A grooming gang survivor has warned that Labour is “repeating the same old mistakes” by refusing to release migrant crime data which could help identify patterns and prevent further abuse.
Fiona Goddard, who was abused from the age of 14, was speaking to GB News after being forced to move following the early release of one of her tormentors from prison.
“These types of crimes have impacted my life, as well as many others,” Ms Goddard began.
Ms Goddard was one of 18 victims and relatives to sign a letter urging Justice Secretary Alex Norris to publish figures detailing the nationalities of offenders in England and Wales between 2018 and 2024.
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The Information Commissioner previously ruled that the data should be disclosed.
However, the Government decided to block the release.
Then-Justice Secretary David Lammy approved legal proceedings to overturn the commissioner’s decision.
Speaking for her and her fellow signees, Ms Goddard said they “feel that the Government is making the same mistakes all over again as they did with the grooming gangs by being reluctant to release figures”.
“It is just a repeat of the same old mistakes, and no one seems to be learning from what happened,” she said.
The survivor argued that withholding information which could reveal patterns in offending made it harder to prevent future crimes.
“While we’re hiding away from data that could potentially show patterns that we could use to try and understand why there could be disruptions, then we’re never going to be able to prevent it,” she said.
“We need to understand what patterns there are in perpetrators, no matter what that is, whether that’s religion, ethnicity, gender, sexuality and criminality.”
“None of it matters. The most important thing is finding out the patterns.”
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Ms Goddard said identifying such patterns could help authorities develop strategies to tackle offending and prevent other children from becoming victims.
“We can start making frameworks that will reduce the crime and save people from having to be a victim like I was,” she said.
The survivor also revealed the devastating impact the early release of one of her abusers has had on her own family.
As a result, Ms Goddard said she had been forced to leave her home city with her five children and live in hiding.
Ms Goddard said the situation illustrated what she believes is a fundamental injustice facing victims of serious crime.
“It shows the reality that often the victim has their life rooted to work around the perpetrator and not the other way around,” she said.
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