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Girl A: My Story

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What do they find attractive about me? An underage girl who just lies there, sobbing, looking up at them...as they come to me one by one.This is the shocking true story of how a young girl from Rochdale came to be Girl A - the key witness in the trial of Britain's most notorious child sex ring.Girl A was just 14 when she was groomed by a group of nine Asian men. After being lured into their circle with free gifts, she was plied with alcohol and systematically abused. She was just one of up to fifty girls to be 'passed around' by the gang. The girls were all under-16 and forced to have sex with as many as twenty men in one night.When details emerged a nation was outraged and asked how these sickening events came to pass. And now, the girl at the very centre of the storm reveals the heartbreaking truth.

342 pages, Paperback

First published April 23, 2013

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Girl A

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Profile Image for Gary.
1,022 reviews257 followers
April 3, 2016
A deeply disturbing, heartbreaking and enraging real life account. This is an extremely harrowing read It is just so difficult to come to grips with what is happening to children in Britain in this day and age. The fact is that Pakistani gangs are grooming, forcing into sexual slavery , gang raping repeatedly , torturing and terrorizing ten of thousands of mainly white girls - some do not survive - many will never get their lives back together.

Hannah (Girl A) had a happy childhood on the West Lancashire coast , but when her father's business failed and the family became impoverished they had to move to a council house in an impoverished area of Manchester -Heywood- near where her parents originally came from. She was sent to a very rough school and to fit in with her peers began drinking and going out all hours and eventually playing truant, not unusual for teenagers living in poor areas
It was her introduction to a group of Pakistani older men led by the evil 'Daddy' and the cruel Tariq that began her nightmare existence that lasted two years. she was groomed by this Muslim gang, She was lured into the clutches with free food and drink, and deceptive 'friendship' welcomed by a girl from a now broken home , plied with drugs and alcohol and systematically raped by often up to twenty men a night,Her pimp ,a sadistic , twisted White girl Emma, only a few month older than her played a pivotal role in terrorizing Hannah and ensuring she did not escape the circle. These men see white British girls as worthless, promiscuous because of their skin colour and background, expendable , basically as cheap meat, whom they can abuse and destroy , without having to release their sexual energy by harming their own Muslim females.Her rapists/enslavers treated her with no pity or humanity at all, perhaps the same way the Nazis during the Holocaust saw Jewish and Gypsey children as not being human and therefore felt free to cruelly destroy them, these Pakistanis saw White British non-Muslim girls as not fully human , as remember NO Pakistani girls were abused by these gangs- and felt no conscienceless in gang raping these girl and torturing and beating and terrorizing them again and again and again , often over years,. harrowing , frustrating will and will make you cry and depress you but it is a story that needs to be told.
Hannah was told she would be battered or killed , her younger sisters raped (at 14 she was only a child herself) , her parents murdered, and her family house burned down if she told anyone or stopped letting them pass her round among these hundreds of cruel Pakistani mean
The details of what was done to her are not sugar coated, They are brutal and gruesome
Also what made me livid was how when she did report her case to police and Rochdale social services, , the case was thrown out and she given no protection resulting in more than another year of suffering these atrocities. she was told she had chosen to be a prostitute (a child of 14!) asa lifestyle choice. This was partly because (as it was in Rotherham where 1400 girls were passed around by another evil rings of pedophile Muslims ) the authorities did not want inconvenient politically incorrect truths to emerge that could 'strain community cohesion)
Also because these girls being from impoverished white backgrounds and 'chav children' were seen as expendable and not with saving , certainly not causing ructions over.
The fact that the men who were doing these things to them were physically, mentally and emotionally, far stronger than these vulnerable defenseless children (some as young as twelve) still did not matter to those with the power to stop it
Her parent also were not blameless, they should have helped her more and understood what she was going through I was aghast reading how when Hannah turned 16 and Emma came to try lure her back into the Pakistani circle, her mother simply threw Hannah out the house despite Hannah's crying and desperate please and at a time when Hannah was ready to break away from the evil gang's clutches.
Eventually with the help of a caring teacher at school, a wonderful compassionate social worker Jane and a dedicated lady detective Susan, Hannah did escape their clutches after becoming pregnant (her baby Chloe would give her the determination to rebuild her life from the ashes of unfathomable abuse and cruelty) she did bring the gang to justice (though they should have got life sentences which they did not!
Also the police and social services who refused to act should also have got prison sentences but they got off scott free.
Hannah makes the point that while there are plenty of White pedophile rapists in Britain, the difference is they do not phone all their friends to comer and pay to have sex with a fourteen year old.
She also remarks how there has always been massive media coverage of girls trafficked for sex from other countries into Britain and NGOs which strive to help them and put an end to international trafficking , but nothing has been done for British girls trafficked within their own country.
Hannah deserves an award, a prize for valour and human rights advocacy. she is as much a hero as Nobel Peace Prize winer Malala Yousafzai

She is true heroine who deserves an amazing life. My admiration and love to her. I hope that by purchasing this book and reviewing it I could in my own way contribute to Hannah's success and to fighting the scourge Britain's child sex rings. Decent people of all races and religions in Britain have to act now to stop this phenomenon,' and bring both the child groomers and their protectors to justice, so that thousands more innocent lives will not be cruelly destroyed

Merged review:

A deeply disturbing, heartbreaking and enraging real life account. This is an extremely harrowing read It is just so difficult to come to grips with what is happening to children in Britain in this day and age. The fact is that Pakistani gangs are grooming, forcing into sexual slavery , gang raping repeatedly , torturing and terrorizing ten of thousands of mainly white girls - some do not survive - many will never get their lives back together.

Hannah (Girl A) had a happy childhood on the West Lancashire coast , but when her father's business failed and the family became impoverished they had to move to a council house in an impoverished area of Manchester -Heywood- near where her parents originally came from. She was sent to a very rough school and to fit in with her peers began drinking and going out all hours and eventually playing truant, not unusual for teenagers living in poor areas
It was her introduction to a group of Pakistani older men led by the evil 'Daddy' and the cruel Tariq that began her nightmare existence that lasted two years. she was groomed by this Muslim gang, She was lured into the clutches with free food and drink, and deceptive 'friendship' welcomed by a girl from a now broken home , plied with drugs and alcohol and systematically raped by often up to twenty men a night,Her pimp ,a sadistic , twisted White girl Emma, only a few month older than her played a pivotal role in terrorizing Hannah and ensuring she did not escape the circle. Her rapists/enslavers treated her with no pity or humanity at all, perhaps the same way the Nazis during the Holocaust saw Jewish and Gypsey children as not being human and therefore felt free to cruelly destroy them, these Pakistanis saw White British non-Muslim girls as not fully human , as remember NO Pakistani girls were abused by these gangs- and felt no conscienceless in gang raping these girl and torturing and beating and terrorizing them again and again and again , often over years,. harrowing , frustrating will and will make you cry and depress you but it is a story that needs to be told.hese men see white British girls as worthless, promiscuous because of their skin colour and background, expendable , basically as cheap meat, whom they can abuse and destroy , without having to release their sexual energy by harming their own Muslim females.
Hannah was told she would be battered or killed , her younger sisters raped (at 14 she was only a child herself) , her parents murdered, and her family house burned down if she told anyone or stopped letting them pass her round among these hundreds of cruel Pakistani mean
The details of what was done to her are not sugar coated, They are brutal and gruesome
Also what made me livid was how when she did report her case to police and Rochdale social services, , the case was thrown out and she given no protection resulting in more than another year of suffering these atrocities. she was told she had chosen to be a prostitute (a child of 14!) asa lifestyle choice. This was partly because (as it was in Rotherham where 1400 girls were passed around by another evil rings of pedophile Muslims ) the authorities did not want inconvenient politically incorrect truths to emerge that could 'strain community cohesion)
Also because these girls being from impoverished white backgrounds and 'chav children' were seen as expendable and not with saving , certainly not causing ructions over.
The fact that the men who were doing these things to them were physically, mentally and emotionally, far stronger than these vulnerable defenseless children (some as young as twelve) still did not matter to those with the power to stop it
Her parent also were not blameless, they should have helped her more and understood what she was going through I was aghast reading how when Hannah turned 16 and Emma came to try lure her back into the Pakistani circle, her mother simply threw Hannah out the house despite Hannah's crying and desperate please and at a time when Hannah was ready to break away from the evil gang's clutches.
Eventually with the help of a caring teacher at school, a wonderful compassionate social worker Jane and a dedicated lady detective Susan, Hannah did escape their clutches after becoming pregnant (her baby Chloe would give her the determination to rebuild her life from the ashes of unfathomable abuse and cruelty) she did bring the gang to justice (though they should have got life sentences which they did not!
Also the police and social services who refused to act should also have got prison sentences but they got off scott free.
Hannah makes the point that while there are plenty of White pedophile rapists in Britain, the difference is they do not phone all their friends to comer and pay to have sex with a fourteen year old.
She also remarks how there has always been massive media coverage of girls trafficked for sex from other countries into Britain and NGOs which strive to help them and put an end to international trafficking , but nothing has been done for British girls trafficked within their own country.
Hannah deserves an award, a prize for valour and human rights advocacy. she is as much a hero as Nobel Peace Prize winer Malala Yousafzai

She is true heroine who deserves an amazing life. My admiration and love to her. I hope that by purchasing this book and reviewing it I could in my own way contribute to Hannah's success and to fighting the scourge Britain's child sex rings. Decent people of all races and religions in Britain have to act now to stop this phenomenon,' and bring both the child groomers and their protectors to justice, so that thousands more innocent lives will not be cruelly destroyed
Profile Image for Gary.
1,022 reviews257 followers
August 6, 2023
A deeply disturbing, heartbreaking and enraging real life account. This is an extremely harrowing read It is just so difficult to come to grips with what is happening to children in Britain in this day and age. The fact is that Pakistani gangs are grooming, forcing into sexual slavery , gang raping repeatedly , torturing and terrorizing ten of thousands of mainly white girls - some do not survive - many will never get their lives back together.

Hannah (Girl A) had a happy childhood on the West Lancashire coast , but when her father's business failed and the family became impoverished they had to move to a council house in an impoverished area of Manchester -Heywood- near where her parents originally came from. She was sent to a very rough school and to fit in with her peers began drinking and going out all hours and eventually playing truant, not unusual for teenagers living in poor areas
It was her introduction to a group of Pakistani older men led by the evil 'Daddy' and the cruel Tariq that began her nightmare existence that lasted two years. she was groomed by this Muslim gang, She was lured into the clutches with free food and drink, and deceptive 'friendship' welcomed by a girl from a now broken home , plied with drugs and alcohol and systematically raped by often up to twenty men a night,Her pimp ,a sadistic , twisted White girl Emma, only a few month older than her played a pivotal role in terrorizing Hannah and ensuring she did not escape the circle. Her rapists/enslavers treated her with no pity or humanity at all, perhaps the same way the Nazis during the Holocaust saw Jewish and Gypsey children , as not being human and therefore felt free to cruelly destroy them, these Pakistanis saw White British non-Muslim girls as not fully human , as remember NO Pakistani girls were abused by these gangs- and felt no conscienceless in gang raping these girl and torturing and beating and terrorizing them again and again and again , often over years,. harrowing , frustrating will and will make you cry and depress you but it is a story that needs to be told.hese men see white British girls as worthless, promiscuous because of their skin colour and background, expendable , basically as cheap meat, whom they can abuse and destroy , without having to release their sexual energy by harming their own Muslim females.
Hannah was told she would be battered or killed , her younger sisters raped (at 14 she was only a child herself) , her parents murdered, and her family house burned down if she told anyone or stopped letting them pass her round among these hundreds of cruel Pakistani mean
The details of what was done to her are not sugar coated, They are brutal and gruesome
Also what made me livid was how when she did report her case to police and Rochdale social services, , the case was thrown out and she given no protection resulting in more than another year of suffering these atrocities. she was told she had chosen to be a prostitute (a child of 14!) asa lifestyle choice. This was partly because (as it was in Rotherham where 1400 girls were passed around by another evil rings of pedophile Muslims ) the authorities did not want inconvenient politically incorrect truths to emerge that could 'strain community cohesion)
Also because these girls being from impoverished white backgrounds and 'chav children' were seen as expendable and not with saving , certainly not causing ructions over.
The fact that the men who were doing these things to them were physically, mentally and emotionally, far stronger than these vulnerable defenseless children (some as young as twelve) still did not matter to those with the power to stop it
Her parent also were not blameless, they should have helped her more and understood what she was going through I was aghast reading how when Hannah turned 16 and Emma came to try lure her back into the Pakistani circle, her mother simply threw Hannah out the house despite Hannah's crying and desperate please and at a time when Hannah was ready to break away from the evil gang's clutches.
Eventually with the help of a caring teacher at school, a wonderful compassionate social worker Jane and a dedicated lady detective Susan, Hannah did escape their clutches after becoming pregnant (her baby Chloe would give her the determination to rebuild her life from the ashes of unfathomable abuse and cruelty) she did bring the gang to justice (though they should have got life sentences which they did not!
Also the police and social services who refused to act should also have got prison sentences but they got off scott free.
Hannah makes the point that while there are plenty of White pedophile rapists in Britain, the difference is they do not phone all their friends to comer and pay to have sex with a fourteen year old.
She also remarks how there has always been massive media coverage of girls trafficked for sex from other countries into Britain and NGOs which strive to help them and put an end to international trafficking , but nothing has been done for British girls trafficked within their own country.
Hannah deserves an award, a prize for valour and human rights advocacy. she is as much a hero as Nobel Peace Prize winer Malala Yousafzai

She is true heroine who deserves an amazing life. My admiration and love to her. I hope that by purchasing this book and reviewing it I could in my own way contribute to Hannah's success and to fighting the scourge Britain's child sex rings. Decent people of all races and religions in Britain have to act now to stop this phenomenon,' and bring both the child groomers and their protectors to justice, so that thousands more innocent lives will not be cruelly destroyed
Profile Image for Chris Steeden.
489 reviews
October 13, 2017
Right from the prologue this is haunting, horrifying, disturbing and sickening. I thought that I could not read on as it was too upsetting. I did read on and entered a world that I never knew really existed. My word it is disgusting. No horror movie could ever reach the kind of horror here.

It is hard to review a book like this only to say that the writing is clear and brings truth and honesty to a most horrendous subject. You know when a book is good when you are emotionally effected. It depressed me, it made me sad and it made me angry. I kept having to remind myself that Girl A was 15 years old at the time. Just a child. It is heartbreaking. The poor girl. No wonder it messed her up.

I absolutely commend her for writing this book as it must have been so tough re-living what she had been through again especially as she has been through it with the police and Social Services many times. I will leave my thoughts of the authorities, including the Crown Prosecution Service, to myself. I wish Girl A all the very best for the future.

To compound it all just wait until you read about the performance of the first paedophile rapist that abused Girl A first in the actual trial and his past abuses. Sick. The rapists thought they were untouchable and above the law and for years and years they were. No-one was going to stop them. Finally they did and it shocked them and us. This was just the start. It wasn’t just Rochdale. This had been going on in many cities in England. Girl A must be commended for her bravery in coming forward and speaking out about the abuse of vulnerable under-age girls on preying gangs and thus bringing the end to many paedophile gangs.
Profile Image for Book Addict Shaun.
937 reviews320 followers
January 24, 2018
Girl A is a horrifying, sickening and heartbreaking read. At times I read this book and just couldn’t believe what I was reading. As children we are told that we can trust the police and that Social Services, for children that need it, are meant to be places they can turn to for support and rescue if needed. The fact that Girl A went to the police, who were already aware of similar cases, and was turned away and the fact that she went to Social Services who basically washed their hands of her when she turned 16 is just something I can’t get my head around. I hope all involved who didn’t do enough to help this girl live with deep shame and regret until the day they die.

I didn’t watch the drama when it was on TV and I only know bits and pieces from what I read in the news about this case. It is a truly horrific story that had somewhat of a happy ending for Girl A, however happy an ending can be for somebody who has been through what she has. Where would she be now were it not for the likes of her teacher, Jane at Crisis Prevention and Maggie Oliver? Whilst incredibly difficult to read throughout, this is a story that had to be told and hopefully in the future cases like this can be prevented from happening and action taken long before anything happens to the extent that it did here to Girl A.
Profile Image for Nicki.
2,158 reviews15 followers
January 16, 2019
While I wouldn’t call this amazingly well written, the clumsy style does fit the true story as remembered and told by the young girl who lived through it (ghost written).
I actually had seen the tv series that was based on this, but didn’t realize when I downloaded the book. This is a little different, they combined some of the girls stories on that and renamed them. This is “Hannah’s” true story.
As with the series, this is really sickening. Young teenage girls being preyed on and raped by men in their 40’s and 50’s and being shared around.
It’s complicated as Hannah came from a good and caring home, but when her parents lost their money and had to move to a poor area, she fell in with a bad crowd and started to drink and rebel. At times it was hard to understand Hannah’s behavior and why she went along with certain things, but the abuse she suffered was so severe and those older men so evil, really horrific that they got away with it as long as they did, and of course she was a child and not old enough to make wise decisions for herself.
I think she’s extremely brave to tell her story so honestly and not gloss over her own bad decisions (not blaming her in any way, shape or form for what happened to her, but it’s easy as a reader to see certain things she did that sealed her fate, obviously not so easy when you’re a 14 year old girl and you think you’re just having fun with your friends). This poor girl had to grow up way too fast. Maybe her honesty will make a good cautionary tale for other young girls getting into similar situations. I wish nothing but the best for her.
Profile Image for beth &#x1fa90;.
29 reviews4 followers
November 16, 2020
This book is an eye opener to the failures of the systems in place that have aims and objectives to protect vulnerable people in society. The issues of the racialised narratives- ‘race card’ and the ‘voices of children (and teenagers)’ are highlighted within the case of girl A. The experiences brought forward: the “trapped” and the feeing of “scared” whilst being let down by the people who could and should have protected all the children and teenagers affected by-in particular- the Rochdale Peodophile Ring.
The disclosures and experiences of girl A brings forward the perspectives rarely hear of.
Profile Image for Mary.
662 reviews9 followers
May 26, 2017
What a totally harrowing read. Shame on police and social services, totally gripping
Profile Image for Sandy.
565 reviews23 followers
July 30, 2019
I was caught off guard... This is one of those really disgusting, horrifying realities of the sick world we live in. Men who are well over half a century taking pleasure of raping children is not something to be taken lightly. What I couldn't understand is the police & so called social workers turning a blind eye on all the kebab shop back area sex orgies they jolly well knew about.

The book made me dig into the real story and I was so angry by the responses used by the men in court. Bloody hell, how can anyone justify anything that happened to these girls? Sick, sick and sick. However, the book is a very interesting read. It maybe a hard and a heavy read but I think it's something that should be read by everyone. A stream starts with one drop. More awareness of such things will contribute to at least slowing down on events as these.
Profile Image for Dannielle Potts.
197 reviews7 followers
February 22, 2017
Very Hard To Read But Had A Great Outcome. I Read Books Like This Because They're There To Teach Lessons & Hopefully Incidents Such As This Won't Happen Again
Profile Image for VNerdbooks.
669 reviews188 followers
March 30, 2019
A heartbreaking read of true events, in May 2012 nine men were convicted of sex trafficking and other offences including rape, trafficking girls for sex and conspiracy to engage in sexual activity with a child.

This is the story of one of those girls.

Only known as Girl A in the news, this is the harrowing story of a young girl that were groomed, raped and then ultimately sold for sex, all under the eyes of the police, social workers and her parents.

The men involved were all of Indian/Pakistani descent, and occurred within their community, however this is not a book about race, this is something that happened and is still happening to young girls.

Girl A or Hannah for the purpose of the story was from a well off family who fell onto bad times, her father lost the business he had,and they had to downsize their house and move to a different area.

This is where she met Emma.

After finding new friends "Hannah" used to go to the local kebab shop with Emma, there they were given free kebabs, chips and drinks, this soon led to Vodka.

Only being 14, this was the best thing ever, her parents didn't know, and the owners of the kebab shop gave her and her friends everything she wanted, they even picked her off and dropped her off, as the friend of the shop also had friends that ran a taxi company, all of this was done for free, they never asked for any money, or anything in return......until they did!

Hannah is then drawn into a spiral of harrowing and horrifying despair, and when she finds the courage to speak up, she is let down by the very authorities that are supposed to be there to protect her!

I can't tell you how angry I was reading this book, these poor girls were failed time and time again by the authorities, and the one lady that knew what was going on and told the police time and time again was brushed aside, even Social Services who KNEW what was happening in that area, brushed it aside and said that it was a "lifestyle choice" by the girls!! 14 YEAR OLD GIRLS!!!!

This is not a lifestyle choice, this is RAPE!! These men were all 40-50 years old!

This book was heartbreaking, and I really hope that "Hannah" is now happy and living a normal and happy life, she is one brave lady to tell her story.
Profile Image for Lakshmi ☾.
49 reviews4 followers
Read
February 17, 2022
It's such a heartwrenching real life account.
I still find it difficult to process it all. I feel so bad about how these legal systems takes things for granted. Especially something concerning children. Living a life without getting justice for four solid years is no joke. Not everyone are fake, you know.
Profile Image for PeaceOfGod.
885 reviews370 followers
January 26, 2022
❗❗❗❗❗TRIGGER WARNING-ON PAGE DESCRIPTION OF SENSITIVE SUBJECTS LIKE RAPE, VIOLENCE,CHILD ABUSE, ALCOHOL/DRUG CONSUMPTION, PAEDOPHILIA,KIDNAPPING.UNDERAGE PREGNANCY.


AND BY ON-PAGE DESCRIPTION I MEAN, THAT 90% OF THE BOOK HAS THE ABOVE MENTIONED TRIGGERS IN DETAAIIIIIIILS.



~Stars says it all.

~Not going to say anything about the book because..............




........at this point i can do nothing but only empathize with Girl A.

❗❗❗❗❗❗❗My only advice to the one reading this review is-

~No matter what, SERIOUSLY,NO MATTER WHAT, never NEVER NEVER EVERR , let your kids get away from you.

~I am not saying that keep an eye on them CONSTANTLY.

~I am just saying that, NO matter HOW much they push. YOU never push them. Always you know.........be THERE for them.

~Support them. Show interest in there activities. Mingle with the kid's world. LISTEN to them.
Hang-out with them.


~CAUSE IF YOU DON'T.........


~You have NO idea what that may lead to.
Profile Image for Louise.
273 reviews20 followers
December 21, 2019
I don’t really know how to rate this book. The story for those that know it is awful, the writing style like many books of this style is basic. But working in the social care sector in the aftermath of this I had an interest in the subject.
Profile Image for Synne.
165 reviews8 followers
July 23, 2016
I don't read many 'true story'-books or biographies, but I picked up this one in the airport despite that.

It is a truly shocking account of from a girl who went trough unthinkable abuse by a peadophile ring in northern England. I can barely wrap my head around a lot of the things in this book, but it's especially horrifying how the Social Services and the police let these girls, especially Hannah, down again and again.

This book is not for the faint-hearted, involving horrifying descriptions of physical and mental abuse.

I liked this book because it paints the real picture, however dirty it may be and it doesn't really hold back. And in this intance, this is necessary. People need to know that this can happen right under your nose, maybe even to your own daughter. I liked that there's hope in the end and it feels as Hannah might recover enough to be happy and lead a full life.

Profile Image for Angie.
253 reviews52 followers
February 11, 2014
This in a word is harrowing. A world so close to where I actually live, but unseen by most people.

Girl A who had a normal happy childhood until her parents relocated back to a housing estate in Heywood. Alone at a new high school and wanting to fit in in a world she didn't recognise she was swept through the cracks and forced into a child pedophile group.

This book is hard to read, difficult to keep on reading. The things she is talking about should never happen to anyone much less a child in need. The mistakes made in her case are so huge it shocked me. But thinking about it,I'm not all that surprised. The stars are the people that got Hannah to open up, and of course Hannah herself.
Profile Image for Rachel Louise James.
71 reviews4 followers
January 9, 2018
I’ve rated it five stars because it is an absolute must. As a social work student we were asked to watch the tv drama and I read this too because I just had to know. I had to know how she was so horrifically failed and how so many different services finally FINALLY pulled together to bring this poor girl justice. Wherever she is in the world and whatever she’s doing right now I truly hope she has love and happiness in her life.
READ THIS. Read it and weep.
Profile Image for Lisa Jane.
12 reviews3 followers
July 29, 2016
This was a really compelling read which gives a full account of a young girl who was groomed into human trafficking. Parts of the book are really heartbreaking and gruesome but it opens up yours eyes to the world of organised crime and how it can be going on in our cities right under our noses.

16 reviews1 follower
August 3, 2015
flip a lot of pages because this are a horror to a girl to read. disgusting are the words that come to my mind every time I read this. a great story to be kept as a reminder that this world have very bad guy
Profile Image for  (shan) Littlebookcove.
152 reviews70 followers
June 5, 2017
I felt so much anger after watching the TV drama that I felt I needed to read the book. It didn't help, I felt even more anger and disgust at the police services. And those that were supposed to protect the girls. This isn't for the faint of heart at all and I don't recommend it at all if you over think about book's. My heart truly goes out to the victim's of this book and hope for their sake the monster's Will never get a normal life again.
Profile Image for Staceywh_17.
3,667 reviews12 followers
May 14, 2020
It's absolutely terrifying to think this is still happening today to innocent young girls who are too scared to speak up. Fascinating read as to how justice was eventually served after being dismissed, but heartbreaking & haunting to read from girl A's point of view 😢
Profile Image for Kiera.
230 reviews5 followers
September 24, 2024
This book is really raw and impactful - if you’ve watched Three Girls it doesn’t even seem to crack the surface of the horrors that were happening. Girl A is incredibly brave to tell her story, as someone who works in the CSE support sector I applaud her.
129 reviews
May 25, 2018
tjankyou for sharing your story again and again
Profile Image for The Book Review Café.
870 reviews238 followers
Read
October 6, 2017
Review to follow I feel unable to rate this book with a star rating, as it doesn't seem right
65 reviews
June 10, 2015
Would have liked to know what 'Girl A' was doing post trial. Throughout the book she discussed her GCSE results and results at college with the hope of going to uni. I hope she can go into Higher Education and move on with her life once and for all.

Gripping book, finished it in 3 days. Whilst reading you can't help but feel like you want to be friends with her (aged 14/15) and try to make her see sense! I can't believe how her parents treated her, I do think they could have done more (unless we aren't getting the full story).

'Girl For Sale' by Lara Mcdonnell a victim of the Oxford Sex Traffickers is a more brutal story, obviously it isn't a competition in any way but in comparrison to that book, this book is not as detailed or disturbing.
Profile Image for Kirsty.
44 reviews7 followers
August 21, 2015
Wow! That's been the fasted book I've read in a long time! Not my usual genre but felt I should read it because of the proximity in which I live and work to where this happened.

I'm glad I heard 'Hannah's' side of the story. Find the whole thing and the attitudes of the abusers and some of the professionals shocking!

Well done Hannah for surviving this awful ordeal. I hope you are leading a great life now.
Profile Image for Karen Barron.
11 reviews4 followers
July 4, 2014
This is a sad intensive story that had me tearful and angry at the same time. The abuse this little girl went through went unnoticed by every around her and the people who should have been helping Her just brushed it away as if she didn't matter. Very pleased she got her renege at the end.
Profile Image for Ian Pell.
1 review
December 19, 2014
I knew before reading the story of this what it was about, however to read first hand made me even more passionate to fulfil my ambition to crack down on these such vile acts.
Profile Image for Jackie Wadsworth.
225 reviews3 followers
August 2, 2017
Girl A is about the girl who exposed the Paedophile ring in Rochdale a few years ago. I read the book on the back of watching the BBC TV programme, Three Girls, which was very hard to watch.

It is a harrowing read, she doesn't pull any punches and tells it exactly as it was. I had to put it down a few times because I couldn't get my head around the situation, especially while putting my own children to bed.

Girl A, or Hannah as she names herself in the book (although that's not her real name, obviously), is a 15 year old girl when it all starts. She's going off the rails, mainly to fit in at a new school, and starts hanging around with "the wrong crowd" which mainly seems to involve hanging out above some rather nasty sounding take aways - the sort of place you're only likely to visit when you're drunk.

After a few months of being given free vodka and take aways, the take away driver, known as Daddy (which is horrendous in itself), takes Hannah upstairs and asks when she's going to sleep with him. She laughs, what nonsense is this? But it's not nonsense. Daddy has provided her with booze and food, now it's his turn for a treat. He rapes her.

What follows is a downward spiral of abuse, not only at the hands of a large number of Asian men (one of the few rings in the UK which was almost completely Asian), but also at the hands of a girl known as Emma in the book, who is basically a pimp. She forces Hannah to go out every night to be raped repeatedly, by threatening to burn her parents' house down, to recruit her sisters to the game. Hannah feels she has no option but to do as she's told. She tries to tell people what's going on, but Emma is always there.

Eventually, after being arrested for something else, Hannah tells the police what's going on. They interview her, then nothing. Nothing happens for over a year. Eventually a letter arrives to say that the CPS don't think that there is any chance of a conviction, so they drop the case. Hannah has come to expect no help from any kind of authority, including her parents, and just carries on with her dreadful life, not able to get away.

The attacks go on for years, but then stop when Hannah falls pregnant. She has no idea who the father is, it could be any of at least five men. Which is horrendous.

She has the baby, and starts to pull her life together. Then the police get in touch, another girl has accused the same men of raping her, and they are starting a city-wide investigation. Hannah has to give evidence over and over again, and name and identify as many men as she can. The pressure becomes too much and she turns to drink to blot it out, just as she did when she was being abused. This leads to her child being taken by social services, who weren't interested in helping Hannah at all, but were quick to swoop in and take the cute baby...

Hannah sorts herself out, and during the 3 month trial, she gets custody of her daughter back. She gives her evidence, and is delighted to hear that the men who abused her were all sentenced to years in prison.

I can't say I enjoyed this book, because the very nature of it makes that nigh on impossible, and it's not desperately well written (but then, she's not a writer, she's a young woman who has had a terrible life), but you can't help but keep reading. I didn't want to read about the abuse, but I needed to to understand what happened, what is still happening around the country/world, and to know that these people were brought to justice.

The hardest thing, in a way, was reading about Hannah's family. I feel she was massively let down by her parents. They allowed her to move out at 15/16, to a house with people taking drugs/smoking/drinking/sleeping around - they never seemed to fight for her. Hannah admits that she was vile, and she frequently climbed out of the window to get away, but I know my parents would have moved heaven and earth - and our family to another house/area - if this was me. They seemed very quick to just write her off. But we will never know the true story of what they went through, I guess.
Profile Image for Lucii Dixon.
1,104 reviews54 followers
February 26, 2021
This is one of those stories that shouldn’t need a star rating system because the content is so disturbing and so heart-wrenching that it’s not very comfortable, for me, to give stars but out of respect I’ve given this a 5.

This whole story, a true, harrowing and gut wrenching story, is hard to read, hard to believe that this level of sordid, disgusting acts were being carried out in Britain. I’m feeling so sad for ‘Hannah’ and what she went through at such a tender, young age. And to be disbelieved by social services, her parents and the police is absolutely rotten and leaves a bad taste in my mouth. Especially as they had many reports on other girls going through similar things. Yet, it doesn’t take much for social services to take kids away from doting parents now, now all you have to do is have a dirty cup in the sink and you can kiss your kids goodbye. But back then, they clearly didn’t care and it’s horrific. And as for her parents? They made the most angry. I know if on my daughters went through this, I’d do everything in my power to protect, to help, to support... anything. Her parents just said they couldn’t cope and that she was a ‘slag’ and god knows what else they called her. And at one point, before any of the events happened to Hannah, her dad told her she would probably get ‘raped’ and he wouldn’t care. That’s nasty. And after she’d moved out and had her baby, was struggling with the demons in her head after all the trauma and the police investigation, the VIPER parades, where were her parents? They just didn’t care. They should be utterly ashamed of themselves.

As for ‘Hannah’s’ story, it broke my heart. I did feel myself getting frustrated... like in her first police interview, she didn’t give much information to them at all, if any that was remotely useful and she didn’t show how the true extent of what she went through. She came across as a bit obtrusive and aloof. Although I don’t believe any victim or alleged victim should be ever disbelieved unless evidence suggests otherwise, you can clearly see why they didn’t listen the first time. However bad that sounds, I get it. But the police were the most in the wrong. They didn’t investigate properly and that officer made it clear to her he didn’t believe her. I know the process would have been distressing for Girl A, she went through something no kid or adult should ever have to go through, but the level information the police need........it’s more than she gave. They did have dna evidence though, and reports from other girls and that should have been enough to at least get it to court.

As for the girl Emma... I can understand her starting as a victim, but she wasn’t in the end. She trafficked girls. She should have been prosecuted. What she did is vile. She was a bully and a low life who had every chance to get out but she clearly loved what she did. That is depraved and evil.

I’m glad Girl A got her justice, the justice she very much deserved and needed to be able to move on with her life with her beautiful daughter. Hopefully, as years wear on, she’ll heal the best she can. Telling her story must have been super difficult, I can’t imagine the pain that was running through her as she typed the words for this book. I hope now she has the best support around her as she deserves a happy and fulfilling life. I wish her all the best.
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