A victim of grooming gangs in Telford and Birmingham has revealed how she was trafficked across England and abused by dozens of men when she was 18.
Lauren Elysia Priddey has waived her right to anonymity and says she wants to offer hope to other victims of sexual abuse.
She was an A-levels student when she was raped by cousins Mohammed Ali Sultan and Shahmeel Khan in separate attacks days apart.
She later gave evidence in court against both men. Khan was jailed for 10 years in 2011 while Sultan was sentenced to eight years in prison last December – he was already serving a six-year sentence. Sultan was convicted and jailed following Operation Chalice, West Mercia Police’s investigation into child grooming.
Lauren, now 31, described how she was trafficked and abused by dozens of other men across the West Midlands, none of whom were brought to justice.
Read more: Telford authorities ‘still failing to tackle child abuse’
“I was 18 the first time I was raped,” she said. “I was 18 when I was serially gang-raped. I was 18 when I was trafficked all over England and given to many men, sometimes as many as ten in one night.”
She was raped by Khan in summer 2007 after he barged into her flat in Telford, Shropshire, days before she was due to sit her A-levels.
Two days later, his cousin Sultan – later exposed as a grooming gang ringleader – also forced his way into the flat and raped her.
“Being raped even once was devastating,” said Lauren. “It took a huge toll on my mental health.
“When Sultan came round two days after the rape I was still in shock, still traumatised. I had no fight left in me.
“He used to say he would make my life hell and said I didn’t want to play games with him.
“He would say he would kick my door in and when I said: ‘You won’t because of the locks’, he said: ‘I will kick your head in then’.”
Following the attacks, she fell into a cycle of drugs and abuse involving other Asian men in Telford, Birmingham and other parts of the UK.
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