The family of tragic Victoria Agoglia have been given permission by the Attorney General's Office to apply to the High Court to seek a new inquest into her death. Victoria, who was living in a home under the responsibility of Manchester city 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.
While 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’.
The damning 2020 report said the coroner's narrative verdict recorded at her inquest 'significantly underplays the coercion and control she was subject to' in terms of child sexual exploitation.
It also suggested the content of the report, following information gathered as part of the review, could represent new evidence. It found Victoria was threatened, assaulted and taken back to her residential unit 'intoxicated'.
The report also looked into details relating to a number of other victims and found that most had been ‘failed by police and children's services’, going as far as to say that the authorities knew that many were being subjected to abuse and exploitation but ‘did not protect them’ from the perpetrators.
The failings identified have since prompted another investigation into grooming gangs in Greater Manchester, known as Operation Green Jacket, but Victoria’s family have also long since campaigned for her inquest to be reopened in a bid to secure justice on her behalf.
They are now one step closer to achieving that goal, after the Attorney General’s office granted a fiat, which means that they now have permission to take their case all the way to the High Court. If successful, there will be a fresh inquest into Victoria’s death, and those involved in the original inquest – including Greater Manchester Police and social services – will be called to give evidence.
Commenting on the outcome of the application the family’s lawyer, Public Law expert Claire Macmaster from Simpson Millar, said: “My client has fought long and hard in their pursuit of justice, and so they are delighted to have received the Attorney General’s fiat and to support an application to the High Court seeking an order that a fresh inquest into Victoria’s death be opened.
“In the assurance review commissioned by Greater Manchester mayor's office, it says that the coroner’s original conclusion 'significantly underplays the coercion and control Victoria was subject to' in terms of child sexual exploitation. My client is understandably anxious to ensure that circumstances leading up to Victoria’s death are understood within an accurate factual context – one that recognises that Victoria was a victim of child sexual exploitation.
“This is a milestone in my client’s pursuit of justice for Victoria. We will continue to work hard on behalf of our client in order to secure the answers they have so desperately sought for almost two decades.”
A diary written by Victoria was recovered by police 17 years after her death. The journal will now play a significant part in any new inquiry into the abuse of her. GMP became aware of the existence of the diary in 2019 but only obtained it in August 2020. It had been in the possession of Manchester council.
In October 2020 a Coroner ruled Manchester council must hand over crucial documents about the death of tragic Victoria. The council had launched a legal fight to stop them being released.
But senior Coroner, Joanne Kearsley, dismissed the council's application, saying it was "flawed" and "a backdoor" challenge to her previous ruling that Victoria's maternal grandmother, Joan Agoglia, is a proper person to have the material. It meant Mrs Agoglia was now free to pursue her own application to the Attorney General for a new inquest into Victoria's death. GMP had not opposed the release of the documents.
A spokesperson for the Attorney General's Office said: "The Solicitor General has granted permission for the family to seek a new inquest at the High Court. It is now a matter for the Court to decide if an inquest will be granted."
