A woman has detailed her experience after she put her trust into the hands of police after a sex attack, but was handed to predators who inflicted more abuse at the age of just 12.
The young girl was sent away by a desk clerk who told her to accept a lift home with two men who were at the police station over motoring issues.
It was just the beginning for the young girl, who suffered more than 20 assaults by eight men in one night, including 15 rapes.
Now 27, the woman continues to fight for answers, writes the Sunday Mirror.
Just one attacker was caught but 15 years on, and the victim has not received justice, after the Independent Office for Police Conduct found a string of failings, yet failed to launch disciplinary action against any officers.
The case is now part of an independent probe into child sexual exploitation - but only after the victim insisted that it be included.
The victim said the incident 'derailed' her life and that she has PTSD as a result of the trauma
Talking to the Sunday Mirror, the victim said: 'It's derailed my life. It's always there, even when I try to move on.
'No child should have to go through what I did. I'm speaking out to protect others. The trauma never goes away. I've still got PTSD. I don't want this to happen to anyone else.'
The incident happened on October 27, 2006, when she attended Oldham Police Station in Manchester to report being molested.
A man had sexually assaulted her while she drank cider in a churchyard.
But, she said the clerk dismissed her as a timewaster, and urged her to leave with two men who offered her a lift.
'The clerk said, 'They've offered you a lift, go with them'. The men were being asked to produce licences for driving offences.
'I don't know how they haven't been identified. There must have been logs.'
She says the men then took her to a car and sexually assaulted her.
The incident happened on October 27, 2006, when she attended Oldham Police Station in Manchester (pictured) to report being molested.
She was then driven to the home of a man in his 40s who she says also sexually assaulted her before giving her money to get a bus home.
She was picked up on the next street by Shakil Chowdhury, now 54, who was posing as a taxi driver and promised to help her.
But he and another man in the passenger seat drove to Chowdhury's house, where three more men appeared.
She says she was raped 15 times by the five men, before being bundled into a car and abandoned the next month.
The girl's parents were at home when she returned, having called police the previous evening.
But, officers took four hours to respond.
She was then examined, and her injuries were deemed consistent with being raped, and underwent days of video interviews with police.
She also told police about the attack in the churchyard, but it was not treated as a crime. A senior detective later said this was 'entirely proportionate.'
Shakil Chowdhury (pictured) was jailed for six years after admitting to six rapes
She also gave an account of the abuse she suffered at the hands of the men who picked her up at the police station, but a log was never generated.
The officer responsible claimed this was an 'oversight'. His supervisors later concluded a report should have been made, but said this was a 'minor criticism.'
The attacker whose house she left before being picked up by Chowdhury was arrested and charged with abusing her. But, he absconded while on bail and has never been found.
Chowdhury was also arrested but refused to name any accomplices.
He was jailed for six years after admitting to six rapes, and the case was closed while his accomplices were outstanding.
The victim contacted police again in 2012 to find out if any progress had been made on tracking down eight of her abusers, applying to see records on her case.
Officers then launched a fresh investigation, codenamed Operation Solent.
Greater Manchester Police were unable to produce records to show if condoms and tissues found at the scene were examined, or provide details of a 'forensic strategy.'
Additionally, it was revealed that 22 pieces of evidence were returned to Chowdhury via his solicitor just 10 months after his conviction.
Greater Manchester Police were unable to produce records to show if condoms and tissues found at the scene were examined, or provide details of a 'forensic strategy'
A report into the decision to return evidence to the perpetrator also revealed that 24 items of evidence had been destroyed in 2008.
'The decision to release certain items of property seems to exclude the possibility
