Fiona's Story

by Irene Ivison

Found dead in a parking lot in Doncaster, Fiona, the author's daughter had slipped through the social net and ended up in the hands of pimps and drug-dealers. Her mother now hopes to promote public awareness and question how society views and takes responsibility for young prostitutes.

Genres: True Crime

288 pages, Paperback

First published May 1, 1997

Reviews

[Sabrina Rutter · Rating 5 out of 5]

"The worst thing that I could ever imagine happening has happened to me, yet I am still here. I am still alive and I am still breathing." Those two sentences are ones no parent ever wishes to speak. These were thoughts running through Irene Ivison's mind after the murder of her beautiful daughter Fiona.
This is the story of Fiona's brief life, and tragic end as told by her mother. In this we see Fiona go from a happy imaginative child to a withdrawn vulnerable teenage girl after being heavily bullied by her peers. Fiona finds acceptance in the street, and embraces it in her naivety which eventually leads to the horrific end of her life.
This book made me cry. My heart ached at hearing how Irene desperately sought help for her daughter only to be let down time, and time again. I can only hope that with the passing of time that things have changed, and that when a parent phones the police, and social services seeking help for an out of control teenager that they help these families before something like this occurs.

[ToriBeth · Rating 5 out of 5]

My heartfelt condolences to Fiona's family. This is truly a harrowing story of an incredibly vulnerable girl, set up to fail in a society that didn't care about unusual girls and allowed predatory men to act without consequences. It's highly likely that Fiona was autistic. She exhibited a lot of the typical behaviours - unwavering fixations on topics, inability to connect with her peers, strong sense of justice, black and white thinking, meltdowns and tantrums when things didn't go her way and what appears to be the inability to cater her communication styles. I, too, was also a child of the previous millennium with learning differences, so I sympathise with Fiona's terror at going to school. I suspect Fiona would have thrived with modern special education needs (SEN) teachers. It's heart-breaking to think of all the children like Fiona who fell through the cracks at school, into the clutches of predatory men.

I have some thoughts about Fiona's story in the context of Great Britain following the rise of 'woke' culture and the Grooming Gang Scandal(s) - ongoing since the 1970s until today. I think it is incredibly telling that Fiona developed an obsession with so-called black culture and Rastafarianism after 'befriending', aka being groomed by older black men (30+ years old when she was 15). Rastafarianism and other aspects of black culture exposed Fiona to anti-white racism, third world misogyny, and drugs and criminality. An autistic child like Fiona would have felt extremely comfortable with Rastafarianism (indeed, Fiona also had a fixation on Christianity and the Bible) - It provided her with strict codes of behaviour expectations including as a female, it removed the responsibility from her of having to interpret the confusing and chaotic world around her, it provided answers as to why things were 'unjust' (everything was the 'white man's' fault) and gave her the focus of going to the 'holy land' (Ethiopia according to Rastafarianism). Initially, when Fiona was taught about the harms of drugs in school, she took a black and white anti-drugs view (typical of autism) until she was groomed by Rastafarian men into believing that marijuana is 'holy.' Fiona then began to abuse marijuana, provided by her groomers and started to 'try' hard drugs including crack cocaine and heroin. Getting victims addicted to drugs is a very successful grooming technique. I think there is another level of evilness in warping the mind of an autistic child like Fiona's groomers did, knowing that once her black and white mind was set that drugs were ok to abuse because they were 'holy,' her mother and her loved ones would never be able to rationalise or convince Fiona that she was harming herself with drugs.

Fiona would have experienced the internalised self hatred every teenage girl experiences, which was externally validated by her inability to connect to her female peers and later, by the black men who groomed Fiona into hating herself for being white and Western. Throughout the book, Fiona's mum, Irene, was bombarded with regurgitated anti-white racism that Fiona was indoctrinated with. I believe that 'woke' culture (originating in 1930s America) has a lot to answer for here: The idea that all white people are responsible for all racism towards black people throughout history. This noxious idea has infiltrated British culture - it's in our universities, our police, and our institutions. This form of cultural self flagellation has enabled atrocities such as the Grooming Gangs of largely Pakistani Muslim men to target, groom, and abuse largely white, vulnerable girls; its enabled black and Asian men to terrorise cities with gang violence - All without criminal justice consequence because British police are scared of being accused of racism instead of keeping British people of all ethnicities, religions and backgrounds safe. Fiona's abusers frequently stated that they were innocent of wrong-doing, even when they stole, groomed, abused and pimped young girls and committed other crimes; claiming that the few times they were pursued by police and sent to prison was only because they were black. Fiona was groomed into believing this also and never once provided statements to police against her groomers which might have saved her life.

Fiona's poor mum went to the police and social services multiple times to get help/support to stop Fiona from being further exploited and exposed to harder and more addictive drugs. But they never did anything, and Fiona was eventually prostituted to death. She was 17. The man who murdered her was apprehended but the men who groomed and pimped her never saw the inside of a prison cell for what they did to Fiona. I strongly suspect that the race of the men grooming and exploiting Fiona had a part to play. Police and social services were likely under the assumption that black people, particularly Rastafarians, have different cultural expectations and behaviours and to assert that it is incompatible with British values and laws would be racist. Compliance with British law and values should be non-negotiable and mandatory for all people living in this nation.

The EU ruled that Fiona's mum's case against Sheffield's social services for failing in their duty of care for Fiona's was inadmissible. I think most people would agree that Fiona was horrendously failed by institutions that should have safeguarded her, allegations of racism be damned. If Sheffield social services and local police did their job's correctly, Fiona would likely be alive right now. In another review of this book, a reviewer stated that they laid blame at Fiona's mum for moving into an area with 'known' pimps. How could Irene have known that? In the UK, the public do not have a right to information which informs us of 'known' troublemakers to social services or local police. We currently have access to information through Sarah's Law (Sarah was murdered in 2000 by a sex offender) by providing police with specific individual's names and checking if they are registered sex offenders. Even if this was available to Irene in the 90s, it would not have been applicable because NONE of Fiona's abusers had ever been arrested or charged for sex offences. Sex offences are one of the lowest reported crimes in the UK with only 3 in 100 being reported. Currently, we are able to access crime statistics but that would not have been available to Irene in the 90s. It is absolutely disgusting how little support we give to parents. We as the public should have a right to information about troublemakers known to social services and police, regardless of whether or not they have been charged with crimes. We should know to keep our children and vulnerable adults away from those with nefarious intent. This wouldn't be about penalising children or young people who struggle with behaviour or from poor backgrounds (although I strongly disagree with the neo-liberal notion that poverty drives crime - if it was true, there would be gangs of single mothers and pensioners), its about doing everything we can as a society to protect our children and vulnerable adults from being sucked into the whirlwind that is crime and abuse. If you don't want to be labelled a troublemaker by social services and police, then take some responsibility and accountability for your actions and don't be one. If Irene knew she was moving onto the same road as a known troublemaker and pimp to social services and police, she never would have collected the keys.

Allegations of racism should not stop or inhibit an institution with a duty of care to safeguard. Where there are instances of racism, due process can be pursued. When institutes fail to safeguard, children and vulnerable adults like Fiona die.

[Tara · Rating 4 out of 5]

Beggars belief how the pimp walks away. Law definitely needs changing. Fiona may not have wanted to press charges when she was under age, but the law should dismiss that fact, go over her head, and arrest disregardless. She was under the age of consent, and it's illegal. What is wrong with people. Hindsight is a wonderful thing. I know the author states this many times as she wishes she had done differently but knowingly moving into the same street as the pimps parents? major red flag. As a mother, I fail to understand this. It's as if she was handing her own daughter on a plate. Insanity. Only she knows what she was thinking. Hard read. The authorities failed on so many levels. It seems Fiona was doomed from the start.

[Coley · Rating 5 out of 5]

I was in absolute turmoil reading this book as a mother myself I cannot believe what Irene and Fiona’s siblings went through, it’s sheer devastation and the fact that the pimp got away with it! I hope both he and Alan Duffy have lived with the karma they created and that natural causes have made their lives sheer hell for what they put this family through, the authorities needed to do an awful lot more than they did and I hope that by now more is done for young girls in Fiona’s position

[Natalie Iogha · Rating 5 out of 5]

Still breaks my heart over 12 years from reading it

[Donna M · Rating 5 out of 5]

Excellent read, well written and gives a great insight into the difficulties faced by families in these circumstances.