Payout for sex abuse victim

A Shropshire woman has been awarded criminal injuries compensation after she was sexually abused even though no-one has been charged or brought before the courts over it.

Medical evidence showed that 28-year-old Hollie Greig, who has Downs Syndrome, was a victim of abuse and had undergone a traumatic experience.

Hollie and her mother Anne Greig fled from Aberdeen when Anne discovered what had been happening.

They came to live in Shropshire eight years ago.

The two have been fighting to bring the man they said caused the abuse to justice but say no charges have ever been brought.

They say Hollie had been the victim of a paedophile ring since the age of six, for 14 years, before she moved to Shropshire.

Now the two are calling on Grampian police to re-investigate the allegations.

Speaking at her home yesterday, Hollie said she was pleased that her case had been made public.

Her 58-year-old mother said the criminal injuries compensation of £13,500 that her daughter had just received from the Criminal Injuries Compensation Authority was a confirmation that people believed her.

"It is not the money that is important. It is a way of protecting her in the future against the person or people that abused her," she said;.

"These people are still walking about free to abuse other children."

"I was accused of putting the allegations into my daughter's head and was even sectioned and taken to hospital and my daughter taken into care."

A letter written by Detective Inspector Iain Allen from the community protection and investigation team at Grampian Police, to the criminal injuries compensation authority said: "Officers who have dealt with Hollie have taken the view she was a truthful witness to the best of her ability and an entirely innocent victim.

"She appears to have been distressed by what happened to her. This would have been particularly traumatic for such a vulnerable person."

Grampian Police Chief Inspector Murray Main today said: "Decisions in Scotland on whether or not to prosecute are the responsibility of the Procurator Fiscal.

"If any new evidence was to come to light we would re-open the investigation."

By Sue Austin