'I never knew at all' - Devastated father says daughter was grooming victim
A heartbroken father is appealing for new information about the death of his daughter.
Vernon Round said he wanted to know more about how Vicky had ended up in a flat in Brookside, Telford, where she died aged 20.
It was only when it was later revealed Vicky had been groomed that Mr Round found out the truth about his daughter’s short but chaotic life.
He had known about her problems with alcohol and drugs, but had no idea that groomers were using those substances to control her from the age of 11.
Now he’s trying to find out the circumstances that led to her death. Ms Round was one of three women whose deaths were linked to grooming in a national report.
“Until I saw that, I didn’t know Vicky had been groomed,” Mr Round said.
“I could not understand why she was getting in trouble. She was a really happy child. Now I know it’s because she was groomed, and she was trying to escape.
“I never knew at all. She never said a word. She started drifting away when she was a teenager – I just put it down to her wanting her own friends.”
When Vicky was old enough, she was moved around the country – but she would always come back. She’d drink for about two or three days, get into trouble and the police or social services would take her back to wherever she was living,” Mr Round said.
“But they were putting her in areas with lots of drink and drugs, so it was pointless.”
Aspiring model Vicky had been featured on an advertisement in Devon town centre. But within weeks of returning to Telford she fell back into her old ways.
“We took her on holiday with the family in those six weeks,” Vernon said. “That was the last time I saw her. Two weeks later she was dead.
“There was enough methadone in her body to kill her three times. I don’t think she was meant to die – but that’s what happened.”
Mr Round said Vicky had been with three white men in their 40s.
He asked that if anybody has extra information about the last days of her life, to get in touch with police on 101.
Last month Mr Round spoke out against far right groups using Vicky’s images on their marches.
He also spoke of his anger that her case was being used by groups wanting to highlight an issue surrounding the attitude of Muslim men towards women.
He said Vicky was abused by men of all races and backgrounds who kept her compliant through threats of violence.
He said: “It’s not just Pakistani men – it’s Chinese men, English men or Polish men. It’s sickening. This is massive. This is going on in our town. It’s got a dark shadow over it.”
Seven men were jailed in 2013 following Operation Chalice, a police inquiry into child prostitution in the Telford area in which vulnerable teenage girls were targeted. But there are claims of hundreds more victims going back over three decades.
The Truth Project is coming to Telford as part of the national Jay Inquiry into CSE.
Telford & Wrekin Council is also commissioning its own inquiry.
