Hundreds of child sex attackers are roaming free in Oxford after avoiding justice, grooming gang survivors and former police claimed today.

Victims said the men, many of whom are older and of Pakistani heritage, are still seen walking around the city after abusing them as children and giving them drugs.

One woman alleged that the gang gave her cigarettes laced with heroin and alcohol before claiming she was in debt and must have sex with them to pay them back.

Another victim aged 12 was trafficked to other towns so men could pay the gang to sleep with her – and even claimed a police officer once asked her for oral sex.

A third said gang members would befriend her, pay for things and give her alcohol – before saying she could repay the debt by meeting men who would then rape her.

Now, the trio will speak in new Panorama documentary ‘Grooming Gangs: Why Were We Ignored?’ on BBC One tonight, as questions are asked of Thames Valley Police.

The programme will also hear from former senior detective Simon Morton, who led the initial grooming probe in Oxford and accepted the force did make mistakes.

First victim Sarah – not her real name – claimed she was sexually abused and given heroin from the age of 11, which led to her drug addiction for most of her life.

One victim called ‘Rachel’ (right) said the gang would befriend her, pay for things and give her alcohol – before saying she could repay the debt by meeting men who would then rape her

Another victim called ‘Chloe’ was trafficked aged 12 to other towns so men could pay the gang members to sleep with her – and even claimed a police officer once asked her for oral sex

Two decades after her ordeal began, she testified in court and three men were convicted of abusing her before being jailed for between five and 24 years in 2020.

But Sarah said they should ‘stay in there forever, because obviously they’ve taken my life’, and she still sees gang members in shops, petrol stations and restaurants.

Speaking about being given cigarettes laced with heroin, she added: ‘My addiction through my whole life now has resulted from them giving us those cigarettes.

‘They’re like, “well you know, you owe me this money now, so you’re going to have to do this”. They used to say ‘drink this, drink that’ to the point where I’m throwing up.

‘Having to be in them houses and feeling trapped. They used to just lock us in. Then before you know it, there’s one, two, six, seven people turning up.’

Second survivor Chloe, whose name has also been changed, decided not to go through a police investigation but still sees some of the abusers where she lives.

She said: ‘It’s difficult because this is where I live, it’s where I grew up. There is a few of them that I’ve seen a few times, even just in the supermarket, driving around.’

Speaking about the abuse, Chloe said: ‘They’d pick us up and there’d be like this random old man in the car and then we’d go to this flat, for example.’

Asked what then happened, she added: ‘Just the same as always – they’d rape us.’

Journalist Ellie Flynn (above) investigated the Oxford grooming gangs for the BBC’s Panorama

The third woman, Rachel – again, not her real name – said many of the men who abused her from the age of 12 are still free.

While she was a key witness in the first Oxford grooming gang trial in 2013, which saw seven men convicted, she said police did not believe her claims for years.

The trial revealed six girls were groomed, trafficked and raped over eight years, but subsequent prosecutions identified many more victims.

In 2015 it was estimated that more than 370 children were affected – and Rachel claimed police investigations have not gone far enough.

She also claimed a police officer once tried to take advantage of her, asking her to perform oral sex on him after she was put into the back of a police van.

Rachel said: ‘There was two male officers and one of them said, “Well, we know what you’re about”.’

Mr Morton said the number of people involved in the gangs was ‘crazy’ and ‘ridiculous’, adding that the police ‘should have done more – it’s tragic’.

He also said the abuse was still taking place in Oxford – and agreed with the women’s assessment that hundreds of abusers were still free in Oxford.

Mr Morton explained: ‘We got the core group, that doesn’t mean there isn’t more. I’d like them all convicted, but identification is super hard.

Former senior detective Simon Morton said that police ‘should have done more – it’s tragic’

‘The girls were quite often drugged… thrown in a room with a mattress on the floor, and there’d be a procession of men going in all night, all day.’

He added that while he believed what the women were telling him, it was ‘another thing trying to take it to court, trying to get a victim a year later to stand up in court, having gone through everything that they go through… to keep opening it up again and again’.

A spokesperson for Thames Valley Police told the BBC that the force works tirelessly to investigate offenders involved in the crimes and bring them to justice.

They added that it is ‘never too late to come forward’ and detectives will listen and do all they can to support victims, survivors and their families.

Oxford was one of a number of locations where male gangs were found to have sexually exploited and abused girls between the 1990s and 2010s.

Other locations included Rotherham, Rochdale and Telford. Oxford was one of the areas where most gang members were found to have been older men of Pakistani heritage.

A national grooming gangs inquiry into the group-based sexual exploitation of children in England and Wales began in April.

The investigation is examining whether ethnicity, culture or religion influenced offending and whether they shaped the institutional response.

It is looking into how gangs operated and the response to the abuse by institutions including the police, councils, health services, social care services and schools.

Panorama – Grooming Gangs: Why Were We Ignored? is on BBC One at 8pm tonight