Channel 4 documentary Groomed: A National Scandal by Leeds filmmaker Anna Hall hears testimony of child sexual exploitation

Anna Hall, founder and chief creative officer at Leeds-based Candour Productions, has spoken about Groomed: A National Scandal ahead of its airing from 9pm tonight.

In the documentary, Hall hears from five women – having waived their lifelong right to anonymity – who share their testimony of being groomed, sexually assaulted and raped by potentially hundreds of men collectively in the areas including West Yorkshire, Manchester and Buckinghamshire.

One woman tells of how she was sexually abused from the age of 11, being taken out of a children’s home and exploited for days on end.

The film, revealed at a special screening at the Everyman cinema in Leeds last night before the public broadcast, presents evidence that such widespread abuse is still happening despite a number of criminal convictions and public interventions – such as the Professor Alexis Jay report on Rotherham – after high-profile sex abuse scandals involving grooming gangs.

“I want MPs to watch this film,” says Hall, speaking to The Yorkshire Post.

"These women are representing, obviously, a particular pattern of gang grooming and sexual abuse, but last night, for example, somebody was there who was a survivor of another sort of child sexual abuse, and she was totally blown away by hearing their stories.

"One of my hopes is that people who were sexually abused as children are able to see that,” adds Hall, referring to how survivors can believe the crimes against them are their own fault and “carry around that guilt all their lives”, despite being the victims.

The latest documentary is Hall’s fourth to report on grooming gangs. Previous films for Channel 4 on the subject include Edge of the City (2004), The Hunt for Britain’s Sex Gangs (2011) and Britain’s Sex Gangs (2013).

Hall, speaking about tonight’s broadcast, said: “The contributors are all understandably very, very nervous about the film going out because they have totally put themselves on the line, and so there is a level of anxiety. But I think what was amazing last night about them all being together is that's the first time they've all met.”

Likewise, it was the first meeting of Maggie Oliver, a former Detective Constable with the Greater Manchester Police who now runs a foundation to help people at risk of childhood sexual abuse, and Jayne Senior, a social worker who helped expose the Rotherham grooming scandal, and during a panel discussion after the screening last night, they spoke of working together in future.

Hall wants to see the urgent implementation of an independent Child Protection Authority for England, recently announced by Labour’s minister for safeguarding and violence against women and girls, Jess Phillips MP, after it was recommended by the Independent Inquiry into Child Sexual Abuse, which was published in 2022.

Hall says: “We've had apology after apology after apology. We've had report after report after report. We've had inquiry after inquiry. And now what we want is action.”

Labour’s Lisa Nandy, the Culture Secretary, earlier this month told Times Radio that “we are listening to victims and authorities around the country about the need to give them the right tools to tackle it, this very pernicious problem, in their own areas.

“We believe that decisions are best made by those with skin in the game in their own communities, people who live in those communities, who understand what is happening there.”

A full feature interview with Anna Hall will be in The Yorkshire Post next week.