20/03/2017 Look North (Yorkshire)


20/03/2017

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Transcript


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Good evening and welcome to the late Look North.

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Tonight: She had a baby when she was just 15 -

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the Yorkshire woman going public about being groomed by an older man.

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And missing out on child maintenance payments -

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the single parents who are owed thousands of pounds.

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And winter returns this week with cold conditions and the potential

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for snort as well. I will have the details later in the programme.

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He's one of the men who groomed 1,400 girls in Rotherham.

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Like all girls abused, Sammy has a right to anonymity.

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For years she called herself Jessica when she spoke to the press.

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But now, in an exclusive interview with our Inside Out programme,

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she's decided to reveal her true identity and to talk

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I remember sitting in the car and he stroked my

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He said, you're not really 16, are you?

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And it was almost like he'd put a spell on me.

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Within a few days my parents found out.

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They weren't happy at all and they contacted

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The police said because I was consenting to it that there was

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nothing that they could do unless I made a statement.

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So even though you were a child and he was a

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24-year-old man the police said, we can't do anything

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Yes, and as well, he was extremely well-known to the

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He was involved in just about every crime you can imagine.

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I wasn't the first or the last child that he was abusing.

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There was times when I was having fun.

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It was very much a case of a normal, healthy

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It was a few months into that when he

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started becoming very controlling, very possessive.

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He started hitting me on a daily basis.

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Ash is now doing time for what he did to you and to

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It depends what frame of mind I'm in on that day.

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There's times when I still feel angry at

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And then there's times when I think a part of me will always love

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Of the amount of men that you know were

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involved in child sexual exploitation in Rotherham, how many

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have been locked up for what they did?

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We have seen perpetrators held accountable.

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And that is good for us because we can

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move forward now we are getting that justice.

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But I don't think any of us will be able to move

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forward, or move forward as a town, until those professionals start and

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What is the situation in Rotherham at the moment?

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It's about reducing it, making it hard for paedophiles, and putting

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But, yes, they will always continue to hurt

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How do you feel today as Sammy, not as Jessica anymore?

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I feel like a weight has been lifted off my shoulders.

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I'm looking forward to moving forward with my life.

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I think there's a lot of positive things to

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come for me and for the rest of the girls.

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Sammy said that is still happening in Rotherham

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and not many people have been convicted for what happened.

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But to date, despite hundreds of allegations about police failings,

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no police officer has been disciplined as yet, although

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The Independent Police Complaints Commission is now looking

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She also said that professionals, by which she means police

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and councillors, should be held accountable.

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The report published in February 2015 labelled Rotherham council

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not fit for purpose, the Government sent

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in a team of commissioners to run the authority.

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In the wake of the scandal there were high-profile

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the leader of the council, the chief executive,

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the Police and Crime Commissioner, who was also head of Children's

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Services in Rotherham between 2005 and 2010,

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Services left by mutual consent, but no charges or

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As far the police are concerned the IPCC says it has identified

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significant police failings and is now investigating those.

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It said it is the biggest investigation since Hillsborough

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and is looking towards a conclusion by the end of this year.

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Hundreds of thousands of single parents are missing out on child

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maintenance when an absent parent refuses to pay.

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An investigation by the BBC's Victoria Derbyshire programme

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reveals that more than a million parents in the UK have

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failed to contribute to the upbringing of their children,

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Nicola Rees has one mum's story from Sheffield.

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His dad has been assessed by the Child Support Agency

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He has bought him a couple of books and ?50 at the beginning, in 2009,

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but we are now in 2017 and the total amount that he owes

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What was it like for you, particularly early on,

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To do fun things I would take him to the park.

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We'd have the same picnic every day, take a book.

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I did my best but I would have liked to have done more.

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When couples split up, they are both still expected

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to contribute to the cost of bringing up their children

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but almost 1.2 million parents in the UK have failed to pay a total

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of ?3.8 billion in child maintenance.

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The Child Support Agency was set up to help families in 1993,

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but it has been dogged with problems.

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Computer systems didn't work properly and parents who didn't pay

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They shouldn't just be able to walk away and say it's history

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when it is due to their errors and their poor practice that money

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That is wrong and the Government should pay for that.

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Over 23 years, a multi-billion pound arrears debt has accumulated.

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It is money that should have been available for children.

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Laura's former partner is Gary, a children's

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We asked him why he has not paid maintenance,

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In a statement, the Government said...

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In 2012, the Child Maintenance Service replaced the CSA.

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With new IT systems it was supposed to solve the arrears problem but it

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has already clocked up ?93 million in maintenance debt.

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I don't understand how a father can get away with not paying it.

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How can he sleep at night when it's his child

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I don't know how he sleeps, I really don't.

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Laura Riley ending that report by Nicola Rees.

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In other news, a trainee soldier from Halifax has been jailed for six

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Private James Farrell - who's 18 - aimed a knife at another

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soldier's head at Catterick Garrison in North Yorkshire after

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Prosecutors said the other soldier had to roll out of the way

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There are claims that drink-drivers could be escaping justice

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because of the closure of police cells.

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An investigation by the Yorkshire Post newspaper found

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that the closure of cells in Northallerton means suspects can

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take two hours to get to Harrogate police station for a definitive

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blood test - and by that time they may be under the limit.

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On. Here is the weather. The potential for some snow.

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Tomorrow it will be noticeably cooler. Some showers could be heavy.

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There could be the odd rumble of thunder. Tomorrow evening this area

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of low pressure pushes in Andrea Raggi concerns that may produce an

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area of snow. We need to see how this are mass behaves itself.

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Overnight clear spells. There could be a couple of centimetres of snow

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along the Pennines. Frost expected. Temperatures dropping back to

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prison. The risk of some icy stretches until tomorrow morning.

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Tomorrow there will be a continuation of the showers.

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Sunshine and between the showers. Any of them could be heavy with the

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odd rumble of thunder. Noticeably cooler. We are concerned about

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choosing I can to Wednesday. Keep tuned to the forecast. Western

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state, wet and windy. Things settling down on Friday. Saturday

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looks nice also. outlook for Saturday and Sunday is

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for something dry and settled, sunny spells but a bit on the cool side.

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This week we are starting off with a taste of winter. This is Paul and

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maritime air, it has come from a long way north and will push in lots

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of showers. The last of any mild air gets swept away with the cloud.

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Tonight we have showers mostly across the northern half of the UK,

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which will turn wintry and that means more snow, particularly across

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Scotland and Northern Ireland, perhaps northern England. With those

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temperatures it is not just snow that is a concern, it is icy

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