Child sex abuse trial: Council "paid rape victim to lead training course in 2010"

The woman, now 27, is the central complainant in a trial at Sheffield Crown Court where eight men are accused of sexually abusing her in 2003 when she was 13.

The woman reported to police in 2003 that she had been raped by Sageer Hussain and sexually assaulted by Naeem Rafiq and Masoued Malik — but later withdrew the charges due to “threats being made”.

No charges were ever brought at the time and the case was dropped.

The court has heard the family moved abroad for a while to get the teenager away from the group of men who were exploiting her.

The court has heard that in 2010 the woman published a book about her experiences of grooming and abuse, but did not name alleged attackers.

Mr Peter Hampton, prosecuting, revealed today that the woman had told police that in 2010 she was paid by the borough council to give child sexual exploitation (CSE) training.

He said: “She was paid £150 for this on three or four occasions.”

The Jay Report was published in 2014 and exposed the scale of abuse and grooming in Rotherham - two years after The Times reported that gangs of men were sexually assaulting girls in the town, including the alleged victim whose allegations have now come to court 13 years after the alleged abuse.