Telford grooming gang survivor reveals shock as rapist up for parole

Kate Elysia was just 18 years old when she moved out of her Shropshire home and into a large house in Telford that had been converted into a dozen flats back in 2007. 

One month after she moved in, on June 17, she was confronted by a man at her front door who forced his way into her home and raped her. 

“He put his foot in the doorway and forced his way in," she told The Times, recalling feeling "shocked" and "ashamed". 

The then student was talked into filing a report to police by a counsellor at her college a few days after the rape. However, when she went to make a report, she feared she would be putting herself at risk. 

“The police told me that if I reported it as rape they would have to arrest the man,” she said.

“If I said it was consensual they would not have to arrest him. So I had to say it was consensual because if they arrested him I was at risk.”

Later that evening, two other men forced their way into her flat and she was raped again.

Speaking on BBC Newsnight she said: "Mohammed Ali Sultan, he raped me two days after I'd been raped by his cousin. He brought his friend round and I was also raped by his friend.

"This was a calculated move because I had rejected a proposition from Ali Sultan earlier on."

Elysia also told how she was driven to different properties to take part in sex parties with men who had recently arrived from Pakistan. She spent four months inside the grooming gang before she won a place to study in Essex.

She reported the rapes to the police again in 2010 and due her testimony two men — Shahmeel Khan and Mohammed Ali Sultan were convicted. Sultan was given a six-year term with five years on licence and received three concurrent ten-year sentences.

Elysia estimates that she was raped by 70 men but only two were brought to justice.

However, the now 36-year-old was shocked to learn that her rapist was up for parole.

She said: "At first I was a bit taken aback and didn't really know what to do. I was tempted to not tell anyone and keep it a secret. I just want to not think about it.

"Then I realised I need to inform my family, for example, just in case something happens after his release. So I was scared for me and I was scared for my family."

Now, the survivor has slammed Elon Musk for reminding her of the traumatic abuse she went through after he took to his platform X (formerly Twitter) calling the safeguarding minister Jess Phillips a 'rape genocide apologist' as he sent dozens of posts about 'British Muslim grooming gangs' in January.

He has also called for far-right activist Stephen Yaxley-Lennon - aka Tommy Robinson - to be freed. 

Elysia hit out at the Tesla billionaire saying that his social media antics does not allow her to move on and 'have a normal life'. She admitted that she still thinks about it 'most nights'. 

'I have a little cry. I get upset remembering the things I used to think about myself. I feel really sad for the girl that I used to be, who was vulnerable and who went through that,' she said.

The victim has also stated that she doesn't believe the race of the perpetrators has anything to do with the attacks on her and that she is "fed up of being terrified of ever mentioning race for the very fact that racists jump on every word and turn it into something else.” 

She continued: “They ignore the complexity of sexual violence, reducing it to a political talking point. My abusers were Pakistani, but their ethnicity didn’t drive their crimes. 

"Power, control and a disregard for humanity did, which are ‘anti-values’ that are shared across all races.”