Early review finds mistakes in grooming gang investigations
Potential human error has led to some police investigations being dropped, a review of cases alleged to involve sexual exploitation rings has found.
Thousands of cases are planned to be assessed as part of a review led by the National Crime Agency to uncover failures in the fight against gangs.
So far, 1,273 files from 23 police forces have been referred to Operation Beaconport. Of these, 236 are being investigated as a priority because they contain rape allegations.
NCA deputy director Nigel Leary said initial investigations showed there had been errors in some of the investigations.
“Initial investigations found that in some cases where a no further action (NFA) decision was made, there were existing lines of investigation that could be pursued,” he said.
“We saw what appeared to be potential human error in these cases.
“We found that in some cases these investigations did not follow what we define as appropriate investigative practice, which may have contributed to the NFA decision.
“This includes, for example, identifying but not pursuing lines of investigation, victims not taking statements in what we would recognize as best practice, and suspects not being pursued or questioned in the way we would have anticipated.”
Operation Beaconport is examining cases between January 1, 2010 and March 31, 2025, and thousands of people are expected to be investigated.
The cost of the plan is not yet known.
Operation Stovewood, the investigation into grooming rings and other non-family sexual abuse in Rotherham between 1997 and 2013, cost £89 million over 11 years.
“This will be an extraordinarily large undertaking,” Mr. Leary said.
“This will be the most comprehensive study of its kind in UK history.
“We estimate that thousands of officers from across the force will be involved over the lifecycle of the operation.”
Authorities have been recording the ethnicities of suspects and victims as part of the investigation and have found gaps in existing data that they are trying to fill.
When investigating cases, they aim to flag dangerous suspects and those at risk of fleeing the country.
Investigators have vowed from the outset to be “honest and transparent” with victims to avoid giving them unrealistic expectations.
Mr Leary said: “All the matters we look at will have no criminal justice consequences even if they are re-investigated, even if the victim or survivor says, ‘I want this to be re-investigated.’
“They won’t do that for a variety of reasons.
“I think we can conduct these investigations and investigations in a way that is trauma-informed, open, honest and transparent, realistic and we communicate well.
“My hope is that we build trust in the process, even though in some cases the outcome is of course not what we want.”
Richard Fewkes, of the National Police Chiefs’ Council, said it was important to go after perpetrators but some victims would just want to feel they were being listened to.
He said: “Justice means different things to different victims and survivors, and no two victims and survivors are the same.
“For some, justice means being believed and listened to by someone in authority, perhaps for the first time.
“Or it may even be understanding that the review has taken place, the re-investigation has been done in an appropriate, focused and robust manner, but no more can be done.
“For some, this is justice on their mind.”
Last month the Metropolitan Police announced it had investigated 9,000 cases of child sexual abuse.
Some of these are expected to be referred to Operation Beaconport, which examines cases involving two or more suspects, multiple victims, contact offences, where the suspects are still alive and cases that have not already been independently investigated.
