New inquest to be held into death of girl injected with heroin

TRAGEDY BEGAN TO EXPOSE WIDESPREAD SEX ABUSE IN GREATER MANCHESTER

- NEAL KEELING

A NEW inquest is to be held into the tragic case of Victoria Agoglia after the High Court quashed the original verdict.

Victoria, who was living in a home under the responsibility of Manchester council, died aged 15 after she was injected with heroin by a man then aged 50.

She died in 2003 but prior to her death she had disclosed to social workers that she was being forcibly injected with drugs, and raped, but no effective action was taken to protect her. It was her death that began to expose the widespread child sexual abuse of girls in the Greater Manchester area.

It prompted Greater Manchester Police to launch an investigation - Operation Augusta - during which evidence came to light that Victoria had been subjected to sexual exploitation and abuse for several years prior to her death.

Augusta identified up to 97 suspected offenders and at least 57 children believed to be potential victims. But a review commissioned by Greater Manchester Mayor, Andy Burnham, in 2017  discovered it was discontinued in July 2005 due to resources.

At her inquest in 2007, coroner Simon Nelson concluded that the authorities could not have foreseen her death, but the review later commissioned by Mr Burnham in 2017 and published in 2020, found that social services 'failed to protect her!