How my daughter became a victim of child sexual exploitation - by Telford victim's father
A father from Telford today described how his daughter was groomed and abused from the age of 11.
But as two inquiries prepare to descend on Telford to look at the issue of child sexual exploitation, Vernon Round condemned extremists who were using his daughter’s case to spread hate.
Vicky Round died aged 20 after a chaotic short life in which she became addicted to alcohol and drugs. Groomers took advantage to abuse her over a number of years as she grew up.
Mr Round today spoke of his heartache over the abuse his daughter endured as her life spiralled out of control.
But, speaking to the Shropshire Star, he said the issue of child sexual exploitation was also one that should concern all ethnic and social groups.
He criticised campaigners who had used pictures of his daughter during protest marches on the issue in Telford.
Mr Round said Vicky was abused by men of all races and backgrounds who kept her compliant through threats of violence.
He said: “It’s not just Pakistani men, it’s Chinese men, English men or Polish men. It’s sickening. This is massive. This is going on in our town. It’s got a dark shadow over it.”
Of protesters from the EDL and other groups who have come to Telford, he said: “They’re brewing up hatred for people that are completely innocent. Vicky wasn’t racist. We don’t want any racist organisation to use Vicky’s picture as a banner. They promote hatred.”
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Seven men were jailed in 2013 following Operation Chalice, a police inquiry into child prostitution in the Telford area in which vulnerable teenage girls were targeted. But there are claims of hundreds more victims going back over three decades.
The Truth Project is coming to Telford as part of the national Jay Inquiry into CSE. Telford & Wrekin Council is also launching its own inquiry. The Truth Project will give victims the chance to talk about their experiences to decide whether a full independent inquiry should come to the town.
Mr Round said Vicky would have hated to be used by racist organisations to spread division through the community.
He also said that more needs to be done to help those girls and boys who are still being trapped by groomers using drugs and threats of violence.
Aspiring model Vicky died in 2009 aged 20 after years of being abused. She had been groomed at just 11 and was kept addicted to crack cocaine.
Mr Round said he is still discovering things about the horrors she had to live through even today.
Vicky’s story is typical of those who fall into becoming a victim of CSE. She fell in with the wrong crowd and the situation was complicated by her parents splitting up. Drink and drugs impaired her judgement and her vulnerability was taken advantage of by her abusers.
“I first knew there were problems with Vicky in 2007, because certain people had been saying certain things about her,” Mr Round said.
“I didn’t know it had all started when she was 11. Nobody ever told me anything. Social services never told me anything.
“It was only in the latter part of her life they started to move her. Social services moved her to Devon, to Lancaster, to Stoke – they put her in rooms above pubs when they knew she was a binge drinker.
Horrific
“I had my own business, six children. I was seeing Vicky regularly every fortnight. It was only when she reached 14 she started saying she didn’t want to come. It was strange, but she had friends, so I thought she was occupied with them and wanting to do her own thing.
“They didn’t tell me anything until they started to say she was sleeping around. She was stealing, she’s causing trouble everywhere. No mention of being groomed.”
In the years since, Mr Round has found out that Vicky was abused by men of all races and backgrounds, most who he knows are still out there.
“Her groomers kept her compliant through threats of violence.
“The more you learn, the more horrific it is,” Mr Round said.
“Vicky was being told they would attack us. They said they would get her brothers and sisters. They would burn the house down. All that fear. A girl of 12 or 13 being told those things.
Heroin
“Plus they gave her crack cocaine. They gave her heroin. They gave her drink.
“She always had phones – I thought she was stealing them – and they were always going off.
“The first thing they do is make their victims dependant on them. Whether it’s through money, drugs, alcohol. If they stay away for two days, they’ll go cold turkey and go back. You will sell your soul to the devil for the next fix.
"Then they make them feel like nobody will ever want them. They think they’re lost – who will ever want a relationship with them after everything they’ve been through?”
Mr Round said he has been disgusted by far right groups such as Britain First and the EDL using Vicky’s picture during their marches.
“I was scared straight away. They didn’t even ask if they could use the picture. I thought I couldn’t walk through Wellington, they’re going to think I’m racist. I want to get justice for Vicky, but not by those people. They’re just warmongerers and troublemakers.
“They’re brewing up hatred for people who are completely innocent.
"Vicky wasn’t racist. We do not want any racist organisation to use Vicky’s picture as a banner. They are promoters of hatred. It’s not just Pakistani men, it’s Chinese men, English men, Polish men. It’s sickening. This is massive. This is going on in our town. It’s got a dark shadow over it.”
Mr Round said there needs to be a big shift in attitude towards the victims.
“There was always this word ‘promiscuous’,” he said. “They were ‘slags’, they were showing off the flesh. It is the girls who are blamed and the way their family’s have brought them up.
“They tried to blame Vicky or the way she was brought up. She wasn’t brought up like that. They torture those girls, and then they look at their parents when they come home at night wanting to ask to be saved – but they’re too scared.
“If I think too deep it’s the end of me. If I start thinking about Vicky’s face at 12, it’ll kill me.”
