Charlotte Tetley, victim of the Rochdale rape gangs has died

One way forward would be to avoid "sacred castes". So Catholic priests can't be above reproach just because they are priests, South Asian men can't be above reproach because of fears of racism, etc, men that aren't south Asian can't be above reproach because "the real perpetrators of these crimes are Muslims/Asians". I think also a permanent rethinking of how we categorise looked after children, children who are struggling. It's no good people just holding up banners of innocent looking children saying "protect our kids" if at the same time you have people calling children in care "downright evil" https://www.bbc.com/news/articles/c7v79jle6qpo or "feral" https://www.telegraph.co.uk/news/2024/09/06/feral-children-feckless-parents-leaving-rest-of-us-in-fear/

(And if course actually children/teenagers behaving antisocially is scary and makes people's lives harder. But there needs to be space to acknowledge that and also look into what's causing it/whether the children themselves are safe). Otherwise you just veer from one tabloid extreme about "streetwise kids" and soppy do-gooders wanting to hug a hoody to the other (why did noone help these working class children we spent a decade calling scum)

And also actually I think there should be serious outside investigations of police forces with a serial record of letting women and girls down. The same treatment you would use to root out endemic corruption.

Ive been speaking up about this a lot in my real life, precisely because I am a brown woman, so good luck accusing me of racism. The continuing victimisation of the grooming gangs' victims is all linked to sexism and classism - working class young women have fuck all value. Children who have been abused have fuck all value in real life - everyone wrung their hands about Baby P, but if he'd survived, and grown up to be a difficult troubled teenager acting out his trauma, everyone would have washed their hands of him.

I don't actually know the answers here. I just know we have to talk about these things, and ensure there is real concrete support for the survivors so they're not retraumatisrd over and over.

Poor Charlotte was treated the same way that all child survivors of sexual abuse are treated regardless of the class or race of their abusers. Vulnerable children have been abused and seen as culpable for decades. They are easy pickings for predators. Why? Because those who should protect them are complicit or turn a blind eye or blame the victim for running away from the care home, being badly behaved, drinking, taking drugs, being a ‘child’ prostitute.

When these children become adults they are deeply traumatised and struggle to cope but receive no support despite crying out for help.

The assault on the self and self worth of a child victim/survivor does not vary with the class or religion or skin colour of the perpetrator.

Focusing on the perpetrators (which was not revealed until the inquest) distracts from the multiple ways Charlotte was failed by the system that should have helped her.

Labour persecuted two Labour women,Ann Cryer and Sarah Champion for speaking up about it.

Yes, good post.

Poor Charlotte. RIP.

The county lines thing is another aspect of this. I don't like talking about it in the context of the grooming gangs, because the CSA was just streets ahead more horrific than anything else, but similar to the blindness to that there is a blindness to the fact that children are also being groomed into transporting drugs at very young ages. And exposed often to horrifying amounts of viplence. Especially children from care settings. I think there's the same inability to see them as victims IYSWIM . And of course, there are huge overlaps.since children being lured into the one can then also get trapped in a cycle of sexual abuse.

Also, this sounds awful, abuse around the supply of drugs like cocaine etc links indirectly to lots of respectable middle class people, even politicians across the political spectrum etc. The people ultimately "funding" the activity don't want to think of themselves as contributing to so much suffering. So maybe there is a willfull blindness to the harm it does for that reason to. It's actually a much wider circle of culpability than even the grooming gangs.

Women and girls are commodities to be used and abused while their abusers are protected by the courts and their human rights protected over everything else. This has always been the same and nothing has changed.

Utterly sickening and heartbreaking. Rest in peace Charlotte x

And there's this
https://www.citystgeorges.ac.uk/news-and-events/news/2023/09/three-in-four-rape-and-sexual-assault-survivors-mental-health-harmed-during-police-investigation-research-reveals

for your brother. The mental health service is so bad/underfunded that sometimes the first time someone gets actual "help" is when the damage is already done. No sympathy for child rapists/rapists in general as I don't think their is much counselling can do to cure evil. But there are other people in prison where if their mental health problems had been treated earlier they might not have wound up in prison in the first place. And sometimes the first time someone gets to the root of their issues is in prison which is good (not talking about the child abusers) but it would have been much more cost effective to treat earlier. And of course men like your brother who basically aren't ever going to come up on the radar at all because their struggles aren't causing any problems (except to themselves, the people that love them). Theres no interest (or possibly nor resources) to treat people proactively. It's effectively like waiting for someone to bleed out before trying to save them.

Yes, I agree that she is a bad choice for that reason. It was something horrific that really happened (and child grooming is still happening) so to dismiss it as a dog whistle was completely wrong. And that one quite can be used against her again and again in the future.

I'm so glad you said that.
I came on to say that West Yorkshire police has a really long history of utter failure and in some cases outright complicity. They.were also the force who dismissed Peter Sutcliffes victims as just prostitutes. The discussion about the race of the perpetrators needed to be had, because it was obvious some of the reasons the girls weren't helped was because of fear of being racist etc. But it was also so clearly not JUST that. Class and how people (still) think about children that don't fit a particular stereotype. And I think parts of the police were probably really happy to jump on the "we wanted to do more but we were scared because racism). But I tried saying that once and got accused of trying to "cover up" the role ethnicity played. I think if agitators succeed in making this only about race then ultimately it gets in the way of genuine improvements/identifying perpetrators.

She is currently in the lead.
Labour really needs to ask itself what it’s thinking. It seems likely that she will be deputy leader. Don’t they realise how badly her comments about grooming gangs landed—not just in the red wall seats, but across the country? Promoting her now makes the party seem completely tone-deaf, Unless she’s placed in a safe seat, she can’t represent anyone, yet they act as if she’s ready to deliver for Labour.
Combined with Keir Starmer, whose name isn’t exactly chanted with affection on the football stands—a small window into broader public opinion - and it looks like the party has a winning combination.
I wonder if they’re full of self-loathing, or just bent on self-sabotage.

This is an absolutely spot on summary of the risible mental health services people are offered by the NHS. I’ve watched a family member be repeatedly failed by them and it was utterly shocking. Very few people working in the service showed any sign of putting themselves out in any way for service users, it was apathy central. Utterly appalling.

Somebody who’d suffered such abuse and trauma as Charlotte Tetley would have stood no chance in getting the help she needed.

I feel winded from reading that; to think what a nightmare her life was after what those men did to her and how she was failed and failed again by every single agency that should have protected her, and how tragically it has ended now.

The police have the resources to send officers round to question people about “upsetting” words on FB, but not to look for a young woman at high risk of suicide. (I realise I’m talking about different forces but the pattern seems to be the same.)

How was she discharged before being seen by a MH professional? When she was still clearly stating she was suicidal? Failure upon failure.

I’m so sorry for those she leaves behind. RIP Charlotte

I think she will. She’s an idiot.

This has allegedly been the case with West Yorkshire police for over 3 decades, the races of the gangs has varied over the time.

Yes this. So sad. Poor woman. Let down so so badly.

People have blood on their hands and nothing will probably ever happen.

"A racist dog whistle" according to Lucy Powell who now wants to be Deputy Leader. Wouldn't be surprised if she gets the post.

So what can we do? If authorities and systems are failing - are there charities we should support- financially, setting up local branches ? Who could direct us best how to stop other women being failed this way?
is it better to narrow focus on victims of sexual abuse or are there general charities that are providing mental health support ? Seems to me if yom can afford to pay you can get support - is that true?

Yes, definitely.

The racism excuse is an easier one to hide behind that's for sure. But using phrases like "child prostitutes" and some of the officers abusing the girls shows the other side of why these poor girls were left by the roadside