A fifth grooming gangs survivor has quit as an adviser to the national inquiry, saying she has been “overwhelmed” by the political storm around the process.
Gaia Cooper, who was repeatedly raped and exploited by a grooming gang at the age of 14, told the Telegraph she had been offered “no support” during the controversy – and told all parties to stop using the inquiry as a “political battering ram”.
She said “both sides are complicit in cover-ups and failures”.
Ms Cooper has withdrawn with the pressure mounting on Jess Phillips, the Safeguarding Minister, to quit over claims from other grooming gang victims that she had “betrayed” them.
Four other survivors who this week quit as advisers to the grooming gangs inquiry issued a statement on Wednesday calling for Ms Phillips’s resignation. She is in charge of setting up the inquiry.
On Thursday, Sir Keir Starmer was calling survivors to reassure them he is committed to an inquiry as he tried to fend off their calls to sack his Minister.
Survivors are concerned over the potential for the inquiry to be widened beyond grooming gangs, a block on speaking about the inquiry to others and the possibility of former police officers or social care workers serving as inquiry chairman....<<<Read More>>>...
