Black Country paedophile ring victim tells of her 'shame'
The main victim of a Black Country paedophile sex ring that preyed on young girls and saw seven men jailed for a total of 77 years has spoken of her ordeal.
The woman, now aged 20, was the subject of organised abuse over several years.
She was repeatedly abused by her father, uncle, brother and grandfather while also being used as a sexual plaything by other men with the approval of her family.
The victim spoke out after members of the paedophile ring were given lengthy prison sentences following a trial at Wolverhampton Crown Court.
She revealed: "I was a victim of sexual abuse from a young age but only felt able to talk about it after a period of time in foster care.
"I find it difficult to form and retain relationships and feel insecure and scared in a male environment. I suffer from depression and some days I feel too upset to eat or drink.
"I have outbursts of crying and trouble sleeping. I am ashamed of what happened and hate myself for not doing something about it earlier that would have saved the others from their suffering."
The main culprits - her father and uncle - both died before justice caught up with them but both the grandfather and brother were among those jailed by Judge Simon Ward, who said the family home was ‘operated as a paedophile brothel’.
He continued: "The uncle and father actively encouraged people to go round to have sex with the child. Those two men were a toxic presence in the household. It is clear neither had any moral boundaries.
“They spent their time drinking and using violence, creating an atmosphere of depravity and fear while having sex with their own children on a regular basis. This was a group of paedophiles and they were at the heart of it, having decided to prostitute their children out to other men."
He told the mother of two of the victims, who lived in fear of her bullying partner, and was jailed for four years: "This was a family with a lifestyle that revolved around drinking, sex and violence during which you displayed serious long term neglect.
"You did not tell social workers what was going on when you could have done. You lied to them when they went to the house to investigate. You preferred to protect your abusive husband rather than your own children."
