Lara’s story
Names and other details have been changed to protect victims’ identities.
WARNING: Contains content some readers will find disturbing.
At the vulnerable age of 12, Lara McDonnell was picked out by a gang of men who befriended her, showered her with attention and gained her trust. Manipulated and groomed, her life quickly spiralled out of control as the men trafficked her around the country.
Words by Margarette Driscoll and Lara McDonnell from The Sunday Times 26/4/15.
You can find out more about what happened to Lara in her book ‘Girl for sale’. http://www.amazon.co.uk/Girl-Sale-shocking-trafficked-Oxfords/dp/0091957818
“Lara McDonnell has often asker herself why she obeyed when she was ordered to have sex with two men that first time” MD
“Mo never asked for anything, but was always ready with a drink and a cigerette” MD
“he was always asking questions. I thought it was because he cared but now I realise he was checking there were no other men in my life, no father, no brother, no one who would get in his way” L
“He gave her a little dope to smoke and then a ‘weak’ line of cocaine” MD
“one day everything changed. He persuaded her to try crack… she recalls “the feeling was instant: all my cares seemed to evaporate”. When the hit wore off she craved another. She returned to the flat the next day but Mo’s attitude was markedly different. He told her she owed him £100 for drugs” MD
“that was an impossible amount of money for a 13 year old. If she couldn’t pay he told her, she’d have to repay him by having sex with some men. ‘do as I say, bitch, or you’ll get a smack’ he said, making her dress in sexy underwear. Two men were already waiting. Mo took pictures to send to more customers” MD
Lara “would receive texts saying ‘B here in 10. Friends here’if she didn’t obey, her mother and dog would be killed, she was told” MD
“the abuse wasn’t confined to Oxford. Sometimes she was ordered onto the train to London where she would wait … to be picked up by one or more men” MD
“She endured ‘torture sex’ in which she was bound and gagged to stifle her cries. When she tried to resist she was knocked out with a metal baseball bat” MD
“she was beaten, throttled and raped, again and again” MD
“one girl, who was only 11 and small for her age when they approached her, was branded with the letter ‘M’ for Mohammed Karrar, one of the ringleaders” MD
“she was eventually taken to a shabby hotel and raped so violently … that another guest alarmed by the screaming, as she was beaten, called the police. Officers arrived at the hotel but went to the wrong room. Hours later Lara ran into the street in a towel, barefoot, bleeding and crying” MD
“after another vicious attack, when Lara was given heroin and almost died [her mum] suggested they sell up and leave” MD
“the authorities ignored warnings and believed that… the girls were making a ‘lifestyle choice’ in taking drugs or having affairs with older men” MD
“people seemed shocked that this happened in Oxford, but why not in Oxford… whether you want to believe it or not, it’s happening everywhere” L
This is a true story of the horrific abuse suffered by one girl and the hands of her abusers in Oxford.
The men responsible for her abuse have been convicted and sentenced.
Words by Margarette Driscoll and Lara McDonnell from The Sunday Times 26/4/15.
You can find out more about what happened to Lara in her book ‘Girl for sale’. http://www.amazon.co.uk/Girl-Sale-shocking-trafficked-Oxfords/dp/0091957818
