AS Correne Dadd boards a plane back to the UK, she feels her heart tearing into two. For though she is homeward bound, she is leaving her youngest son behind.
Correne, now 40, was groomed and raped daily by a , Shropshire, from the age of 12.
Correne was just 12 when she was first assaultedCredit: Supplied
Correne with her youngest son ZayeenCredit: Supplied
The abuse continues to impact her life every day, almost 30 years onCredit: News Group Newspapers Ltd
Almost thirty years on, she is so afraid of her abusers she refuses to bring her son into the UK.
Correne went through hell at the hands of a grooming gang, falling pregnant aged 13 and giving birth just one week after her 14th birthday.
Despite her trauma, for many years she refused to go to the , believing she was at fault for the attacks.
When she finally reported her abusers in 2018, she says they began sending threats and attacking her family. As a result, her young daughter was taken into care.
Her abusers were never brought to justice.
Four years later, Correne fell pregnant again but was so concerned for the safety of her unborn baby, she travelled to Egypt to give birth.
Her son, Zayaan, is now being raised in by a friend, and has never set foot in the UK.
Correne visits him as often as she can afford but says she is devastated by the separation.
Correne, from , says: “It breaks my heart to be separated from my son, but I cannot risk him living in this country. The gang will not leave me alone.
“I know he’s safe in Egypt, but I feel so helpless, being so far away. I’m not there to help with his spelling test or to read his bedtime stories. I miss the little things like arranging a playdate for him or giving him a cuddle when he falls over.
“We have lots of video calls but it’s not the same as having him with me. And yet I want something different for him. I don’t want what happened to me as a child to ruin his life too.
“I just wish my children could be together. I am pleading for support. I have waited nearly 30 years for justice, and I shouldn’t have to wait any longer.”
Raped daily
Correne was happy as a child, living with her mother and siblings, until, at the age of 7, she was allegedly sexually assaulted by a relative.
Aged 12, she was assaulted by a second man.
She says: “I was very confused, and I felt like it was my fault. I started to believe that it was no big deal to be abused, it had happened to me, and I felt like nobody really cared.
“There was a group of men in our neighbourhood and when I was 12, they started being friendly, chatting to me on my way to and from school.”
Correne initially welcomed their friendship.
She says: “They offered me lifts and took me for drives in the countryside and to the park. They gave me cigarettes and spliffs. I was just a child, and I felt so happy that they wanted me around.
“I felt isolated and confused, and they helped me to feel included. I actually thought they were my friends.
“It was only a few days before they started trying to grope me and kiss me. And then, the rapes began. They’d pick me up, with the passenger seat reclined flat, ready for the attack. I was also raped in a local house.
“Because of the earlier abuse, it almost felt normal to me to be assaulted. As time went on, I felt worthless, as though I had no say over what happened to my own body.”
Correne estimates she was raped daily by different men, sometimes by two at once.
She claims the men even waited for her outside school and took her out of lessons to be raped.
She says: “I willingly got into the car. I didn’t like the assaults but I liked the feeling that I belonged, and that they liked me.”
Victim tragedies
Correne was just 13 when she fell pregnant with JoshuaCredit: Supplied
Josh, now 27, has rarely seen his brotherCredit: News Group Newspapers Ltd
Aged 13, she became pregnant and says her baby’s father could be one of six men.
She says: “I was being sick in the mornings, and my period was late. Mum confronted me and she was furious at first.
“But when the test came back positive, she said she’d support me. Social services came but there was no investigation, despite my age.
” I attended school until I was seven and a half months pregnant and nobody asked who the father was. That just added to my feeling that it was my fault.
“The assaults went on right the way through my pregnancy. I didn’t know how to say no to the gang.”
Correne’s son, Josh, was born in November 1998, one week after her 14th birthday.
She says: “I was just a kid myself, but I adored Josh and did my best to look after him, with Mum’s help.”
The grooming continued throughout Correne’s teenage years.
As time went on, I felt worthless, as though I had no say over what happened to my own body
Correne Dadd
Two of her friends, Becky Watson and Lucy Lowe, were also victims, and later died.
Becky, aged 13, fell from a moving car and died from head injuries. Lucy, aged 16, was murdered in a house fire.
Correne says: “My friends suffered the same as I did, we had threats from the gang, and we were terrified of defying them. Once, I had a gun held to my head after a party where a woman was raped. Yet I thought I was the one in the wrong.”
Becky Watson died after falling from a moving carCredit: Mirrorpix
Lucy Lowe, 16, was murdered in an arson attack along with her mother and sisterCredit: PA:Press Association
Azhar Ali Mehmood was jailed in 2001 for three counts of murder and one of attempted murder after he killed the three women in an arson attackCredit: Mercia police
Hounded by abusers
Correne married and had more children, but she found it impossible to shake her abusers. Her marriage eventually broke down.
She says: “The gang wouldn’t leave me alone and it didn’t help that I saw them around the local area. I also didn’t really understand that it was abuse. I didn’t realise I’d been exploited. I thought it was my own fault I’d got into such a mess, and I just had to put up with it.”
But in 2018, she read an article in the press about grooming and realised she, too, was a victim.
She went to the police who made arrests as part of the ‘Operation Vapour’ investigation into Child Sexual Exploitation. But the move sparked a slew of threats and violence.
Correne says: “The media coverage was a lightbulb moment. It hit me suddenly that I was a victim and that it wasn’t my fault at all. But some gang members made threats because I’d spoken to the police.
“They targeted my former family home, set fire to the bins and attacked my mother.”
As a result, Correne’s youngest daughter was considered to be at risk, and she was taken into care.
Correne says: “I was devastated, but I couldn’t do anything to get her back.
“I was afraid for my own safety, and for my son, Josh. We moved around constantly. I lived all over the UK, never staying anywhere for long. I was too scared to put down roots. I moved 16 times in 7 years.
“The police investigation fell apart because I withdrew my complaint, I was too frightened to co-operate.
“Despite me having proof of the abuse – because I’d had a son aged 13 – there were no convictions.
“I was constantly anxious and on edge and I had lots of flashbacks to the abuse. I felt like I’d never be rid of it.”
They targeted my former family home, set fire to the bins and attacked my mother
Correne
In 2020, Correne fell pregnant again to a British partner.
She says: “I knew my baby would be at risk. He would never be safe from the gang or from social services.
“They’d taken one child and I knew they’d take another. I had to make a drastic decision and give birth in Egypt.
” I’d been on holiday to Egypt a lot in the past, so I had friends there, but nothing more. It was a leap of faith and the only way I could think of to keep my son safe.
“I used all my savings to pay for maternity care in Egypt and to set my son up in a home with a friend I trusted.”
Zayeen is now growing up in EgyptCredit: Supplied
She fears for the safety of her youngest sonCredit: Supplied
Heartbreaking separation
Correne’s son, Zayaan, is now four years old, and lives with her friend in El Minya, Egypt.
She says: “Zayaan is a beautiful little boy. He loves playing with the local kids, he likes swimming and his motorbike.
“He loves football too and he’s a fan. Josh has only been to visit Zayaan twice, but I use every penny I have to visit him as often as I can.
“My health is bad; I have issues from the abuse, and I also have mobility problems.
“I am reliant on benefits and I can’t fly as often as I’d like. I miss my son so much; he’s growing up without me. But it just is not safe for him to come to the UK at least until he’s a teenager and he can understand the risks.
“Despite all the promises from the government, survivors of grooming need much more support. I need justice. I need to see my abusers punished. I’d also like to help other survivors. I’ve been silenced all my life, but now I’ve found my voice.”
In 2022, a report into child sexual exploitation (CSE) in Telford found that although over 1000 children had been abused in the town, the obvious evidence of exploitation was ignored.
Key agencies dismissed exploitation as ‘child prostitution’, information was not shared properly between agencies and teachers and youth workers were discouraged from reporting exploitation.
Complaints were not investigated because of concerns about race, the offending continued for years and CSE teams were scaled down to save money.
What was the Telford grooming scandal?
THE Telford child grooming ring could prove to be Britain’s ‘worst ever’ with up to 1,000 kids drugged, raped and abused.
Authorities in Telford, Shropshire, repeatedly failed to stamp out the network of perverts and paedophiles, which is believed to have started in the 1980s.
Child abuse experts say there could be up to 1,000 kids that suffered abuse in – meaning there were more per head of population than in the similar scandals that hit and .
In a high profile case, Lucy Lowe was 16 when abuser Azhar Ali Mehmood, 26, set fire to her house, killing her, her mum Eileen and sister Sarah, 17, in 2000.
The taxi driver first targeted her in 1997.
She was 14 when she gave birth to his daughter.
He was jailed for the murders – but was never arrested or charged over sex abuse.
In 2002 another schoolgirl – Becky Watson, 13 – was killed in an unexplained car accident in the Shropshire town.
Despite the smash being recorded at the time as a “prank” gone wrong, it later emerged she had reportedly been abused by an Asian grooming gang since she was 11.
Mubarek Ali was jailed for his part in the Telford grooming rings but Correne’s abusers are still free
Chillingly, children, and not perpetrators, were blamed for the exploitation. The report went on to make over 40 recommendations.
Chief Superintendent for Local Policing, covering Shropshire and Telford, Mo Lansdale said: “We continue to express our sincerest apologies for the failings that victims and survivors experienced at the hands of police and other partner agencies.
“Children and young people were let down at a time when they needed our help and support the most, and while we will never be able to undo those failures, we are committed to ensuring another victim won’t endure the same. Their voices and lived experiences continue to help shape and improve our approach to providing the best possible support to victims.
“In 2022 the Independent Inquiry into Child Sexual Exploitation was published and last year the Chair published the findings of the two-year review which assessed the implementation of the recommendations.
“The report found that all organisations had either met or exceeded expectations in addressing the issues raised and we are resolute in continuing to build on this. We have always been clear in our mission to continually develop and evolve to make improvements to our knowledge and understanding of child sexual exploitation.
“We would always encourage anyone who is unhappy with the service they have received from West Mercia Police to make a formal complaint via our website Complaints | West Mercia Police.”
- To help Correne fund her trips to Eygpt donate at her GoFundMe page
