FIX THIS NOW

Fiona urges grooming survivors to speak out

- BY SOPHIE HUSKISSON and ASHLEY COWBURN

THE unimaginable trauma of being systematically raped and abused as a child by vile predators could easily have overwhelmed young Fiona Goddard.

But the grooming gang survivor also had to endure years of being ignored, dismissed and even accused of being a prostitute as she “fought tooth and nail” to persuade authorities to investigate the men who targeted her in a children’s home from the age of 14.

And Fiona has now urged other victims to come forward in a bid to stop the exploitation of young, vulnerable girls by sick gangs.

She bravely waived her anonymity after being raped by more than 50 men in Bradford.

On Monday, Baroness Louise Casey published a damning report into the string of failures that left gangs free to prey on children.

The peer also accused officials of shying away from addressing the ethnicity of predators of Pakistani and Asian heritage over fears of being branded racist.