The Lost Girls: Rape Gangs, Rotherham and the Betrayal of a Generation

"I've heard every excuse in the book, always from those who should know better, all of them deciding that groomed, abused, raped girls were choosing that way of life, choosing to be 'trouble.' It was so much easier to turn a blind eye, to blame the victims, that it was to tackle the underbelly of what was really happening in Rotherham."The Rotherham Child grooming gang scandal both rocked and disgusted the nation.Girls as young as 10 had been targeted, given drink and drugs and then passed round groups of men like party favours.Tens of thousands of young children, mostly girls, had their lives ruined - yet it took years for the full scale of the problem to come to light. Sarah Hughes was one of those who was able to give those victims a voice.She spent eight years between 2004 and 2012 as a project worker for a project helping young people at high risk of child sexual exploitation, and she continues to fight for these marginalised, voiceless girls and young women.She was in the trenche