Alice, not her real name, was dragged into an alleyway in Moss Side, stripped and raped at gunpoint by a young gangster and aspiring boxer, Emmanuel Richards, in the mid 1990s. She was 13, in care and a virgin. He was still 15 but, physically, a brute, nicknamed 'Tank'.
It's only now, decades after Richards violently snatched away her childhood, that she finally feels liberated, free to open up about her pain thanks to the courage of a woman she has never met, another of Richards' victims, who would come forward years later.
For Alice the trauma continues and still informs her life. And the attack on her was part of a 'culture of sexual violence that has been going on for a very long time' in parts of south Manchester's criminal underworld, she says. Very few women ever came forward to make formal complaints but it's a picture police tasked with tackling south Manchester's notorious gangs recognise.
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Richards denied raping Alice, forcing his terrified young victim to give evidence at Manchester Crown Court. The jury believed her and he was jailed for seven years.
It was justice, but for years it never felt that way for Alice, who had to endure accusations that she had lied about the attack, falsehoods she believes were put about by people close to Richards. Her life was in tatters.
She was placed with a foster family out of the area although she would return to Manchester. Today she is a mother in her 40s.
It's only now, almost 30 years after he was jailed for raping her, she feels vindicated - because of the bravery of another young woman who was also raped by Richards years later. Alice's story isn't unique - some gang members in Moss Side in the 90s and beyond considered sexual violence normal, an entitlement even.
Describing her rape matter-of-factly, Alice said Richards had terrorised other family members and had only just been released from a short custodial sentence when he attacked her. She told the M.E.N: "He was shouting at me on Claremont Road. Then he came towards me and I felt something in my back. He said 'shut your f***ing mouth' and put his hands over my mouth and he dragged me over the road.
"It was broad daylight. He dragged my into an alleyway, over a brick wall and into a garden. He actually raped me in a shed in the garden. He had me on my hands and knees and told me to give him oral sex.
"When I refused, that's when I got the gun across my mouth. That's when he dragged me into the shed. I was crying and screaming and begging him to stop. He had a bag over my head.
"He ripped my tights off me. It was sheer hell. He was smirking the whole time. It was funny to him. There was no remorse to what he was doing.
"Someone must have called the police. I heard shouting and 'get off her'. It went through my head that there were more of them. I didn't know. I had a bag over my head. I heard multiple voices. They took the bag off and they said 'its OK, it's the police'."
Alice was taken to Saint Mary's Hospital in a police patrol car. She recalls a wheelchair waiting for her at the entrance. She was examined and later found she had been given a sexually transmitted disease.
Richards, she said, was on the fringes of Moss Side's Gooch gang and looked up to an older gang member, Pierre Williams, who also had a taste for sexual violence.
In 2010, Williams was jailed for a minimum 38 years for the sexually-motivated slaughter of a Fallowfield family. He raped and murdered nurse Beverley Samuels, 36, and her daughter Kesha Wizzart, 18, who appeared on the hit TV show Young Stars in Their Eyes. He used a steel-headed hammer to bludgeon the women, and Beverley's 13-year-old son, Fred Wizzart, to death at their home.
In the wake of that shocking case, other women came forward to claim Williams raped them in the 1980s and early 1990s, although no charges were ever brought. His trial heard he was accused of carrying out two vicious rapes of a woman in 2003.
Although the terrified 2003 victim pulled out of a crown court case against Williams, she became a key witness for the prosecution over the Fallowfield triple murder, telling the jury she was bound and raped in an almost identical way to tragic Beverley Samuels.
In 2011, Richards was jailed for 12 months for violent disorder for his part in a running battle with rivals in Moss Side. Pierre Williams was someone Emmanuel Richards looked up to in south Manchester's gang scene in the years before that, according to Alice.
That scene, according to Alice, was blighted by a culture of rape and sexual violence in the 1990s, but the young, vulnerable victims were often too scared to report it.
She said: "A lot of women were raped by gang members. Pierre Williams and others. There were a lot of empty houses in Moss Side and they used to take girls there for sexual activity.
"Manchester needs to take a really close look at how many women were raped in the 1990s. It's had a real ripple effect and continues today. It's a trauma that doesn't leave you.
"It's a culture of sexual violence that has been going on for a very long time. I know women and young girls that have been raped by so-called gang members around Moss Side in the 90s. It's probably gone on for longer than that. One of my friends was gang raped. They never ended up in court. She was too scared."
Alice admits she felt a mixture of guilt and relief when she read in the M.E.N. in January that Emmanuel Richards, now 42, had been jailed for 15 years after being convicted by a jury of three counts of rape, two counts of assault, and coercive and controlling behaviour against another victim.
Richards strangled her until she passed out, and raped her on several occasions. He threw a phone at her and then punched her in her jaw, causing her permanent disfigurement to her face, and even pinned a sign on her front door saying she had chlamydia, Minshull Street Crown Court heard.
On another occasion, he chased her round a flat with a machete and on another he boiled a kettle of water and threatened to pour it over her. The court was told his victim was living in 'constant fear' and still has nightmares about the abuse.
Richards has numerous convictions for violence and sexual assault, the court was told. Greater Manchester Police has also confirmed he was jailed for seven years after he was convicted of rape in the mid 1990s. Alice says she was his victim, and she wants people to read and understand her story.
Following Richards' jailing last month, shocking pictures were released which showed the injuries the woman suffered.
Alice said: "I'm so happy that that young woman was brave enough to come forward. Not only has she set herself free but she's set me free. It's taken me decades. I don't think time heals you but we need to put things to rest. This kind of thing was covered up. I feel like I have been in a prison all my life. Now I'm free and I can't believe it.
"Back then nobody talked about it. It wasn't in the papers. It was shoved under the carpet. In my brain I was thinking 'was what happened to me real?' The community never believed me even though he was convicted.
"It was like a square of silence. Everybody sees what's happening but nobody is speaking. It becomes normal, young girls going out and getting raped. Girls were going out wearing four pairs of underwear so it was harder for someone to pull them off them. It became the norm.
"It was definitely a culture back then and the community has been blind to what's been going on right in front of them for many, many years. It's had a ripple effect and the trauma has affected generations and generations of people.
"I'm going to go away now and give myself a second chance. I don't think we do that enough. We don't have to wait until new year. We can give ourselves a second chance. People can see now that what happened to me and others was real."
In shockingly frank interview with the MEN in 2019, the ex-girlfriend of another jailed gangster, Tommy Pitt, described how girls who fall into the clutches of gangs can be subject to sexual abuse - forced to have sex with various members - and made to take drugs like heroin.
Far from being 'molls' enjoying a glamorous lifestyle, they were frequently naive young girls from troubled backgrounds, just as she was, said the the woman, whose evidence helped to jail Pitt, the feared leader of the notorious Longsight gang the Pitt Bull Crew, for life in 2002.
"Girls who are with gang leaders or members find it hard to ask for help", she said at the time. "They are not always able to reach out due to the fear of being beaten or mentally and physically abused by their partner.
"They need more support. Most gang members make their partners become a recluse. Gradually they become more vulnerable. There needs to be more support for girls to be able to speak out and receive the right aftercare.
"I wouldn't know who I could reach out to. They need to see a therapist or psychologist because most girls endure terrible things. They see a lot of crimes and this can impact their mental health. I wouldn't know where to turn to now if I was in the same situation I was in 20 years ago."
The picture of vulnerable women being abused and sexually exploited by gang members is one police recognise.
One retired police officer, who was a key member of GMP's Xcalibre gang-busting initiative based at Greenheys police station in Moss Side, told the M.E.N: "I certainly wouldn't argue with a word of that (the claim it was a culture of sexual violence). But I'd say it's more about power than sex. That's often the case with serial sexual abusers."
The experienced former officer, who did not want to be named, said: "It was hard to find it because in those days, for understandable reasons, people didn't want to come to the police. There were individuals who reported rape but what you tend to find is those reports only really scratch the surface of what's actually going on.
"The vast majority of women would not make a formal complaint either through fear or threats being made or a mistrust of the judicial system. Gang members were befriending vulnerable women who would believe they were the girlfriend. They would hide a gun in their loft out of the way. They wanted the keys to the house. They were definitely being exploited and that included sexual abuse."
Bev Hughes, Greater Manchester’s Deputy Mayor for Policing, Crime, Criminal Justice and Fire, said: "In Greater Manchester, victims of historic rape and sexual assault offences will receive full support if they make the decision to come forward and make a report. Support is also available for victims who choose not to make a report to police. We have a range of local support services and I advise victims to please visit gmvictims.org.uk or call 0161 200 1950 .
"Last year we launched Greater Manchester’s Gender Based Violence Strategy – a 10-year plan that confronts the issue head on. As part of this, we are working with victims to provide insight on what can be done to prevent gender based violence, and we have also established a multi-agency Gender Based Violence board made up of survivors with lived experience to ensure our communities are heard."
Detective Superintendent Jamie Daniels, of GMP, said: "We are aware that there may be victims of non-recent rape and sexual assault in Greater Manchester who may be worried about coming forward to make a report and I'd like to reassure victims that you will be listened to and we can give you help and support. There are also a number of fantastic local services available to anyone who may not want to speak to the police. We understand that it can be daunting to come forward but please don’t suffer in silence.
"GMP have had many successes in prosecuting offenders in relation to rape and sexual assaults which occurred many years ago and we are keen to make sure that anyone who commits these offences faces justice. Rape and sexual assault can have a life-long impact on victims and we continue to work closely with the CPS and other partner agencies to continuously improve on the criminal justice journey for victims."
To make a report to GMP you can call 101, or log a report online here. There are other bodies who also offer help, below.
Saint Mary's Sexual Assault Referral Centre, Manchester, provides services to men, women and children who live or have been sexually assaulted within Greater Manchester. They offer forensic medical examinations, practical and emotional support as well as a counselling service for all ages. Services are available on a 24-hour basis and can be accessed by calling 0161 276 6515.
Greater Manchester Rape Crisis is a confidential information, support and counselling charity run by women for women over 18 who have been raped or sexually abused at any time in their lives. Call on 0161 273 4500 or email help@manchesterrapecrisis.co.uk.
Survivors Manchester provides specialist trauma support to boys and men in Greater Manchester who have experienced sexual abuse, rape or sexual exploitation. Call 0161 236 2182.
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