I was coerced and raped by a pedo ring at the age of 11

In 2001, Josie Clark, just 11 years old, was gang-raped and sexually abused for five years.

After she courageously reported her tormentors, they were convicted in 2007 and 16 years later, Josie received compensation.

However, she has never received an apology from the people she believes did not protect her.

Here, Josie, now 32, tells her story exclusively.

I stood alone in the dark, with no idea where I was, and wondered how I was going to get home.

I was just 11 years old and just minutes before I had been sitting in a car full of middle-aged men who had abandoned me because I refused to have sex with the men they had promised me.

I thought they were my friends, but I learned that this was far from the truth.

It was only years later that I realized that the men, most of whom were Asian, were part of a pedophile ring that targeted vulnerable children like me.

When I was four, I was taken away from my family in Blackburn and placed in a care home.

By the time I left primary school, I had already been in so many foster homes and children’s homes that I had lost track.

In one of the homes, I was sexually abused when I was six years old by an older teenage resident.

I had no place to call my own – but what hurt most was that I had no one to love me.

So when an older girl from school invited me to go out with some guys she knew, I jumped at the chance.

After driving around Blackburn for a while, they bought us some takeaway and brought us back.

It was so nice to receive some friendly attention.

“Same time tomorrow?” they said and I nodded enthusiastically.

I started meeting the men every afternoon.

They gave me food and made me feel special for the first time in my life by telling me I was beautiful.

One said he loved me and wanted to marry me.

Finally, I thought, I had a future.

But a few weeks later, the men said they wanted something in return.

I was so naive – I was only 11 and didn’t see it coming.

I was terrified and knew I had to do what they said.

Along with other girls, many of whom I did not know, I was repeatedly sexually assaulted and abused by various men.

Even the man who wanted to marry me raped me.

I was also given alcohol, cannabis, ecstasy and cocaine until I became addicted and dependent on men.

When I refused to comply with their demands, they beat or threatened me and told me that they knew where I lived and where my mother lived, with whom I had sporadic contact.

One had a knife and others showed me a gun, so there was no doubt in my mind that they had hurt me.

“I was sexually abused so many times that everything is just a blur”

As the months went by, the gang grew larger.

Sometimes, after being forced to have sex with men, I would get out of one car and get straight into another.

Sometimes I would stay overnight in a dingy mansion owned by a gang member.

I have been sexually assaulted and raped so many times that I can only remember everything.

And because of all the medication I was taking, I barely knew what I was doing.

Nevertheless, I was convinced that these men were my friends.

I was brainwashed.

There was despair among the staff at the children’s home.

I refused to tell them who I was meeting.

Some nights when I came home late, the door to my bedroom was locked.

Another time my pocket money was taken away.

On the occasions I showed up at school, I was usually under the influence of drugs and was eventually expelled at the age of 15.

Nobody found a new school for me and I went to an accredited institution for a short time, but did not do well in the exams.

I fell through the system.

I felt like my teachers never really tried to help me.

Over the course of five years, I was abused by hundreds of men.

Some days there were one or two, but other days there were 10 to 20.

Usually I was put in a car with another girl and then taken to either an old tire shop or an apartment where we were raped.

I hated my life, but I was so afraid of men that I had to keep doing what they said.

When it became unbearable, I refused to participate.

But when that happened, they locked me in a disused factory in Accrington for hours or beat me brutally.

“I realized that none of this was my fault – I was abused by adults I trusted”

The turning point came when, at the age of 15, my girlfriend and I managed to escape after one of the men tried to attack us with an iron bar because my girlfriend refused to have sex with him.

We were sure that we would have been killed if we had not escaped, so we told a police officer who knew us from the children’s home.

At first I didn’t mention the sexual assaults because I didn’t think they were wrong.

When I finally did, I was shocked at how seriously the police took the matter.

Even then, I didn’t want to get the men into trouble.

They were my friends and I thought I was in love with one of them.

But the police explained to me that I had been manipulated.

As a result of our report, Operation Engage was launched in Lancashire.

It was the first comprehensive investigation in the UK into child sexual exploitation and grooming gangs.

In August 2007, two of my tormentors were sentenced to five years and eight months in prison. The judge convicted 46-year-old Zulfar Hussain and 32-year-old Qaiser Naveed of exploiting vulnerable children who were in the care of the social services.

Hussain admitted to kidnapping a child, engaging in sexual activity with the same child and supplying him with ecstasy.

Naveed pleaded guilty to the same offenses.

I was so relieved that they had gone to prison, but I was also terrified of retaliation.

I was transferred to a new foster home outside the area.

But it felt like a breakup and I was heartbroken.

I missed her so much and continued to blame myself.

In my early 20s, I was trapped in abusive, violent relationships because that was all I knew.

I couldn’t keep a job either because I was so angry.

I suffered from anxiety and panic attacks.

In 2020, at the age of 29, I finally started therapy because I was tired of living a chaotic life.

I slowly realized that none of this was my fault, and I was devastated that the adults I trusted had let me down.

I was abused by men who were old enough to be my father and my grandfather.

Through therapy, I learned to channel my emotions in a healthy way.

The following year I adopted a Rottweiler, whom I named Buddy.

Above all, I wanted an apology

I have always loved animals, but never had any of my own.

I didn’t feel so alone anymore.

I also came to the conclusion that it was time to seek legal advice.

Last November, after working with the law firm Irwin Mitchell, I received an unspecified settlement amount from Blackburn With Darwen Council after I claimed they had failed to protect me.

The Council has neither accepted liability nor apologised.

They paid me compensation, but what I wanted most was an apology.

I am now in a happy, healthy relationship and use TikTok (@drdoolittlethesecond) to help other survivors and encourage them not to suffer in silence.

I will always have to live with the consequences of the abuse, but I feel like I can finally move on with my life.

I have adopted two more dogs and hope to become a dog trainer in the future.”

• If you need confidential support or advice, contact your local child and youth services, call the police on 101 or Childline on 0800 1111.