Victim of Rotherham grooming gang says her son is being threatened after she spoke out about her sexual abuse
A victim of the Telford grooming gang, who waived her anonymity and spoke up about her abuse, has come out to reveal that someone is sending her abusive messages and threatening to harm her children.
MEAWW previously reported that Sammy Woodhouse had been raped and impregnated by 44-year-old Arshid Hussain, the leader of the gang, whose members have been convicted of "grooming" more than 1,400 young victims between 1987 and 2013.
She had waived her right to anonymity in 2017 in a bid to expose the gang's heinous crimes and has now said that a "local gangster" messaged and threatened her 18-year-old son -- who she gave birth to at 15 after being raped by Hussain -- in order to extort money.
"Sick and tired of ‘men’ sending messages to my kids threatening to harm us all and if we don’t meet there demands they’re coming to my home to harm my kids, smash windows and steal my car cause they think they’re little gangsters and we’re an easy target," she tweeted. "Nothing but cowards!!"
Woodhouse grew up in Rotherham and was targeted by Hussain when she was just 14-years-old, reported the Daily Mail. She was subjected to horrific sexual and physical abuse over the next few years, with the pedophile threatening to kill her family if she spoke up about it.
He also forced her to rob a post office when she was 15, and when authorities raided his home later that year and found him in bed with her, they let him go and instead charged her for possessing a baton.
She eventually decided to expose the gang's criminal activity and approached The Times anonymously with information, which led to the Jay Enquiry and led to the discovery of over a thousand victims and multiple convictions. Hussain was sentenced to 35 years behind bars for multiple rape offenses against nine victims -– some as young as 11.
Woodhouse's story hit the headlines again last year after she took to Twitter to reveal that the Rotherham council had offered Hussain access to her son despite him not being named on the boy's birth certificate and having any parental responsibility.
Other victims of the gang came forward to describe the decision as "an absolute disgrace," and more than 120 MPs have now called for an urgent inquiry into the way the family courts in England and Wales treat victims of domestic abuse or rape and their children.