Robbie Moore MP writes to the Prime Minister after learning one of Fiona Goddard's abusers is to be freed on Monday, having served only half of his sentence.
A child abuser will walk free next Monday after serving just half of his sentence – and Keighley and Ilkley MP Robbie Moore is demanding the Prime Minister stop it.
Fiona Goddard was abused by several men from the age of 14, including Mohammed Usman, the prisoner in question, due to be released next Monday.
Fiona later became a prominent national figure in the campaign for a Statutory Independent Inquiry into Child Sexual Exploitation and Grooming Gangs, after choosing to waive her anonymity and speak publicly about her experiences in the pursuit of accountability and justice.
The Statutory Inquiry, which was announced by the Government in December of last year, following several years of determined campaigning from victims and survivors, alongside Robbie Moore MP, was established to investigate systemic failures in preventing and addressing child sexual exploitation by grooming gangs.
Mohammed Usman was originally sentenced to 15 years for the crimes he committed against Fiona when she was 14. Fiona received the news of his early release on 17 August, during a phone call with her Victim Liaison Officer.
Having waived her anonymity and taken on a prominent public role in the fight for justice, Fiona now faces serious safeguarding concerns following the announcement of Usman's early release.
Robbie Moore MP, who campaigned alongside Fiona for several years to secure the Statutory Inquiry, has written directly to the Prime Minister, demanding urgent Government intervention to stop the release of Mohammed Usman ahead of next Monday.
Most crucially, he argues that the British Government has a responsibility to protect Fiona.
In his strongly worded letter to the Prime Minister, Robbie Moore MP said:
This is utterly incomprehensible and completely unacceptable. Fiona has already endured more than any child should ever have to endure.
Having found the courage to speak out and put her faith in the British criminal justice system, Fiona now deserves nothing less than for her government – the British Government – to stand up for her. This cannot be allowed to become yet another failure of the British criminal justice system.
I am therefore writing to demand urgent Government intervention to prevent Mohammed Usman's release next Monday, and to ensure that all of Fiona's abusers remain firmly behind bars for the duration of their sentences.
He continued:
It simply cannot be right that a perpetrator is able to walk free after serving 50% of their sentence.
As we speak, there will be countless other victims and survivors of child sexual exploitation across the country waiting on tenterhooks, under unimaginable levels of stress, to discover whether their perpetrators will also be released early from prison and back into their communities.
Mr Moore demands the Prime Minister “takes control of this situation, demonstrate leadership and begin restoring victims' and survivors' faith in the British criminal justice system by ensuring that all criminals convicted of rape, Child Sexual Exploitation, grooming and domestic abuse serve their full sentence and are not released from prison early.
