GIRLS AS YOUNG AS 13 WERE BEING RAPED AND SOLD FOR SEX WHILE IN BIRMINGHAM CITY COUNCIL'S CARE.
WHEN THE WOMAN WHO INVESTIGATED THEIR ABUSE ACCUSED THE COUNCIL OF BURYING THE EVIDENCE, JESS PHILLIPS WAS BIRMINGHAM'S APPOINTED VICTIMS' CHAMPION. WHEN COUNCIL OFFICIALS DECLARED THERE HAD BEEN NO COVER-UP, SHE WAS STILL THERE. WEEKS LATER, SHE BECAME AN MP.
These were children entrusted to Birmingham City Council for their protection. Dr Jill Jesson's investigation documented rape allegations, beatings, burns, pregnancies and girls taking overdoses.
The council's own researcher found that Social Services had no systematic response to allegations of rape, but was concerned about protecting itself from bad publicity.
Then, in November 2014, Jesson publicly accused Birmingham City Council of burying her findings. She said references to the ethnicity of the men had been removed and copies of her report ordered destroyed.
JESS PHILLIPS WAS BIRMINGHAM'S FIRST VICTIMS' CHAMPION.
She had been appointed in 2012. In April 2015, senior council officer Peter Hay acknowledged that an opportunity to protect children had been missed, but maintained there had been no cover-up. At the time, Phillips was still serving on Birmingham City Council.
Weeks later, she was elected Labour MP for Birmingham Yardley. Phillips subsequently became the Government's Minister for Safeguarding and Violence Against Women and Girls.
JESS PHILLIPS MUST BE CALLED TO GIVE EVIDENCE BEFORE THE NATIONAL STATUTORY GROOMING GANGS INQUIRY.
She must answer questions about her time as Birmingham's Victims' Champion and what action she took when the allegations about the Jesson Report resurfaced.
AND BIRMINGHAM TODAY.
143 children identified as at risk of, or experiencing, sexual exploitation.
98 live investigations. Six confirmed grooming gangs. Two private-hire drivers stripped of their licences following police intelligence concerning potential sexual offences against children.
Birmingham is finally on the national inquiry's list. But the fight now is over what evidence Baroness Longfield obtains and who she requires to answer for the decisions made.
THE COUNCIL HAD A VICTIMS' CHAMPION WHEN THE ALLEGATIONS RESURFACED. THE PUBLIC DESERVES TO KNOW WHAT SHE DID.
My latest investigation follows the evidence from the girls in Birmingham's care homes through to the council's handling of the report and Jess Phillips's subsequent political career.
Read it here;
redwallandtherabble.co.uk/th…
The National Inquiry is entering the phase that will decide not just where it goes, but what it is prepared to confront once it gets there.
Birmingham proves why that matters.
We fought to get the city onto the list. Now, before the first witnesses have even been heard, a Pakistani politician is already trying to decide which questions should be pushed out of focus.
That is why the pressure cannot stop at getting places named.
Red Wall and the Rabble is now more than 15,000 strong. In the last three months, more than 1,000 people have committed to a paid subscription, and 250,000 people have read one of my investigations so far this year.
We forced Oldham onto the list. We showed the way in Bradford. We campaigned relentlessly in Birmingham and across Wales, and both were named.
None of it was handed to us.
And now the next fight begins. Making sure the Inquiry actually asks the questions politicians and institutions spent decades avoiding.
No political party funds this work. No institution stands behind me. Everything I publish remains free because the evidence needs to reach as many people as possible.
The people who pay are the people who give me the independence to keep investigating, keep applying pressure and keep forcing these questions into the open.
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