First Minister John Swinney agrees to meet woman alleging sexual abuse by grooming gang

Key Points

First Minister John Swinney has agreed to meet Taylor, a woman alleging she was sexually abused by a grooming gang while living in a Scottish care home.
Taylor says authorities failed to protect her despite being listed by police as a vulnerable young person at risk of exploitation.
She describes years of trauma, including episodes of waking up after suspected assaults, and later discovering police had visited her care home without informing her or her family.
Taylor and her mother, both survivors of abuse in care, are demanding accountability and a rapid audit to prevent similar harm to other children.
Swinney says the Scottish Government will set out its position on a potential grooming-gang inquiry before Christmas amid growing political pressure for a Scotland-wide investigation.

The First Minister has agreed to meet with a woman who says she was sexually abused by a gang of up to ten men while living in care.

It comes as John Swinney told MSPs the Scottish Government will set out its “position” on an inquiry into grooming gangs before Christmas.

Ahead of the meeting, the alleged victim, who has been named as Taylor, has described how she has struggled with the trauma of what happened to her from a young age.

Now in her 20s, she believes she has been failed by the authorities that should have been protecting her, after learning she was on a police list of vulnerable young people thought to be at risk of exploitation.

Scotland

Police audit into child grooming gangs across Scotland

Police Scotland is also working to identify any ‘patterns, trends or concerns’ in the demographics of suspects and offenders.

From around the age of 13, Taylor would frequently go missing. It was then decided she would move into a residential unit.

Taylor says she would disappear with her friends and stay out overnight. It was during this time, she claims she was groomed by a group of men.

Her mother is supporting her as both learn the full extent of what was known during the teenager’s time in care.

“My friend thought she was in a relationship with this person, so that’s basically how it started,” Taylor told STV News. “It was a case of, ‘Do you want to come with us to this party’, stuff like that.

“We would go to the Govanhill area and into this house full of what were apparently his friends. We were young and we didn’t really think much of it.

“We were drunk, you would sleep with them. Basically, they would say, ‘We’ve been good to you, we gave you this, we picked you up’, things like that. So at the time, you just kind of felt like you had to.

“A few times I woke up in the morning, when I had only drunk alcohol, and I had no recollection of the night before.

“I would be lying on a dirty mattress on a floor, naked, with a cover over me.”

Police visited Taylor’s care home in 2013

Taylor says she only recently discovered that she had been classified as a vulnerable young person at risk of exploitation.

Her records show that police visited her care home in 2013.

Subsequently, she reached out directly to the First Minister and Police Scotland about the “upsetting information” contained in her care records.

“Not one member of staff asked me about that and not one police officer came to speak to me about it,” said Taylor.

“No adult ever asked me. My mum wasn’t informed about the police visit. My gran wasn’t informed. It was never brought up at a children’s hearing.

“It makes me feel sick. I was in a place where I thought these people were looking after me and cared about me. It’s like they are protecting them more than they protected me – that’s the way I feel. “

“It’s ruined my life, the older I’ve got. I’ve had to live with demons for years.

“I have no faith in the justice system whatsoever and I have no faith in the government running our country whatsoever.

“All I want now is to see a rapid audit done and I don’t want to see this happening to any other child. That is what I want because I know what it leads to.”

Taylor made a complaint to Police Scotland in September and is to meet again with officers.

She said she had initially believed the care home, police and social services “knew nothing” about the alleged abuse she suffered but that her records “say different”.

Police Scotland confirmed information has been passed to them but a report of any crime has yet to been made. A spokesperson said: “We take a trauma-informed approach from first contact for all investigations and we prioritise the needs of victims and survivors.”

Taylor’s mother wants answers and accountability.

She told STV News: “I was raised in care and suffered abuse in care.

“My mother was raised in care and suffered abuse in care. So you’re talking about three generations of women from my family that have all been in care and have all experienced some sort of physical, sexual, neglectful abuse.

“I’m furious. It won’t be left that this just gets buried now.”

A spokesperson for the local authority said: “We are deeply sorry to hear about this person’s experiences.

“As part of our child protection policies, we work closely with partner agencies in relation to notification of any concern that a young person may be at risk of harm.

“We urge the individual to report any historical allegations to Police Scotland so they can be fully investigated.”

Swinney to outline position on Scottish grooming inquiry before Christmas

A national inquiry into grooming gangs will take place in England and Wales but one has not been set up in Scotland.

The UK Government carried out this review to assess the scale of the crime in England and Wales ahead of announcing a public inquiry.

John Swinney spoke to the media at Holyrood on Thursday. STV News

Swinney has agreed to meet with Taylor next month and told MSPs on Thursday the Scottish Government’s “position” on a grooming inquiry will be stated before Christmas

He said: “I understand the public concern, of course I do, and I listen carefully to members of the public and to the issues that you expressed.

“What I was trying to do in my answer today was to set out to the Parliament that there are a number of considerations that we have to be mindful of, not least of which is the significance of the existing child abuse inquiry, which I will not intrude on because of the statutory rights of that inquiry.”

The Scottish Conservatives have also been calling for a Scotland-wide inquiry and previously tried to add an amendment to the Victims, Witnesses and Justice Reform Bill in September to bring such an inquiry about, but it was rejected by the Scottish Government.