Penny was just 12 when she was groomed by several men of Pakistani heritage.

She told the BBC how the men initially won over her affection by showering her with expensive gifts. But within weeks, she said they turned violent and abusive.

"I was covered in very deep cigarette burns, which actually burned through my skin into my flesh. By the time I was 13 and a half, I weighed six stone. I was abused every day," Penny, which is not her real name, said.

"They were selling me and other girls for sex to men who were coming from all over the country, to different houses, different places and to different strangers. You would be given drugs and alcohol so you were so out of your head you didn't know what day it was."

Even though some of her perpetrators were convicted of rape and trafficking, Penny said "hundreds of men" who abused her remain free to do what they want.

"There are lots and lots of men who were involved with us who have never been brought to justice. I imagine that if they had those sexual tendencies then, they'll still have those tendencies now and they'll find a way to fulfil those tendencies," she said.

Her story comes as the terms of reference for the statutory independent inquiry into grooming gangs are published.

They set out the scope of the investigation into the scale of abuse of young girls who were sexually exploited by groups of mostly men in England and Wales. They include:

The inquiry will look at cases spanning the last 30 years to aim to understand patterns of abuse.

It vows to "not shy away" from investigating any factor that led to the abuse and exploitation of victims - including culture, ethnicity and religion. It promises to hold people to account, if necessary.

It will also conduct local investigations - Oldham has been confirmed as among the first areas. A framework for selecting further areas will be published within three months.

Baroness Longfield, chair of the Statutory Independent Inquiry into Grooming Gangs, said: "Children across England and Wales were and are sexually abused and exploited. When they asked for help, they were too often disbelieved, dismissed, or blamed. That is the reality this inquiry exists to address.

"Victims and survivors have every right to ask whether this inquiry will be any different from those that came before. My answer is this: where we can, we will publish our findings as we go, not in a single report years from now. There will be no opportunity for institutions to quietly manage what we find.

"We will follow the evidence wherever it leads. We will not flinch from uncomfortable truths."

The inquiry will formally begin after the terms of reference are laid before Parliament on 13 April. It will have a £65m budget.

The aim is to finish the investigation by March 2029 but there will be regular updates throughout the process.

But like many survivors the BBC has spoken to, Penny is sceptical and worries there will be no accountability for those who didn't protect children like her.

"I want there to be accountability for the failings that led to this mass grooming and exploitation of children up and down the country," she said. "They were systematically allowing this to happen for reasons that haven't ever really been properly explored."

She also wants the inquiry to reveal what she believes to be the truth - that sexual grooming is rife and has been for a long time.

"I think we need to understand that these things are very real and they are happening, and that this inquiry needs to do absolutely everything it can to make sure that it doesn't go on, it cannot go on."

Home Secretary Shabana Mahmood said: "The grooming gangs' scandal is one of the darkest moments in our country's history – where the most vulnerable people were abused and exploited at the hands of evil child rapists.

"The independent national inquiry will now begin its crucial work to uncover how these crimes were allowed to happen and root out failure wherever it occurred.

"The chair and I have agreed that the inquiry will be laser-focused on grooming gangs and will explicitly examine the role of ethnicity, religion and culture of the offenders and in the response of institutions.

"There will be no hiding place for the predatory monsters who committed these vile crimes."

The inquiry was established in response to recommendations made by Baroness Casey in her national audit on group-based child sexual exploitation and abuse published in June 2025.

It will have full powers to compel witnesses within jurisdiction to give evidence and require organisations to hand over documents.

In October last year the inquiry was derailed when two leading candidates to become the new chair pulled out of the process.

It came shortly after four members quit the inquiry's survivors panel and called for Safeguarding Minister Jess Phillips to resign, accusing her of "betrayal" for denying claims the investigation might be broadened.

Another five abuse survivors on the panel wrote to the prime minister to say they will only continue to work with the inquiry if Philipps kept her job.

Sir Keir Starmer backed Philipps, and a new chair, Baroness Longfield, was appointed to lead the inquiry in December.

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