Latest news with #childExploitation
Telegraph
4 days ago
- Politics
- Telegraph
Rayner ally dragged into grooming gangs row
A Government minister and ally of Angela Rayner led a council that chose not to refer to the Pakistani heritage of grooming gangs. Jim McMahon was the leader of Oldham council when its child sexual exploitation taskforce sought to avoid drawing attention to the ethnicity of perpetrators in its media strategy. In 2012, the service expressed concern about 'community tensions' and said the 'proactive confirmation of ethnicity could provide ammunition for far-Right groups that might attempt to focus additional attention on Oldham regarding this issue'. A report by Baroness Casey this week found that police had avoided pursuing child sex grooming gangs for fear of being viewed as racist. It added that evidence suggested there were 'disproportionate numbers of men from Asian ethnic backgrounds amongst suspects for group-based child sexual exploitation'. Mr McMahon, a minister in the Deputy Prime Minister's local government department, served as the leader of Oldham council between 2011 and 2016. He was elected as MP for Oldham West and Royton in 2015. During his time at the council, he also served as the chairman of the local safeguarding accountability board. A 2022 report into local authorities' response to child sexual exploitation in Greater Manchester examined the Messenger service, a partnership that involved Greater Manchester Police and Oldham council. It said that Messenger's 2012 media strategy 'articulated a concern that there could be assumptions in the media and the public at large that child sexual exploitation was carried out by men from ethnic minorities against white girls, which could create community tensions, and that Oldham's Asian community could feel it was disproportionally associated with child sexual exploitation'. The ensuing media strategy did not mention the ethnicity of victims or perpetrators. Instead, one of the key messages was: 'Children are being sexually exploited in all communities across the UK, regardless of ethnicity, culture, class or gender. 'Furthermore, children from loving and secure homes can be abused, as well as children with pre-existing vulnerabilities.' The Conservatives said that the revelations were 'damning'. Chris Philp, the shadow home secretary, said: 'While young girls were being groomed and abused in Oldham, Labour council leaders were busy drafting media strategies to downplay the role of Pakistani gangs and worry about community optics. 'There is no hiding from this. Survivors were failed and communities were misled, because actions like this perpetuated the shameful cover up of these crimes. A Labour spokesman said Mr McMahon was 'explicit and vocal' about the fact that the abuse involved predominantly Pakistani men, 'long before many others'. He added: 'To suggest this was in any way downplayed defies the evidence.' Lady Casey said in her report that she found 'many examples of organisations avoiding the topic altogether for fear of appearing racist, raising community tensions or causing community cohesion problems'. She cited the 2022 Greater Manchester report, which was conducted after Oldham council requested a review into its practices in 2019. She said it 'finds flaws in Greater Manchester Police and Oldham council's safeguarding systems, but no evidence of a cover-up of child sexual exploitation'. Lady Casey told MPs this week that she recommended a national statutory review because of the 'reluctance' of local areas to do their own reviews. She cited Oldham as the only council willing to do a review when five local inquiries were announced. Mr McMahon wrote a blog post in September 2014, almost two years after the media strategy for Messenger was approved, in which he explicitly stated the link between grooming and Pakistani men. He said: 'Anyone who shies away from acting that in Rotherham, Oxford, Rochdale and here in Oldham – and that this particular form of abuse is predominantly Pakistani men targeting white girls – is not helping the victims, and nor is it helping the Asian community at large.' Referring to the blog post, the 2022 report said that: 'This contemporaneous record clearly refutes the suggestion that Leader A [Mr McMahon] had any intention to protect those perpetrators from the Pakistani community who were exploiting children in Oldham and, quite the contrary, demonstrates Leader A's determination to address the issue publicly and head on.' It added: 'There were also, throughout this period, legitimate concerns by both the council and the police that the high-profile convictions of predominantly Pakistani offenders across the country could be capitalised on by a far-Right agenda and lead to the victimisation of the Pakistani community. 'However, it is clear from all the evidence we have seen that the council and its partners in no way avoided addressing this, and in fact saw successful disruption and prosecution as the route to winning the confidence of all communities in Oldham.' Mr McMahon told the Commons in June 2022 that the independent report 'is clear that, during the period from 2011, when I became leader of Oldham Council, I did absolutely everything possible to publicise the threat of child sexual exploitation and sought to tackle the issue head on'. 'Council failed to be publicly honest' Robert Jenrick, the shadow justice secretary, said: 'Jim McMahon ran a council whose media strategy was to brush the background of the rape gang offenders and their victims under the carpet. 'It speaks to a council more worried about false accusations of 'racism' than protecting vulnerable, white working-class girls. 'This failure to be publicly honest about what was going on led to the scandal going unaddressed for decades.' He added: 'With Labour councillors, MPs and ministers implicated in the appalling scandal, it's no surprise Starmer delayed holding an inquiry as long as he could.' A Labour Party spokesman said: 'Far from downplaying that this particular form of abuse involved predominantly Pakistani men targeting white girls, Jim was explicit and vocal about it, saying as leader of Oldham council, long before many others would, that to do so would not be helping the victims, nor the Asian community at large. To suggest this was in any way downplayed defies the evidence.' A spokesman for Oldham council said: 'We've never shied away from owning and apologising for historic failings to keep children safe from these horrendous crimes. The 2022 assurance review – which anyone can read online – outlined significant opportunities that were missed by the council and Greater Manchester Police and for those we are deeply sorry. 'However, Malcolm Newsome and Gary Ridgway were really clear in their review – Oldham council 'in no way' avoided issues around the ethnicity of offenders in the borough. In fact the records from the time show that the then leader of the council was determined to 'to address the issue publicly and head-on'. 'We engaged fully with Louise Casey for her review, and we are the only council in the country to come forward for a local inquiry. We were unflinching then and unflinching now about the mistakes of the past and our determination to protect children from this horrific abuse. We won't play political games on this issue – our survivors deserve better.'
Telegraph
5 days ago
- Politics
- Telegraph
These are not ‘Asian' grooming gangs, they are Kashmiri Muslim
When Baroness Casey appeared yesterday before a select committee to answer questions about her landmark report into group-based child sexual exploitation, there was something she was particularly keen to impress upon the MPs: when it comes to dealing with the nationwide scourge of grooming gangs, questions of ethnicity have been avoided for too long. Her 200-page audit on the nature and scale of group-based child sexual abuse in England found that authorities, from the police to local councils, systematically shied away from pursuing child sex grooming gangs for fear of inflaming community tensions or being perceived as racist. Casey's passion for the subject is evident. The report's key finding, which many have known for some time, is that men of Pakistani origin are over-represented in grooming gangs which have targeted young white-British girls in towns and cities from Manchester to Rotherham. As someone who believes in strong law and order, I have found the level of institutional paralysis over tackling the grooming gangs – for fears of being accused of racism and Islamophobia – to be a grand national failure. In a particularly eye-popping passage in Casey's report, she reveals how the word 'Pakistani' was Tippexed out of one child victim's file. While there is no doubt that a diversity of ethnicities and faiths are involved in these gangs, the use of the term 'Asian' in connection to them has long masked the ever-mounting evidence that it is men of Pakistani Muslim origin specifically who are vastly overrepresented among perpetrators of these heinous sex crimes. A 2020 academic study by professors Kish Bhatti-Sinclair and Charles Sutcliffe, based on data consisting of 498 defendants across 73 prosecutions between 1997 and 2017, found that Muslims – particularly Pakistanis – dominated prosecutions for group-localised child sexual exploitation (GLCSE). Indeed, it concluded that Pakistani and Muslim proportions of the local population are 'powerful variables' in explaining the level of GLCSE prosecutions in an area. Meanwhile, the proportion of Bangladeshis and Indians in a local area had no effect. In fact, the proportion of Hindus in a local area had a negative impact on the levels of GLCSE prosecutions. Using the term 'Asian' is incredibly unhelpful in this context. Gujarati Hindus, Goan Catholics, and Punjabi Sikhs should not be conflated with the men perpetrating these crimes. It is time for us to shine a light on the poorly integrated Muslim communities originating from Mirpur in Azad Kashmir, which have formed patriarchal clans along kinship lines – known as 'biraderi'. These Mirpuri grooming gangs have shown an ugly side of family solidarity, multi-generational cohesion and tight-knit community networks: this is the dark underbelly of modern multicultural Britain. I suspect much of Britain's law-abiding population simply cannot wrap their heads around the numbers involved in the grooming-gangs scandal – which perhaps explains some of the denial. After all, some accounts of this sexual violence and brutality would not be out of place in history books on the campaign of systematic rape and torture against Bangladeshi women and girls by the Pakistani forces forces during the 1971 Liberation War. But, as it has taken root in dozens of cities and towns across England, it is something we must face up to as a society. The national statutory inquiry into grooming gangs announced by Yvette Cooper, the Home Secretary, must examine how cultural codes – such as so-called 'community protection' – have enabled group-based child sexual exploitation and abuse. There is no space for political correctness or mollycoddling particular minorities. If we are serious about delivering justice for the victims, no stone should be left unturned.
Yahoo
5 days ago
- Politics
- Yahoo
Public must ‘keep calm' over ethnicity of grooming gang offenders, says Louise Casey
The public must 'keep calm' over the ethnicity of grooming gang offenders, the author of a high-profile report has urged, saying police data from one region suggested that the race of child abuse suspects was proportional with the local population. The comments from Louise Casey came as Kemi Badenoch, the Conservative leader, defended herself from claims that she was attempting to politicise the scandal of the organised rape of girls by men across dozens of towns over at least 25 years. Lady Casey's report on Monday found evidence of 'over-representation' of Asian and Pakistani heritage men among suspects of 'group sexual exploitation' of children, according to data from three police forces. Related: Casey report forces Starmer's hand on issue that has haunted Labour for decades Casey told MPs on Tuesday that she was concerned that the limited data available on the race and ethnicity of offenders was not being used responsibly as part of the public debate on grooming gangs. She said the report examined data from Greater Manchester police (GMP), which covers towns including Rochdale and Oldham where convicted grooming gangs operated. 'If you look at the data on child exploitation, suspects and offenders, it is disproportionately Asian heritage,' she said. 'If you look at the data for child abuse, it is not disproportionate and it is white men. 'So just a note to everybody, outside here rather than in here, let's just keep calm about how you interrogate data and what you get from it.' According to the report, GMP's figures showed that 52% of suspects involved in multi-victim/multi-offender cases of child sexual exploitation over a three-year period were Asian, compared with 38% who were white. When examining suspects for all child sex abuse crimes, not just grooming, the same force's data shows that 16% were Asian and 44% were white, while 32% of suspects were of 'unknown' ethnicity. The last census figures show that 57% of Greater Manchester is white and 21% is Asian, according to the report. Related: UK grooming gangs inquiry 'must confront uncomfortable truths' Keir Starmer said later on Tuesday that Badenoch had done about grooming gangs when the Tories were in power and asked why she had not brought forward a mandatory duty for authorities to report child sexual exploitation when she was a minister. 'Why didn't you do it? Why didn't you say one word about it?' the prime minister asked in a direct message to Badenoch as he spoke to reporters at the G7 summit in Canada. Starmer also defended his record, saying he brought about the first prosecutions of grooming gang members while director of public prosecutions, changed the rules to make gang prosecution easier and called for mandatory reporting, which the Conservatives rejected. 'I'm now the prime minister who has passed into law mandatory reporting, who has taken forward the unique identifier for children, because I've always been really worried that children falling outside of school are not being picked up, and they are very vulnerable to exploitation,' he said. 'And obviously now [I have] announced this national inquiry.' Casey told the BBC's Newsnight on Monday that she was 'disappointed' by the Conservatives' response to her review of the grooming gangs scandal. 'We need to change some laws, we need to do a national criminal investigation, we need to get on with a national inquiry with local footprint in it, and ideally wouldn't it be great if everybody came behind that and backed you?' she said. 'I felt the opposition could have just been a bit, you know, 'Yes we will all come together behind you.' Maybe there's still time to do that. I think it's just so important that they do.' At a hastily arranged press conference, Badenoch said she was 'not doing politics now' but criticised people who sought to 'tone police those who are pointing out when something has gone wrong'. 'I do think that we should take the politics out of it. But who was it that said when we raised this issue that we were pandering to the far right? That's what brought the politics into it,' she said. Badenoch said her party backed a national inquiry into the scandal and had been calling for one 'for six months'.
Telegraph
5 days ago
- Politics
- Telegraph
Bradford grooming cover-up left 8,000 children at risk of abuse, say campaigners
A cover-up of grooming gangs put up to 8,000 children at risk in Bradford, campaigners have claimed. Baroness Casey, whose damning audit of grooming cases was published on Monday, said she would be 'surprised' if Bradford was not one of the first areas to be part of a national inquiry into local obstruction and failings that have denied victims justice. A dossier, drawn up by a leading child abuse lawyer and MP, claims that at least 7,975 children in Bradford were at risk of sexual exploitation between 1996 and 2025, putting it on a par with similar scandals in Rochdale, Rotherham and Oldham. It outlines years of alleged systematic failures by Bradford council and partner agencies to protect vulnerable children from Asian grooming gangs operating in the city. It also contains disturbing first-hand accounts from survivors, police records and court proceedings. In the dossier, women who were victims of Asian grooming gangs in the city have named more than 60 other girls who were also abused by them. More than 70 men have been convicted or are being prosecuted for child sexual exploitation, rape or abuse. Bradford council has, until now, resisted demands from victims and campaigners for a full local inquiry into the scandal, arguing that it has already conducted serious case reviews. David Greenwood, the lawyer who compiled the dossier and played a key role in exposing abuse in Rotherham, said: 'I believe Bradford council is obstructing an independent insight into the scale and nature of sexual offending against children in what is termed grooming gang abuse. 'The council repeatedly quotes small-scale isolated case reviews as support for its view that a deeper inquiry is not required. Its arguments are disingenuous and contrary to the evidence.' Robbie Moore, the Tory MP for Bradford and a member of the home affairs select committee, said victims were frustrated that councils like the one in his city were using serious case reviews as an excuse for claiming that there was 'nothing more to see here'. He said: 'There is an overwhelming case for a full inquiry across the Bradford district, yet we have shockingly never had one. 'If Bradford's political leadership will not act, then the Government must.' Yvette Cooper, the Home Secretary, confirmed on Monday that the Government would back Baroness Casey's proposals for a national inquiry, where an independent commission will identify areas for local investigations with powers to compel witnesses to attend. It will focus on areas where there have been 'failures or obstruction by statutory services' to block inquiries into child sex grooming gangs. Speaking at the home affairs committee, Baroness Casey said: 'I would say if you were Bradford, if you were anywhere, in my report that we published yesterday, if you're any of the areas that are visible and identifiable, just be ready and be open to the fact that you may be the subject of one of the national inquiries. 'I'd be surprised if some of the areas, including Bradford, would not be subject to be part of the national inquiry. And it's absolutely right that I think MPs, victims, other people, are able to say, we want this to happen here.' Among those calling for an inquiry in Bradford is Fiona Goddard who was abused and exploited by an Asian grooming gang when she was living in a children's home in Bradford from the age of 14. Her groomers plied her with drugs and gifts. A court heard that she was 'in effect used as a prostitute' by another of her abusers. She has previously recounted how she was driven to suicidal thoughts and self-harm as a teenager. In February 2019, nine men were convicted of 22 offences against Ms Goddard and jailed. On Tuesday, appearing alongside Kemi Badenoch, the Tory leader, at a press conference on grooming gangs, she said: 'I fully believe that Bradford needs to be part of that, because the figures that you have seen in places in their previous inquiries are completely outnumbered by the scale of it in Bradford, and it would be so important to look at a place with such levels to be able to gain inside knowledge.' Ms Goddard has provided names of 14 other girls groomed by gang members. Another woman has named 61 girls who were victims. Since 2015, some 37 people have been convicted of child abuse or sexual exploitation, with a similar number on trial or on bail. Baroness Casey urged the Government not to drag its feet. She suggested it was 'not unreasonable' to expect ministers to adopt her 12 key recommendations, which include setting up a national inquiry, within six months.
Times
5 days ago
- Politics
- Times
Asylum seekers who commit child sex crimes ‘a border security issue'
The Conservative Party has claimed that grooming gangs are a 'border security issue' after a landmark report found that many suspects in live cases were foreign or claiming asylum. Baroness Casey of Blackstock recorded the observation in her review on child sexual exploitation after seeing details from a dozen investigations. She said more effort was required to identify the nature of grooming and understand whether the profile of offenders was changing. Kemi Badenoch, the Conservative leader, said the finding showed the issue of grooming gangs went 'beyond criminal justice' and 'into borders'. The shadow home secretary, Chris Philp, added: 'It is a border security issue. This year so far has been the worst in history for illegal immigration across the English Channel. The government has no idea who the people coming are, what their previous records are … the vast majority are men. The lack of control of the border is fuelling the risk here.'
