West Midlands child sex ring (disturbing content)

[StepAwayFromTheBiscuitJar]

Was just reading the thread about how child murderers/rapists shouldn't ever be released and saw a link to the below story. I work in these towns and lived in the area for almost a decade so it was a bit of a shock I've not heard anything about it.

I'm always surprised by the prominence of women in trafficking rings, not least because you'd expect them to have more empathy with the victims. I'm guessing though many may have been trafficked themselves. A lot of people don't seem to know this but circa 60% of the traffickers in Eastern Europe and Asia are female nowadays according to the available research/data.

Eight women are among 21 members of horrific child sex ring convicted for 'abhorrent and cruel' abuse of kids no older than 12 over a decade - with 13 of the evil paedophiles jailed for a total of 145 years

https://www.dailymail.co.uk/news/article-11942601/Seven-women-jailed-total-58-years-paedophile-gang-21-guilty-abuse.html?ico=related-replace

Evil evil women

I don't believe the women are more evil than the men.

I don't exonerate them, but statistically they are likely to have had fewer opportunities.

I assume we won't ever be able to know the full story for the sake of the victims.

I have worked connected to a school where children came from homes like these. They arrived at nursery with sexualised behaviour, and needed full time supervision. I don't know what the outcome was for that family. The family in the news is not alone.

They have all been hit by the ugly stick and the second one's mouth is odd.

Disgusting creatures.

It was in the news but can understand how you missed it as there have been very few details given other than the convicted and their sentences. The news mentioned that reporting was severely restricted due to several trials happening. I also think the actual details of the case are so awful that it's not being reported. The police have said many times it is the worst case of child abuse they've dealt with. And as the poor children are still alive and very traumatised the less details that are known the better.

Can we give it a rest with the "ugly" and "they must be men" comments?

I'd challenge anyone to look good after a dawn raid without a shower and make-up. Even good looking people look rough in mugshots.

My comment was about how journalists have been confusing the issues by reporting perpetrators as women when they are men, not that these particular women were not culpable. I no longer trust what we are told.

Again why on earth do you think these might be trans women?

What amazed me was these are clearly families. Couples and their kids, who based on their ages and how far back this case goes, would have been kids themselves. Very off feeling to be scanning the faces, scared to see a, dace or name I recognised (grew up in Wolves, live in Walsall) and the realisation that these could be any of our neighbours, inviting the kids over for a play date or offering to do school pick up and dinner etc.

Also confused about small no of victims, if they're all part of the same family enclave

Check the names, ages and addresses. There's nothing to suggest this is a group of men all cohabiting with trans women and their kids presumably from some random women

When a child presents in a pre-school setting like that are local authorities/ social services notified?

@lifeturnsonadime yes. It isn't always straightforward about how it's dealt with. You don't necessarily know what is behind it. It can take a while to unpick what is going wrong where- if you have a non verbal child, or one with very disturbed behaviour, you don't know whether there is underlying disability or sensory problems, for example. You wouldn't want to jump to horrific systemic abuse, if there is a misdiagnosis (possibly misdiagnosis) of disability.

I was only on the periphery of such cases, not directly involved, and of course there were confidentiality requirements so I didn't know any details, just that something was being looked into or that support was needed somewhere.

Children could present as being extremely delayed/neglected when there was an undiagnosed hearing or vision impairment, for example. Equally they could present as having a disability or developmental delay when it was in fact all trauma. Initially all you know is that a child has significant needs. It takes time to work out what and why.
I remember a child with sexualised behaviour- frottage- that was probably sensory and comfort seeking rather than a sign of abuse. That was a long time ago and I was very inexperienced- who knows what I'd make of it now. I just remember her neediness, starved for affection. I was only temporary. Broke my heart.