A woman who was trafficked into prostitution by another teenager at her care home when she was just 13 has revealed how everyone around her - from police to staff to teachers and social workers - shockingly turned a blind eye.

Zoe Patterson's book Trafficked Girl is published today and details how she was sexually abused and raped by older Asian men while living at a Midlands care home, often being forced to have sex with multiple men on a nightly basis.

When she first admitted to a social worker what was happening, she was laughed at and the only real response from staff at the unit was to put her on contraceptives.

Now, Zoe says that society still finds it easier to blame vulnerable young girls rather than working to bring abusers to justice, as well as revealing her fears that young girls are still at risk in the care system despite high profile grooming scandals in Rochdale, Rotherham and Telford.

Speaking exclusively to Femail, Zoe, 30 who still lives in the Midlands said: 'I do have concerns that abuse like the kind I suffered is still taking place.

'The area where I was abused has reduced the size of its children's homes and closed down the larger homes, but this won't do anything towards changing the attitudes of some of the staff that run them and fail to protect the residents.

'I do think that society finds it easier to blame the victims than to delve into the horror of what's really going on in situations of abuse

'If society can turn its back on one person or group, it could turn its back on you too. So people think it's better not rock the boat and risk being thrown overboard.

'It seems that it is easier to point fingers and blame the vulnerable than admit that actually we are all vulnerable and would stand a much better chance of eradicating abuses like these if we could only see each other as equal and connect with each other and care for each other.'

Zoe Patterson, 30, who lives in The Midlands was trafficked and raped from the age of 13 after another teenager sold her to older Asian men (stock image)

SOLD BY A 15-YEAR-OLD GIRL

Zoe was placed in residential care home, which she has given the pseudonym Denver House, at the age of 13 after being removed from her violent, alcoholic parents. She was already drinking heavily and self-harming.

One evening, a girl called Abbie, 15, took her to a 'party' with three older Asian men, at least twice their age where she was raped by a man called Yasir and a second man.

She admitted to a social worker what had happened, but was laughed at and the only real response from staff at the unit was to put her on contraceptives.

Afraid of retribution from Abbie, she continued to attend 'parties', feeling as if she had no choice.

'I cannot imagine what Abbie's motives were when she sold me, apart from the obvious one of earning money,' Zoe said.

How did social workers react to Zoe's rape? By the time my social worker, Valerie, came to the unit later that day, I was so upset I’d decided to risk Abbie’s retribution and tell her what had really happened. I was crying and could feel my cheeks burning with humiliation as I described what the two men had done to me. But I felt a sense of relief too, knowing that whatever happened next was now the responsibility of an adult who would know what to do because it was her job to look after children like me. ‘I told Abbie I wouldn’t say anything,’ I said, suddenly afraid again of the ‘really serious consequences’ she’d threatened if I breathed a word to anyone. I’d been staring at my feet while I spoke, and when Valerie didn’t say anything for a few seconds, I looked up at her and saw, to my amazement, that she was smiling. ‘Well, Zoe,’ she said at last, ‘you’re never going to be satisfi ed now with what most girls your age would think was a normal relationship. No heavy petting for you from now on. You’re only going to be happy with full sex.’ Then she laughed. For a moment, I couldn’t make any sense of what she was saying. I remember thinking, ‘She can’t have listened to a word of what I’ve just told her. She wouldn’t have said something like that if she had.’ I think I was expecting her to say that what had happened to me was wrong, that I had been raped and she was going to have to report it to the police, because it’s a crime to rape someone, and a crime to have sex with a 13-year-old child under any circumstances. It certainly never crossed my mind that she’d laugh and make a joke of it, even if I hadn’t been so obviously distressed. So hadn’t she been listening? Had she listened but misunderstood? Or was I over-reacting to something that wasn’t actually a big deal because it didn’t matter what happened to kids like me? The next day, Valerie Hampton took me to a family planning clinic, where I was given a morning-after pill, a bag of condoms and a prescription for a contraceptive. Everything that happened as a direct result of my plea for help after having been raped seemed baffling and surreal. Why was I given contraceptives, for example? I was 13 years old. I hadn’t wanted to have sex and I didn’t intend to have it again – ever. But the assumption seemed to be that from now on sexual activity would be part of my new life, like cleaning my teeth with a toothbrush. That was just the way it was going to be. So the sole responsibility of the people whose care I had been placed in was to provide me with the means of not becoming pregnant. Now the question that kept going through my head was, had Mum been right all along and I deserved everything bad that happened to me? The answer seemed to be ‘Yes’. Advertisement

'I don't know if she acted out of fear or if she even considered any of the consequences of her actions. At the time, she certainly didn't give the impression that she was scared or that she had given any thought to what her actions would mean for me.

'I will never forget the way she smirked and laughed when she walked in and witnessed me being raped that first time. As you might imagine, I have had to deal with a lot of anger concerning Abbie.

'I believe that an action is its own reward or punishment. I came to this conclusion after many hours of soul searching, trying to make peace with what has happened to me and wondering about the word justice.

'Abbie chose to sell me. That action in my opinion is her punishment, whether she knows it or not. Whether she cares or not, I believe that her actions, however misguided or ignorant, have damaged a part of her soul and that that is something that cannot be undone, just as I cannot take away the fact that I was raped.

NOBODY TO TURN TO

Despite staff at the care home, teachers, social workers and even police officers knowing what was going on, nobody did anything to intervene.

Soon Abbie was arranging almost daily meetings for Zoe with men she called her friends or with taxi drivers.

'I didn’t want to have sex with any of the men and I never once went willingly to any of the places they took us.

'I did it because I was scared – of Abbie and of the men themselves – and because, having realised that the people who were supposed to be caring for me didn’t actually care about me at all, I didn’t have anyone else to turn to.

'People in positions of authority could make the effort to educate themselves about abuse, the victims and the perpetrators and then pass this knowledge on to others and use it to prevent and put a stop to abuse.

I know that my story is going to be used on a number of training workshops aimed at professionals who work with vulnerable children.

I hope that my story and others like it that are shared with the public will educate people enough so that if they suspect abuse, they will do something about it.

THE CYCLE CONTINUED

Abbie left the care home but then another girl, Natalie, forced Zoe to meet her 'friend' Pete, who would force Zoe to have sex with his friends.

It was only some time later that she realised Natalie and Pete were receiving money and she was being trafficked.

'Most of the time, life at Denver House followed what had become a normal pattern for me. I would get a phone call from Pete, or from one of his friends, telling me where and when I would be picked up, sometimes with Natalie, sometimes not.

'Then I’d be driven to a gloomy house somewhere, where I’d be given alcohol, cannabis and occasionally amphetamines. It was the drink I always looked forward to, because it helped to empty my mind before I was taken upstairs by the first of the men who were going to have sex with me that night.'

SUICIDE ATTEMPTS

In desperation Zoe eventually went home to her parents' house where her mother hit her and sent her to school with vodka and she lived in fear of being sexually abused by her father.

After an incident where she brought a knife to school and threatened to kill herself, she was sent to a foster home but continued to struggle with alcohol and self-harming.

A stint in another residential home followed before she was moved to her own flat and attempted suicide.

HEALING

'Even during the worst times, I’ve always had an idea at the back of my mind of, ‘This can’t be it. It can’t just finish like this,’ Zoe said.

Trafficked Girl by Zoe Patterson with ghostwriter Jane Smith is published today

Taking advice from the self-help book You Can Heal Your Life by Louise Hay, Zoe worked to take responsibility for her life.

At 19 she got a job in a warehouse as started pursuing her passion for boxing and fitness.

It took many years to conquer her dependence on alcohol, which she went back to many times during a tumultuous relationship with her ex-partner Jess.

However, she has since reached an out of court settlement with Denver House and is preparing to train as a boxing coach.

'I believe in love. I believe that this love exists within our spirit and connects us to the world around us, and with it we can overcome anything and make better choices for ourselves, even when we are afraid and alone,' Zoe said.

'I believe this love and spirit exist within everyone and although they cannot be changed or removed, they can be buried and ignored. It's not easy to feel love after experiencing pain. I am so very grateful that I am able to love.

In view of my beliefs, I now feel sorry for Abbie. I know that Abbie and the men who paid her to rape me succeeded in what they set out to do.

Zoe was taken into care to escape her abusive parents who were both alcoholics (stock image)

'Their actions have hurt me and have exposed me to a side of life that I would never have chosen to see. However, their actions did not change me for the worse. They did not damage my soul or dampen my spirit. I am unchanged in that sense.

'Their actions have nothing to do with me, but everything to do with them, even though they have caused me great pain and suffering. Their actions show them for the cowards they are.

'As a survivor, my actions show me for the person I am and the courage I have, and there cannot be courage without fear. It is only our choices that define and separate us.

Trafficked Girl: Abused. Abandoned. Exploited. This Is My Story of Fighting Back by Zoe Patterson and Jane Smith,