Rotherham child sex abuse: my shame has gone. Now I'm angry for the thousands of us who've been abused

The Rotherham scandal has exposed shocking flaws in the protection of children

It was an overcast October day during the half-term school holiday and I was 11 years old. I found myself sitting alone, on a plastic chair, in the empty bedroom of a terraced house. Behind me was a large, one-way mirror, in front of me a video camera on a stand. There was a small box of broken toys in the corner.

I'd been taken there in the back of a police car and told to wait until the officers were "ready for me". I wasn't sure if I was being filmed or watched secretly. I wasn't sure of anything, except that I was scared stiff. So I tried to avert my eyes from the blinking red light on the camera and sat frozen and silent, staring intently at the book in my hands. I didn't read a single word.

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