.

“What we need to do is get stuff into schools and not only say to kids, this is what grooming is and this is who you can talk to or report it to if it happens, but we also need to be telling kids this is perpetrated behaviour.”

Sammy launched a campaign earlier this year for a change in the law, to allow children conceived through rape and abuse to be recognised as secondary victims.

They would be entitled to specialist help, and be defined as victims in law.