The House of Commons is hosting a debate on Operation Augusta, a police and social services investigation into child sexual exploitation in South Manchester, which was launched in response to the death of a 15 year old girl, Victoria Agoglia.

The debate, which was raised by Graham Stringer MP, takes place today in the House of Commons from 9.30am – 11am.

Victoria had been in the care of Manchester City Council when she died in 2003, after being injected with heroin by a 50 year old man, in his home.

Police and social services were aware that Victoria was being targeted by sexual predators. Victoria had also told social workers and police that she was being injected with heroin.

After calls for a review into how the police and social services handled the case, a report into her death was published on January 14, 2020.

The damning report found that the coroner at her inquest had, “significantly” underplayed the coercive control Victoria had been subjected to in relation to the sexual exploitation she had suffered. It also confirmed that while authorities knew Victoria was being sexually exploited, the child protection procedures available were not implemented to protect her.

The report also noted that detectives working on Operation Augusta had “built up a compelling picture of the systematic exploitation of looked after children in the care system in the city of Manchester”.

The debate can now be read in the Hansard, which you can access here. 

Links:

• Parliament Page on today’s Operation Augusta Debate (very good summary and resources)
• Politics Home: Graham Stringer MP – The failure of Operation Augusta gives us reason to doubt improvements on child protection
• January 2020 Report Into Victoria’s Death
• Manchester Evening News: Coroner ‘significantly underplayed’ child sexual exploitation in Victoria Agoglia’s death – report says