Mother wants UK law change after rapist offered access to son

A British mother pleaded for a change in the law on Wednesday after her rapist was told he could seek access to her son.

Arshid Hussain -- ringleader of a notorious child abuse gang who was jailed for 35 years in 2016 -- was contacted by the local council in Rotherham, northern England, to give him the chance to apply for parental rights and play a role in the boy's life.

Sammy Woodhouse, who was 15 when Hussain raped her and got her pregnant, identified herself as the mother in question after The Times newspaper revealed the story about Hussain.

"This story is actually about myself, about my son and about the man that raped me," she said on Twitter.

"This is happening all over the country and it needs to stop. Children are being removed, being given to rapists, to murderers, for their families to have access." She called on the government to change the 1989 Children Act "to ensure that rapists can't gain access to children conceived through rape and abuse.

"Women and children are being put at direct risk."
A Rotherham Council spokesman said: "We must comply with legal requirements, including practice directions, and that would include giving notice of proceedings to parents with or without formal parental responsibility."