Woman raped twice in one week by different men discloses her horrific experience

Manchester, England: A woman whose childhood was ­destroyed when she fell victim to ­rapists twice at the age of 12 has told of her brave struggle for justice.

Samantha Roberts was groomed and raped by predatory paedophile Paul Waites in the summer of 2006. Cunning Waites, 33, had ­befriended her by pretending to be 18.

The troubled schoolgirl was badly ­traumatised by the betrayal. But in a cruel twist of fate, she was to suffer an even worse ordeal just four weeks later.

Samantha was raped by a group of men in one of the Asian sex gang cases that have ­become notorious in recent years.

The attack was so savage her body was black and blue. The emotional damage was less obvious but just as severe.

One of the brutes was jailed but the others ­escaped amid claims of police bungling.

At the time dance teacher Waites was not even reported. It was years before Samantha found the strength to go after him. And last Monday she was in court to look him in the eye as Waites was jailed for 11 years.

Waiving her right to remain anonymous, the 21-year-old told the Sunday People about her nightmare past.

Young Samantha was extremely vulnerable. She had started skipping school, smoking, drinking and mixing with a bad crowd aged just 11.

She came to the attention of Oldham social services in Greater Manchester and was later diagnosed with attention deficit ­hyperactivity disorder and Asperger’s, both of which lead to behavioural problems.

Waites targeted Samantha on the Teenchat website and skilfully groomed her. Then he raped her. She had just turned 12.

Recalling how the pervert won her ­confidence, she said: “He made me feel good about myself. He made me believe I was in the right, that everyone else really was against me. He made me trust him.”

Meetings with Waites in his car in Oldham ended with a sex attack on the trusting girl.

Quietly spoken Samantha said: “The first time we met I was scared and nervous. We talked about my problems and he gave me a shoulder to cry on. The second time he groped me, then he raped me.”

Shockingly, social services staff were aware of her inappropriate relationship with Waites but did nothing to stop it.

The Sunday People has seen paperwork which shows that Samantha even offered to ­introduce her case worker to Waites. Notes written at the time read: “Met Sam and told her that we were all concerned about her ­meeting this man from the internet.

“Again I stressed why a boy of 18 years would knowingly keep contact with a girl of 12. Sam said I could meet him and (she would) show me that he is okay.” But the social worker did not go to meet Waites. Nor was he reported to the authorities. Social services merely ­suggested that Samantha’s mother and father should go to parenting classes.

In case notes she is painted as a troublesome, attention-seeking child, out to shock adults. Samantha now believes a chance to save her was missed.

What followed was terrifying. While still traumatised after the abuse by Waites, she fell into the clutches of evil Shakil Chowdhury and his gang in a case that later made headlines nationwide.

Following an afternoon of under-age ­drinking, she found herself confused and lost on the way home. She accepted a lift from two Asian men, who took her to a house.

One of them, Chowdhury, ordered her ­upstairs and raped her before a friend joined in the attack. They then called several other men, who also raped Samantha.

The gang went on to repeatedly rape her in an ordeal lasting six hours. Attacks took place in three different rooms and the men ­demanded that she washed after each one.

Her lasting memory is not of the abuse itself, but of a pair of little girl’s shoes and a child’s bed she saw at the house. The images leave her unable to shake off the idea that another child may have been a victim.

Chowdhury, who was 39 at the time, was jailed for just six years in 2012 after pleading guilty to six counts of rape at Manchester Crown Court. Another man, Sarwar Ali, was arrested but disappeared while on bail awaiting trial. He is thought to be hiding abroad. The other attackers were never caught.

Waites and the Asian rapists did not know each other and the attacks were unrelated. The only connection was that a vulnerable girl was preyed on twice while under supervision by Oldham social services.

Samantha said: “I never would have believed something so awful could happen twice.

“It took me years to get my head around it and I still struggle with it now. It’s heartbreaking.”

Samantha also claims that detectives told her vital evidence from the gang-rape scene, including bedding, had been destroyed due to a lack of ­storage at Greater Manchester Police..

At the time she kept quiet about the abuse by Waites amid the horror of the brutal multiple rapes that soon followed.But the awful memories remained. She also knew Waites was still at large. Then three years ago she discovered he had served time for abusing other girls – ­after the attack on her.

She finally decided she had to talk to the police.

Samantha said: “I felt so let down over the gang-rapes. It was devastating that I’d been to hell and back and only one man was held responsible.

“To find out important evidence was destroyed ­almost wrecked me. It means there’s hardly any chance of the two other men being convicted. So I didn’t feel I could revisit what Waites had done. But it haunted me.

“Then I put his name into the internet and saw he had been jailed in 2009 for filming himself while abusing young girls. I felt sick. I couldn’t let him get away with it. After everything I had been through, I couldn’t let it happen to anyone else.”

Samantha saw her evidence convict Waites at the same court at which Chowdhury was jailed.

Now she is taking legal action against social services, alleging they failed in their duty to protect her. She insists she would not have accepted a lift with Chowdhury had she not been suffering traumatic stress from the attack by Waites.

Samantha said: “At the time I didn’t know left from right, never mind my right from wrong. I was in such a state.”

A case upheld against social services would be another step on her journey to justice. In other areas of her life she has also managed to move on. Last October she married care worker Steven Walker, 25, who she met in 2012 when he popped into the pharmacy where she worked.

Samantha said: “Steven is my rock. Being with him has helped me put the past behind me and his support has been incredible.”

A spokesman for Oldham Council said: “We had involvement with the victim and her family during that period but cannot comment on individual cases during an ­on-going court case.”

Samantha’s solicitor Richard Scorer confirmed he is representing her in a civil claim against social services. Gtr Manchester Police were last night unable to comment.