UK Prosecutor: Girls, 14/15 can give "full and free consent"
Posted: Wed Sep 03, 2025 2:54 pm
https://www.bbc.com/news/articles/cewy9lgp0vwo
Ms Richardson said: "Some of these girls were expected and encouraged to engage in sexual activities, not because they wanted so to do, or through their own free and unencumbered will, but because they were beholden and, in some cases, in thrall to these men."
One of the girls, who was 14 or 15 at the time, became addicted to cocaine and was "passed around" by some of the men while under the influence and "totally incapable of giving consent", Ms Richardson said.
The girl was "under the control" of members of the group and "was manipulated into a position where she simply acquiesced, rather than gave her full and free consent" to sexual acts, the prosecutor said.