A 12-year-old rape victim took her own life directly after an interview with a

police officer who had previously discouraged her from bringing forward a
criminal complaint and subsequently failed to properly investigate it, her mother
has told Sky News.
Semina Halliwell, who had autism, alleged she was raped by an older boy who
attended the same school as her and had groomed her over Snapchat into secretly
meeting him.
Her mother, Rachel Halliwell, contacted the police after Semina broke down and told
her what had happened following a severe incident of self-harm.

Image:Semina Halliwell, 12, took her own life after she reported being raped to Merseyside Police

But officers from Merseyside Police "made Semina feel like she was an inconvenience
to them", according to two family members who were present during interviews, and
no charges have been brought against the alleged perpetrator who Semina named.
Discouraged from making the complaint
Rachel, alongside Semina's aunt Clare Halliwell, said the lead detective "sat there and
started talking about all the forms he'd have to fill in if she made the complaint and
how long it would take him to fill those forms in".
The detective "said to Semina that, you know, basically, it's your word against his and
do you really want this hanging over your head for 18 months, because it wouldn't go
to court for 18 months to two years," said Clare.
Semina's autism had already made it a challenge for her to express herself to strangers,
they added.
The family told Sky News that Merseyside Police did not inform Semina's school of
the reported rape, despite assurances to the family that safeguarding would be in place.
This meant she was forced to stay at home as she was not protected from coming into
contact with the alleged perpetrator.

Image:(L-R) Clare and Rachel Halliwell said the police discouraged Semina from reporting the rape
Harassment and witness intimidation
Following the initial interview, Semina and her family - including a sibling - were
targeted in a campaign of online and offline bullying and witness intimidation,
including several violent assaults, that the family believe were committed by
associates of the alleged perpetrator and which they say Merseyside Police also failed
to fully investigate.
"They said anyone going to the police are going to go get their heads kicked in. And
that's exactly what happened. Semina was beaten up three times, videoed, her [sibling]
was beaten up in school," said Rachel.
The family said that during this period only two girls were prosecuted for assaulting
Semina. Other incidents were not fully investigated, they complained.
Rachel was also convicted of an assault which took place shortly after Semina named
the alleged perpetrator. Sky News cannot identify the victim for legal reasons.
"Even though there were videos of [Semina] being beaten up on social media, the
police did nothing about it. The officer, the detective, said 'Well, things have
quietened down now, so if I go around it might kick off all over again'," Rachel added.

Image:Semina had autism

Final interview with police
Three months after the initial complaint was made, during another interview in the
family's living room regarding the rape and harassment, Semina said "I've had enough
of this" and went upstairs.
"I thought she just had enough of the police being here, the police doing nothing," was
her mother's understanding at the time.
But Semina had gone to take the medication which would kill her, consuming well
above the lethal dose of a toxic drug used to treat a chronic condition.
After the police had left, the family discovered the empty medicine packets and
Semina was taken to hospital in an ambulance. Over the next few days she would be
placed in an induced coma and suffered multiple organ failure before dying.
"It was horrific to watch my daughter pass away. It was terrible what she went
through, three heart attacks, operations, they were going to amputate her legs,
amputate her fingers," said Rachel.
"People seem to think that when you take an overdose you go to sleep and you die. No
she didn't. She didn't at all. We had to watch her die, her body shut down first. No
parent should go through that."
"We had the medical team sobbing around us," said Clare. "I remember [the
consultant] coming to me and he was crying through his glasses and I don't remember
how long they were there, I just remember that she was warm when I first touched her
but then she went cold, she went cold, she started to go blue.
"Nobody said she died. Nobody told us. Nobody could say it."

Image:Semina's family was harassed and her grave vandalised after her funeral
Semina's grave was vandalised
The family was not left to grieve in peace.
"The day after her funeral, somebody put out on Snapchat - which was a fake account
- £10,000 for somebody to video and trash Semina's grave. And two weeks later, it
was [trashed]," they told Sky News.
The videos of Semina being bullied and violently attacked - videos showing her being
dragged and pushed to the ground and punched and kicked by other girls - were
directed at the family on social media following the funeral, as were messages
celebrating Semina's death.
Her family say Merseyside Police consistently failed to properly investigate this
harassment just as the force failed to properly investigate Semina's allegation of rape.

Image:Semina Halliwell was buried in June 2021. She was 12 years old.
Harassment targeting the family
"We had Snapchat pictures, edited of her lying in a coffin, or decomposing, sent to us
[from] fake accounts, and the police either couldn't or wouldn't do anything about it.
"The police did say if she had been murdered, then it would have been different
because they could have triangulated the signals to the phone to prove that they were
near people they suspected of doing it, but they couldn't do that because it wasn't a
serious crime," Clare told Sky News.