Outrage as grooming gang rapist who abused girl, 14, released from prison early
A grooming gang survivor has spoken out as her abusers are set to be released early from prison, having served just 50% of their sentences. Fiona Goddard was 14 and living in a children's home in Bradford when she started getting abused in the late 2000s.
She took to social media to react to the news that Mohammed Usman, one of her abusers, is to be released from prison on August 24 as he was sentenced before new rules were introduced. Ms Goddard said she "cannot pretend" that Usman has faced justice after serving 50% of his 15-year sentence, adding that five more of her abusers will also be released over the next 12 months.
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This morning, I received a phone call from my Victim Liaison Officer confirming that my abusers are still going to be released after serving just 50% of their sentences.
Mohammed Usman is due to be released on 24 August, just next week, 7.5 years before the end of his 15-year… pic.twitter.com/meEQprgHDH
She wrote on X: "There is nothing I can do now to prevent those releases. And I have had to accept that, however difficult that is. But this isn't where the fight ends.
"We are already working on a campaign to make sure that when these offenders are released, any breach of their licence conditions is taken seriously and met with the full force of the law.
"Violent sexual offenders should never walk out of prison believing they have simply "got away with it." Victims should never be left feeling that a 15 year sentence, or more, actually means serving only half of it.
"I have spent years fighting for justice, not just for myself, but for thousands of victims whose lives were permanently changed by these men and other abusers like them.
"I am grateful that the rules have moved away from the possibility of release after 33% and that many are serving longer behind bars, but 50% still leaves a very bitter pill to swallow. This cannot continue. Justice has to be about victims and public safety, nothing else."
Ms Goddard resigned from the grooming gangs inquiry in October 2025 over concerns that two of the shortlisted chairs had backgrounds in policing and social services.
However, she told the BBC it was "a weight off my shoulders" after it was announced that Bradford and Keighley would be one of the first areas subject to investigation, alongside London and Oldham.
The Statutory Independent Inquiry into Grooming Gangs, chaired by Baroness Anne Longfield, will make individuals and institutions explain what they "did or did not do to protect children from being sexually abused".
Ms Goddard told the outlet: "We need accountability. It's one thing prosecuting the perpetrators of these crimes - that should have been a given - but the people that chose to go into safeguarding roles that made these decisions, that weren't just turning a blind eye to the child abuse, it aided and facilitated it.
"The decisions that were made directly contributed to further abuse. We need to know the why and who and how."
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