Rotherham sex gang victim reveals police found her naked in bed with abuser aged 14 and arrested HER – as she fights for royal pardon

WHEN the police burst in on known thug “Mad Ash” and found him in bed with a 14-year-old schoolgirl, scandalously SHE was the one they arrested.

It was another missed opportunity to save young Sammy Woodhouse from the clutches of paedophile Arshid Hussain — the ringleader of the notorious Rotherham sex gang.

Sammy had been groomed by Hussain, who was ten years older. Fascinated by him she was persuaded into having sex and committing petty crimes for him. During that particular police raid, she agreed to his demand to hide a truncheon.

So instead of arresting Hussain for having sex with an under-age girl, Sammy was nicked for possessing an offensive weapon.

Sammy, now 31, who has bravely waived her right to anonymity, told The Sun about that incident: “I was missing from home and I was found half-naked in bed with Arshid and he told me to put a truncheon in my bag, so I did.

“But I was the one who was arrested for that. I was charged with possessing an offensive weapon in a public place.

“He had been caught naked in bed with a 14-year-old girl and he walked away.”

Sammy was not the only vulnerable youngster in the South Yorkshire town who was failed by the police and social services.

The Jay Report in 2014 found that at least 1,400 children had been raped, exploited and trafficked at the hands of mostly Pakistani men in Rotherham over a 16-year period.

Yet when Sammy went to expose her vile abusers five years ago, the police threatened her with jail.

Police said I could have got 102 years in prison

They said she could incriminate herself for offences committed under the influence of Hussain if she gave evidence to Baroness Alexis Jay’s Independent Inquiry into Child Sexual Exploitation in Rotherham.

Sammy explained: “It was me that exposed the abuse in the press and that triggered off all the historic investigations.

“When I gave evidence about what had happened I was questioned under caution. I was worried about talking about all the things I had done.

“I was told by the police if I was found guilty of the crimes I had been groomed to commit I could have been sentenced to 102 years in prison.”

Once again, although she was the victim she was made to feel like she was in the wrong.

Fortunately, her solicitor convinced the police that charging her would not be in the public interest.

Now she is fighting for what she calls Sammy’s Law.

This proposes that certain crimes committed by juveniles under the coercion of sex offenders should be wiped from a person’s criminal record.

Her own offences, all committed in 2001 when she was 15, included common assault, possessing an offensive weapon and actual bodily harm.

Sammy, who would like to be a solicitor, said: “If I go for a job I have to tell them about my criminal record and I would have to tell a stranger, interviewing me, about being abused as a child.

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“Paedophiles are grooming children and getting them to commit crimes. I know this has happened to other survivors.

“We need to treat each case individually. We need to ask whether this person is still a threat?”

Sammy was a naive girl from a stable home when she met Hussain. He turned on the charm and she had soon fallen under his spell. Believing herself in love, she starting missing school and staying away from home.

She said: “At first, he seemed to be caring and loving. He portrayed himself to be the perfect man.

At first, he seemed to be caring and loving. He portrayed himself to be the perfect man

“It started to change when he knew I wouldn’t leave him.”

After a month they were having sex daily. Twice he got her pregnant, the first time she had an abortion, but when she was 15 she gave birth to a baby boy.

Hussain also persuaded Sammy to break the law. He would hit her and threaten her with violence to exert his control.

She recalled: “Once we were in an argument and he went speeding up to the end of a cliff top, got me out of the car and threatened to throw me off.”

Her distraught parents had asked for Sammy to be taken into care to keep her away from Hussain.

Yet social workers allowed him to keep meeting the vulnerable teen, even though they knew he had been in prison.

Sammy recalled: “The last time I had sex with him was when I was in care and pregnant.

“There were two conditions to me seeing him when I was in care.

“One was that I met him at the top of the street and the other was that I was at home for ten.

“My parents placed me in care, hoping that it would stop the contact with him. In fact it just encouraged it. The only thing it did stop was me running away.”

She was 16 when she first went to the police to tell them about Hussain but her claims fell on deaf ears.

Sammy is convinced it was this pattern of being ignored by the people who were meant to protect her that got her deeper into trouble.

I still feel angry but a part of me loves him

It was only in 2012 that she plucked up the courage to talk to the Jay Inquiry.

In February last year, following a high profile court case into the Rotherham sex scandal, Arshid Hussain, 41, was jailed for 35 years for 23 offences, which included rape and indecent assault. Among his nine victims was an 11-year-old girl.

His brothers Basharat, 39, and Bannaras, 36, were also put behind bars for offences including rape and indecent assault.

Hussain is now in a wheelchair having been hit in the stomach during a gangland shooting in 2005.

I had an eating disorder due to what happened. I just didn’t eat

Sammy’s feelings about her abuser are conflicted. She said: “There’s times when I still feel angry at him, there’s times when I want to cry and then there’s times when I think a part of me will always love him because he gave me my son.”

It has taken Sammy nearly two decades to overcome the trauma of what Hussain did to her and the initial failure of the authorities to see she had been a victim of child abuse.

She said: “Over the last six to nine months I’ve concentrated on myself.

“I had an eating disorder due to what happened. I just didn’t eat.

“I am now tackling that and I have put a stone on. I still want to put another stone on.” Only now does the single mother-of-two have the inner strength to make the general public aware of what she went through.

These days as well as campaigning for Sammy’s Law she spends much of her time giving talks to help other sex abuse survivors.

She spoke at an NHS conference in Nottingham. Being so active also helps her come to terms with her ordeal.

She said: “I was still traumatised when I spoke out anonymously three years ago. For me the campaign work has been like therapy and with the support I have had I have been able to turn my life around.

“Speaking about it has helped me to come to terms with it.”

There is still a lot going on in Rotherham

Although aware that revealing her identity is likely to stir up old feelings and single her out in her local community, she is determined to speak out to keep the Rotherham issue in the spotlight.

She said: “We have had intimidation. We had a few messages a couple of weeks ago, so we have always got to be careful.

“Before I waved my anonymity I got criticism and I know I will again now I am speaking openly.”

Sammy is also supportive of Baroness Jay’s public inquiry into sexual abuse in Britain.

She believes many perpetrators still have to be brought to justice and that attitudes to survivors need to change.

She said: “There is still a lot going on in Rotherham.

“Investigations are going on and there will be a lot more headlines to come from Rotherham.

“They are investigating other abusers and also the professionals who failed.

“A lot of people in the police and social services have stepped down, but they have been paid to do that. It’s a kick in the teeth to me.”