Grooming gang inquiry will expose bungling police who failed to investigate gangs of Asian men, chairman pledges

The head of the new independent inquiry today promised that police who failed to investigate child sexual abuse gangs would be held to account; He promised that issues of ethnicity, culture and religion would also be examined.

‘Any evidence’ of criminal behavior by professionals will be referred to a national operation specifically launched to examine hundreds of previously closed investigations.

The inquiry said in its ‘terms of reference’ published this morning that it would ‘investigate how grooming gangs operate and how institutions, including the police, local authorities, health services, social care services and schools, respond to abuse’.

The £65 million inquiry, which is due to conclude by March 2029 at the latest, will ‘examine why children are so often not believed, dismissed or blamed for their own abuse’.

The report added: ‘The investigation will directly examine whether the ethnicity, culture or religion of perpetrators or victims influences patterns of crime and whether these factors shape the institutional response.

‘These are questions that previous reviews have chosen not to address. This Inquiry will not escape them.’

However, attorneys representing victims and survivors of child sexual abuse are unhappy with the scope of the investigation; The investigation is limited to just five areas, including Oldham, Greater Manchester and four other unspecified areas.

Rotherham Labor MP Sarah Champion, who called for action to be taken to clear out gangs for the first time, criticized the time it took for the investigation to begin and said the budget was not enough. It would be better spent supporting the National Crime Agency to bring gangs to justice.

David Greenwood, one of the lawyers, said he was ‘very concerned’ that the Labor Party-run Home Office could influence which locations were inspected and feared there might be a ‘perception of bias’.

Meanwhile, Rotherham abuse survivor and campaigner Sammy Woodhouse said this needed to be extended to a much wider geographical scale as care was being carried out in ‘every town, every city’.

Ms Woodhouse also criticized the time limit set in 1996, when high-profile cases of abuse continued years earlier, and the inquest’s failure to interview victims’ parents as part of the process.

Baroness Anne Longfield, England’s former children’s commissioner, who chaired the inquiry, said: ‘Children in England and Wales were, and still are, subjected to sexual abuse and exploitation.

‘When they asked for help they were often rejected, dismissed or blamed. That is the reality this investigation exists to address.

‘Victims and survivors have the right to ask whether this investigation will be different from those that have been carried out before.

‘My answer is that wherever we can, we will publish our findings as we go along, rather than in a single report years from now. Institutions will not have the opportunity to quietly manage what we find.

‘We will follow the evidence wherever it leads. ‘We will not avoid uncomfortable truths.’

Promised not to shy away from ‘disturbing truths’ in three-year investigation

David Greenwood, head of the abuse compensation team at law firm Switalskis, said he was ‘very concerned’ that the Home Office ‘intends to work with the inquiry panel to select five areas for close examination’.

He said: ‘I am unhappy that the Home Office still intends to exert influence in the selection of towns and cities to be closely examined. The participation of the Home Office, which is run by the Labor Party, and indeed the presence of figures from the Labor Party on the panel, still concerns me.

‘I want the inquiry to be credible in its reporting, and any perception of bias could mean the final report is disregarded by future governments.’

But he added: ‘The panel has openly listened to concerns about watering down the investigation. The cultural, religious and ethnic influences on the groups of men who carry out such abuse will now be examined.

‘The draft terms of reference merely suggested examining how these factors affected organisations’ responses.’

Richard Scorer, head of fraud law and public investigations at law firm Slater and Gordon, said he ‘generally welcomes’ the terms of reference and the decision to include ‘specific reference to the role of religion, ethnicity and culture in such crimes’.

He said: ‘This issue cannot be ignored, belittled or belittled and this is now openly acknowledged.

‘We will need to see in practice how comprehensive this investigation is – we don’t yet know what local areas other than Oldham will be examined or how in-depth the investigation will go – the reason this is needed is because the previous inquiry, the IICSA (Independent Inquiry into Child Sexual Abuse) (published in 2022), did not look into this issue in sufficient depth. ‘We can’t repeat this mistake again.’

Sammy Woodhouse is unhappy that only five locations will be examined in the inquest

Sammy Woodhouse, who was raped and abused since she was 14, said the investigation would never go far enough for her and other survivors.

He said: ‘Every council and police force and every (public) service, school, social care department should be investigated. ‘Let’s be honest, they won’t do that.’

Ms Woodhouse, who worked with former Reform UK MP Rupert Lowe on an inquiry into maintenance, added: ‘Why are they only picking five sites? We were able to identify hundreds of towns and cities where the incident occurred.

‘So why do they only go back 30 years? There shouldn’t be a time constraint; We know that the abuse occurred before the 1990s.’

He also criticized the decision to take evidence only from victims and not the parents, and the failure of the terms of reference – while broadly referring to race, culture and religion – to specifically refer to Muslim men.

Miss Woodhouse said: ‘I think they need to get a grip on everything. It’s clear that this is (still) a problem. Why are they afraid of this?

‘To this day, no one dares to talk about immigration or Islam.’

Police and officials who ignore or cover up the abuse of girls by Asian gangs should be jailed and their pensions cut, the father of another Rotherham grooming gang victim has said.

‘Jack’, the father of a campaigning gangs survivor known as Elizabeth, said: ‘What the report suggests looks good, sounds good but my fear is that it will still turn into whitewashing.

‘Anyone found to have concealed or ignored what happened should be prosecuted, jailed and deprived of their pensions.

‘They let our daughters suffer.’

He added: ‘What will happen to the ongoing maintenance challenge in places like Rotherham? What will change?’

Sarah Champion, Labor MP for Rotherham, said: ‘Hundreds of millions of dollars have already been invested in gang investigations; What will this new achieve?

Rotherham MP Sarah Champion speaking in the House of Commons earlier this month

‘The budget would be better spent on the NCA not jailing carers and funding the support victims and survivors desperately need.

‘It has been a year since the investigation was announced, three months since the appointment of the Commissioner; So what else do we know about the details?

‘We are three months away from knowing where local investigations will take place. Let me give them a starting point: Bradford.

‘I have every confidence that the National Crime Agency will expose and prosecute grooming gangs. ‘They have done an incredible job of putting abusers in Rotherham behind bars and their appointment to do this nationally is money well spent.’

There have also been calls to expand the investigation to take into account ongoing online grooming.

PCD Solicitors managing director Marcus Johnstone said: ‘Grooming gangs have not disappeared, they have simply evolved their tactics to largely evade detection.

‘The biggest breakthrough in child abuse is happening on encrypted websites, social media and apps that police are hopeless at investigating.

‘Once this investigation is over, I think we will need further investigations into the appalling abuse perpetrated by men from certain backgrounds online.’

The next step of the investigation will be to present the terms of reference to Parliament when it returns from recess on 13 April; A full investigation will then begin.

Lady Longfield will be supported by panellists Zoe Billingham, former Inspector of Her Majesty’s Constabulary and Fire and Rescue Services, and Eleanor Kelly, former chief executive of Southwark Council.

The investigation will examine how grooming gangs operate and how institutions, including the police, local authorities, health services, social care services and schools, respond to abuse.

It will have the legal authority to compel witnesses to testify and require organizations to hand over documents.

The inquiry has pledged that any evidence of criminal behavior by professionals will be referred to Operation Beaconport, the national police operation launched last year to examine hundreds of previously closed investigations.

The investigation will hold public hearings, which will be broadcast live and transcripts will be released following each hearing.

The inquiry will conduct ‘local investigations’ into ‘serious failings identified in response to child sexual exploitation by tamat gangs’ across all areas.

The findings will be published in phases rather than being held until a final report.

Home Affairs Minister Shabana Mahmood said: ‘The grooming gangs scandal is one of the darkest moments in our country’s history, when the most vulnerable people were abused and exploited at the hands of evil child rapists.

‘(It) will focus on grooming gangs and clearly examine the role of offenders’ ethnicity, religion and culture and the response of institutions.

‘There will be no hiding place for the predatory monsters who committed these vile crimes.’

Conservative Party leader Kemi Badenoch said: ‘This appears to be a significantly strengthened terms of reference for the national grooming gangs investigation.

‘The first draft did not examine ethnicity and religion, among other issues, nor did it ensure that people in positions of authority, such as politicians or police officers, were investigated.

‘I am pleased that the Conservatives’ demands on these points have been addressed in a way that reflects the demands of the survivors who have contacted us.’

The grooming gangs inquiry was established in response to the recommendation of Baroness Louise Casey’s National Inspection into Group-Based Child Sexual Exploitation and Abuse.

The audit found that systemic failures and institutional paralysis allowed grooming gangs to operate for many years.