About the book: A DAUGHTER GROOMED, A FATHER POWERLESS TO STOP IT.
"I was doing everything I could to try and keep my daughter at home because she had pretty much obliterated her bedroom. She was lashing out against everything and everyone because she had been utterly traumatised."
Marlon West works as a professional mental health practitioner who has tirelessly counselled survivors of UK grooming gangs through their trauma. So, when his 13-year-old daughter Scarlett was targeted and groomed, he immediately spotted the red flags.
Despite this, the grooming - initiated by an older white woman - became so relentless that he was helpless to try and stop it.
Over the two years that followed, the single father reported his daughter Scarlett missing from home an astonishing 56 times. He even took the heartbreaking decision to place her in care to try and keep her safe, but he says police failed to help him or stop the grooming, and in some instances, they actually left her in the care of her groomers rather than return her home.
Instead, he claims that he and his daughter were 'criminalised' and, at one meeting, he was told to shut up and stop reporting his (then) 14-year-old missing.
Scarlett, who was groomed in Rochdale, only escaped her abusers two years ago, and her father believes that girls are still being targeted to this day. Today, Marlon is one of the main campaigners demanding a government-led national inquiry into UK grooming gangs, which he insists are at epidemic proportions.
In Plain Sight will be released on 16 July 2026.
About the authors: Marlon West is one of the leading campaigners calling for a national public inquiry into UK grooming gangs. A single father to Scarlett, Marlon believes the only way grooming gangs can be eradicated is by assessing and addressing the scale of the problem, which he believes is on an epidemic scale. He wants the government to implement a national strategy and hand out tougher sentences for perpetrators.
Scarlett West was just 13 years-old when she was targeted by a white, female groomer, who pimped her out and passed her directly into the hands of a grooming gang. However, Scarlett, who was repeatedly raped, beaten and suffered horrendous injuries, is also a survivor. Now aged 20, Scarlett escaped the clutches of the Rochdale grooming gang only two years ago. Today, she is in a happy relationship and lives with her boyfriend in the North-West of England. Along with her father Marlon, she is also campaigning for the government to hold a national public inquiry into UK grooming gangs.
Veronica Clark has been a ghostwriter for the past 13 years. During this time, she has penned 17 books, including three Sunday Times bestsellers and an Irish Times bestseller. She has been an award-winning journalist for the past 36 years, and has written hundreds of true-life stories for both national newspapers, Sunday supplements and women’s magazines. In 2021, Veronica appeared as a panellist at the prestigious Hay Literary Festival to discuss the book, Enslaved, and the subject of county lines, human trafficking and modern slavery in this country. Veronica also has a Masters (Distinction) in Creative Writing from University of Glasgow.
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