Semina Halliwell, who had autism, 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

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

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 said 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.

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.

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.

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.

"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.

Over the next few days she would be placed in an induced coma and suffered multiple organ failure before dying.
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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.

"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 said

"The police failings are absolutely disgusting," said Rachel, who blamed "the perpetrator, his family, Merseyside Police, and social services".

"Everybody who is paid to safeguard her let her down. Not one of them told her she was worth their time."

"We've been robbed of a massive piece of our family, and for the last nine and a half months we've been robbed of the ability to grieve that loss," said Clare.