Rotherham Council reviewing case after rapist 'offered chance to see son'
Sammy Woodhouse's abuser Arshid Husain was jailed for 35 years
Rotherham Council are reviewing the case of a grooming survivor after claims the man who raped her was invited to apply to see their son.
Sammy Woodhouse says Arshid Husain, who fathered her son through rape, was approached by the council to offer him the chance to seek prison visits.
He was jailed for 35 years back in 2016.
Sammy now wants steps taken to make sure the same thing can't happen to anyone else:
"I've been able to prove that he is a direct danger to my son. This is happening all over the country, and it needs to stop.
"Children are being removed and being given to rapists, to murderers.''
She's calling for a change in the law with the support of Sheffield Heeley MP and Shadow Policing Minister Louise Haigh.
Louise says something must change:
"At first I could barely believe it. How on earth could anybody think it was appropriate to approach a convicted rapist and encourage them to access a child? But unfortunately it did happen to Sammy and it's happened to other women across the country.
"The fact that these are women that were abused and systematically groomed and exploited as children that have been failed over and over again by the system - failed by local authorities, by the police, by the CPS - and are now being failed yet again by the system in thoroughly intolerable."
A spokesperson for Rotherham Council said:
“Today’s further disclosures in relation to proceedings in the family court have understandably caused widespread concern and upset.
“As the public would expect, we have already begun to review the specifics of the case. As we have said previously we are not able to comment publicly on those specifics. However, we must be clear that at no stage has it been the intention of the council to put any child at risk, or to allow any convicted child sexual exploitation offender to have care of any child.
“Concluding the review will take time, and we are asking the Ministry of Justice to work with us on this to ensure that it is completed thoroughly and properly."
A Ministry of Justice statement said:
"This is obviously a very distressing incident and the relevant departments and local authority will work urgently to understand and address the failings in this case.
"Local authorities can apply to courts to request permission not to notify parents without parental responsibility about care proceedings, and courts should consider the potential harm to the child and mother when making this decision."