Rotherham: Abuse survivor gets apology 10 years on

The family continued to speak up about their daughter’s abuse by contacting politicians, including the then-Home Secretary David Blunkett. Mr Blunkett denied ever receiving a letter from them.

It was not until the family handed all of Amy’s files, including social services documents, police reports and medical records, over to The Times investigative reporter Andrew Norfolk that things started to change.

Mr Norfolk had been investigating child grooming gangs in the north of England and the Midlands for more than a year.

In 2012, Amy’s story was the first of several Rotherham case studies to be published in the newspaper – but it took another 12 months for Rotherham Council to commission the independent inquiry into how the council had dealt with child sexual exploitation.

“The Times started things off but the Jay Report was a turning point,” said Amy.

Remembering the day the report was made public, Amy said: “I heard the figure 1,400 and the abuse being outlined. I thought, ‘This might be the change, this might be the start of being listened to and being believed’.

“It wasn’t that people weren’t listening before, I just felt nobody believed me and people thought I was crazy.”