IN 2001, at just 11 years old, Josie Clark was groomed by a gang and subjected to five years of horrific sexual abuse. After bravely reporting her abusers, they were convicted in 2007, and 16 years later, Josie was awarded compensation. But she has never received an apology from those she says failed to protect her.
Here, Josie, now 32, exclusively tells her story. Standing alone in the dark, without a clue where I was, I wondered how I was going to get home. I was just 11 years old and, minutes earlier, I’d been in a car full of middle-aged men, who had abandoned me after I refused to have sex with men they had promised me to.
I thought they were my friends, but I was learning that was far from the truth. It was only years later that I’d realise the men, who were mostly Asian, were part of a paedophile ring, who preyed on vulnerable children like me. When I was four, I was taken from my family in Blackburn and placed in care.
By the time I left primary school, I’d been in so many foster and children’s homes, I’d lost count. In one of the homes, when I was six, I was sexually abused by an older teenage resident. I didn’t have anywhere to call my own – but what hurt most was not having anyone to love me.
So, when an older girl from school invited me out with some men she knew, I jumped at the chance. After driving around Blackburn for a while, they bought us a takeaway and dropped us back. It felt so nice to have some friendly attention.
“Same time tomorrow?”.