Charlotte Tetley, victim of the Rochdale rape gangs has died

[defrazzled]

https://www.dailymail.co.uk/news/article-15114961/Rochdale-grooming-gang-victim-sexual-abuse-killed-inquest.html

Another victim has taken her own life. Why did she have to move and leave her support network? Why was her life and community less valuable than a child rapists? How can anyone make sense of this insanity, why has an inquest only started now?

Shame on the police, courts, social housing and all who failed her. Rest in peace Charlotte.

I think the “fear of being perceived as racist” was more a genuine factor in why the local authority/social services let these girls down. See the Jay and Casey reports (Casey reviewed what lessons had been learned at Rotherham council, I won’t post a spoiler and I’ll leave it to your imagination). I think individual police officers were sometimes implicated, sometimes just didn’t give a fuck and the racism excuse offered them plausible deniability for turning a blind eye because it was easier. That excuse applies to all the multi agency groups though.

And obviously here I’m talking about the gangs as a phenomenon in multiple cities and towns.

It is impossible to get mental health support unless you jump through hoops in just the right way.

This means if you don't present in the correct fashion they won't deal with you. The jobsworthiness of the whole system is appalling.

It does not remotely surprise me that some of the most vulnerable individuals fall through the cracks as a result because, frankly they are so mentally unwell. It's a lanyard class bullshit issue, where those who designed and run the system haven't the faintest idea about the complexity of the needs of patients.

It's one of those where you are supposed to fit the system and yet these are people who need the system to fit them.

It is not fit for practice.

And by the time you have already lost trust in 'the system' you are already lost. It doesn't deem people in this situation worthy of helping imho.

The police are absolutely shocking in terms of dealing with mental health related issues which only compounds the problem as they end up dealing with issues due to the absence of mental health provision. And they only serve to make matters worse for many whom they deal with as a result of their poor training and understanding.

This is so true in my experience. One of my family members finally got NHS counselling. He was discharged without any human contact because he hadn't come to an appointment BECAUSE HE WAS MENTALLY ILL. No real attempt at contact or finding out why he hadn't come or - goodness here's an idea - actually checking he was ok. None at all. The whole experience made his mental health issue worse. He's fine now, but in spite of the state not because of it.

I remember at the time it was a huge achievement that he'd gone to the GP in the first place so for this to be the outcome was a real kick in the teeth.

Obviously if you're a paedophile child rapist immigrant who needs a taxpayer funded solicitor to prevent you being deported after your insulting 'sentence' for your crimes is served then the red carpet is rolled out.

Edited to add - my family member is a law abiding lovely, fairly quiet and shy white male. He has come in recent years to question why he got so little support at this time (and in other areas other members of our family get so little support now) when the grooming gang rapists have got so much state money given to them to help them stay in the country. I've got to say, this does not seem an unreasonable question at all. And in the context of the victims of grooming gangs getting fuck all mental health or other support, even more stark.

The video of 'Jade' the grooming gang survivor and Maggie Oliver on Triggernometry is really upsetting but an important watch. MO and Jade are clear that the only mental health support she's had is via the MO foundation. None via the state. Despite what they put her through. Maggie Oliver & Jade - TRIGGERnometry

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

Yes, definitely.

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?

There is a Police man from Halifax who was involved in the gangs and is in prison. I think many were. All evidence suggests that these men were trafficking the girls widely and prostituting them but that is also ignored. The inquiry is unlikely to bother to make the effort to dig deep and resolve these issues.

Mens feelings matter more than women and girls lives to the state, the police, the NHS and the government.

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

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

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

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

I think she will. She’s an idiot.

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

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.

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.

Labour don't seem to have any grasp on how much anger this has caused in working class communities and when people struggle to make their voices heard they are smeared as racists. I think they have betrayed women and girls completely.

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.

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.

It's worse than ever now according to Maggie Olivers research and still nothing is done. Vapes are being used across right from Rochdale to Huddersfield to groom children into county lines and traffic girls for sexual abuse and rape. I think it is a country wide problem and Sadiq Khans denials and trying to smear anyone who discusses this as a racist is causing huge tension across the country and stoking the current protests/riots.

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.

Utterly sickening and heartbreaking. Rest in peace Charlotte x

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.

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.

Poor Charlotte. RIP.

Yes, good post.