EXCLUSIVE: The PM is being accused of doing nothing as a survivor is forced to vanish overnight, but the fear she escaped keeps finding her first.
PM Burnham and survivor Fiona (Image: -)
Prime Minister Andy Burnham has been blasted for doing “absolutely nothing” to prevent grooming gang victim Fiona Goddard being forced to flee her home – despite repeated pleas for his intervention to halt the early release of a twisted child rapist. The Express exclusively revealed how the brave survivor and campaigner has been forced to abandon her home after receiving a series of violent threats including that her house would be “torched”.
The threats escalated after she was told that Mohammed Usman, one of the nine men jailed for abusing her as a 14-year-old in Bradford, was being released from jail this week – after serving just half his 15-year sentence.
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Mohammed Usman (Image: Yorkshire Police)
Keighley MP Robbie Moore has repeatedly requested the new PM to intervene in the horror case as Fiona came under repeated threats but when no action came from Number 10 social services and police relocated her and her five children to a safe house away from Bradford.
Mr Moore said: “I think the whole situation absolutely stinks that she has even been put in this situation in the first place. It is absolutely outrageous that Usman has only served 50% of his term in prison, and then it’s the victim that is suffering as a result.”
The Express has approached Number 10 for comment.
When Fiona, 33, was first notified of the sex beast’s impending release, she contacted Mr Moore who immediately wrote to the Prime Minister, demanding urgent intervention to halt the process.
But he says despite following up the letter with numerous requests he has been met with “absolute silence”.
While the government has publicly pushed a narrative that they are cracking down on early releases for serious sex offenders Mr Moore says this only applies to inmates who were set to be released after serving just 33% of their sentences to ease prison overcrowding.
The twisted child rape gang who abused two teenage schoolgirls
Fiona Goddard was one of two teenage girls targeted by a gang of nine depraved sex monsters who used drink, drugs and violence to groom and sexually exploit them.
The horrors came to light in 2014 when Fiona saw a report on the Rotherham abuse scandal and realised it mirrored what had happened to her.
But after going to the police it took five years for the case to reach trial – leaving her abusers to continue living in her community.
Finally in 2019 nine paedophiles were jailed for over 132 for abuse of two girls – but incredibly they are now starting to be set free.
Kama Melly QC, prosecuting, told Bradford Crown Court how the girls had been “vulnerable to manipulation” prior to being subjected to sickening abuse at the hands of the men “to satisfy their sexual desires.”
Gang ringleader Basharat Khaliq lured them into his nest after meeting the girls when he was aged 27, and buying them a bottle of vodka.
Over the following years he groomed and repeatedly raped one of the girls and abused the other.
At the same time the girls were being groomed by brothers Saeed and Naveed Akthar, who took them to a property where Fiona was “in effect used as a prostitute” with men turning up to systematically abuse her.
Sentencing the gang Judge Jonathan Durham Hall QC said: “You appear not to have shown any respect for the minimum standards of decent behaviour.”
Khaliq, then 38, was found guilty of five counts of rape and jailed for 20 years. Saeed Akhtar, then 55, was convicted of two counts of inciting child prostitution and one count of rape and jailed for 20 years.
His brother Naveed Akhtar, 43 at the time, was jailed for 17 years for two counts of rape. Parvaze Ahmed, 36, was convicted of three counts of rape and jailed for 17 years.
Izar Hussain, 32, was sentenced to 16 years for rape. Zeeshan Ali, 32, was convicted of sexual assault and jailed for 18 months.
Kieran Harris, 28, was convicted of two counts of rape and jailed for 17 years. Faheem Iqbal, 27, was convicted of aiding and abetting rape and jailed for seven years.
Mohammed Usman, 31, was jailed for 15 years for rape.
Forced to flee – Fiona Goddard (Image: Getty Images)
He believes the public is being misled by political spin and says constituents have written to him believing that sex offenders and paedophiles are now serving their full terms.
He added: “I find it utterly incomprehensible. The Prime Minister has done nothing to help, despite being asked, repeatedly.
“It is outrageous that Fiona has been forced to move out of her own home for fear, as one of her abusers is imminently due to be released from jail after serving just half his sentence.
“All victims and survivors deserve justice and they should not be put through huge additional stress, pain and trauma as their perpetrators are released early, and permitted to walk free.
“I call on the Prime Minister again. He must act now, intervene and stop it.”
Usman had been due to be released on Monday but that was delayed however the Express understands he has now been freed and is being housed at a hostel outside West Yorkshire where he is under strict licence conditions.
The Bradford gang jailed for total of 132 years (Image: PA)
Despite her relief at feeling safe Fiona, 33, told the Express: “I don’t feel like it should be a victim’s responsibility to have to keep relocating to make sure they’re safe. If a victim is not safe with the perpetrator on the outside, then the perpetrator shouldn’t be let out.”
The survivor, who bravely waived her legal right to life-long anonymity to show other victims of abuse “there is nothing to be ashamed of”, was abused while living in a children’s home in Bradford along with another girl when they were both just 14.
The gang who abused them were convicted of 22 offences including rape and inciting child prostitution after they used drink, drugs and violence to groom and sexually exploit the children.
Usman, 38, was finally convicted in February 2019 of two counts of rape. But because he and fellow predators were sentenced in 2019, they narrowly missed the 2020 legislative changes that now require major violent and sexual offenders to serve 67% of their time behind bars.
It means that four more of Fiona’s abusers are slated for early release under the same 50% rule over the next twelve months.
Associates of the gang are believed to behind the threatening messages, with one allegedly warning: “My boys are out soon… we’ll come see you soon and serve some real justice.”
Fiona added: “The government need to realise that early release policies turn innocent victims’ lives upside down. It doesn’t feel like justice. Usman was given a lengthy sentence because it was relevant to what he had put me through. Yet he has served just seven and a half of it. What does that say to me? It feels insulting.”