A rape gang survivor has said she does not believe the independent inquiry will be comfortable discussing the ethnicity or religion of the perpetrators.

Speaking on GB News, Ellie Reynolds said: “I am a rape gang survivor from the years of 2013 till 2018. I was gang raped, I was held hostage, I was drugged. Quite frankly, I was used as a sex slave.

“My case is currently reopened, so there’s not really a great deal that I can say, but my story is all over, should anybody want to go and see it.

“The way that the last inquiry was held, they were very uncomfortable mentioning race or religion, so I don’t understand how it’s such a promise now. They’ve had the opportunity once before to do that and they failed.

“I’ve met with these three ladies [Baroness Anne Longfield, Zoe Billingham and Eleanor Kelly] on Maggie Oliver’s Survivors Panel, and they seemed like they were shying away when some uncomfortable things were put to them. For example, I’d asked their opinion on Jess Phillips. A lot of people in that room were sharing their stories, and they didn’t sit comfortably in that room.

“To me, it didn’t look like they were capable of facing the problem head on. It’s okay saying we won’t shy away from the race of those people, however, putting somebody under a bracket of just ‘Asian’ is a fairly big bracket.

“Why aren’t we saying the Pakistani men? Why aren’t we saying the Bangladeshi? Why aren’t we saying they are Muslim men? Asian doesn’t quite cut it.

“You can’t even explain it, because it’s gone on for years and years. And let’s be completely honest, all the time that we’re under a government that’s got the intellectual capacity of a jacket potato, do we really think that we’re going to get anywhere in the future for our future generations?

“We’ve seen this for decades upon decades; we’ve seen governments and services and authorities just turning away and turning a blind eye, and they’re very, very quick to blame the girls that are involved in this.

“They’re very quick to turn a blind eye and say no, you wanted it, no, you asked for it, or to protect themselves and not be seen as racist. It’s pathetic.

“With my case being reopened, I think it slightly brought some feelings back. I was sat a couple of months ago doing another four hour ABE [Achieving Best Evidence], and with very little hope that I am going to receive that justice.

“But as I say to everybody, the way that I got my justice was speaking out and helping other girls and boys that are involved in this and I think I could have been a lot worse.

“I am happy now. I am supported. I’m married. I’ve got three children. I’ve got a lovely family, but it’s just very unfortunate for some other people that don’t come out the other end of it.”