Children and teenage girls were blamed for crimes perpetrated against them, a “deeply disturbing” report into grooming gangs has found.
Yvette Cooper has vowed to take immediate action on 12 recommendations by Baroness Louise Casey following a rapid national audit on grooming gangs in Britain.
The home secretary said there had been ”too much denial’ and “too little justice” for victims as she announced a string of measures, including a time-limited national inquiry and mandatory collecting of data on the nationality and ethnicity of perpetrators.
Addressing the Commons ahead of the audit’s publication on Monday, Ms Cooper revealed:
- The report found “clear evidence” of over representation of Asian and Pakistani heritage men among grooming gang suspects
- The government issued an “unequivocal apology” to victims for the country’s failure to keep them safe
- The audit identifies a deep-rooted failure to “treat children as children” in investigations
- Grooming gangs are to be treated as “serious and organised crime” and more than 800 cold cases will be followed up by the National Crime Agency
- Asylum seekers who are found guilty of grooming children or committing sexual offences will have their applications rejected
Baroness Casey’s analysis of data from three police forces has identified “clear evidence of overrepresentation among suspects of Asian and Pakistani heritage men”, Ms Cooper has said.
She told the Commons: “The sexual exploitation of children by grooming gangs is one of the most horrific crimes. Children as young as 10 plied with drugs and alcohol, brutally raped by gangs of men and disgracefully let down again and again by the authorities who were meant to protect them and keep them safe.”
Ms Cooper said “the findings of her audit damning” and added: “She has found continued failure to gather proper robust national data despite concerns being raised going back very many years.
“In the local data that the audit examined from three police forces, they identify clear evidence of overrepresentation among suspects of Asian and Pakistani heritage men, and she refers to examples of organisations avoiding the topic altogether for fear of appearing racist or raising community tensions.”
The national inquiry into grooming gangs will aim to tackle “continued denial, resistance and legal wrangling”, she added.
Baroness Louise Casey’s findings, revealed in a near 200-page on Monday, prompted Keir Starmer to bow to months of pressure by announcing a statutory national inquiry.
Earlier this year the government dismissed calls for a public inquiry, saying it would focus on following through with outstanding recommendations made in a seven-year national inquiry into child sexual abuse by Professor Alexis Jay.
Sir Keir became embroiled in a row with Elon Musk, who also waded in to the debate as he backed calls for a national investigation.
The tech billionaire launched a series of attacks on his social media site X (formerly Twitter), calling safeguarding minister Jess Phillips a “rape genocide apologist” and accusing Sir Keir of “hiding terrible things”.
Baroness Casey, who previously led a damning review of the Metropolitan Police, was appointed to carry out a rapid national audit looking at the scale of grooming gangs across the country.
No 10 said the national probe would look at how young girls “were failed so badly” and institutions who failed to act to protect them will “not be able to hide and will finally be held to account for their actions”.
The Home Office has confirmed that the National Crime Agency (NCA) will carry out a nationwide operation targeting people who have sexually exploited children and follow up on more than 800 cold cases.
The NCA will work in partnership with police forces to investigate cases that “were not progressed through the criminal justice system” in the past.
Local inquiries already announced are expected to become part of the national inquiry, Downing Street said.
It will build on the seven-year Independent Inquiry into Child Sexual Abuse (IICSA), led by Professor Jay, which found institutional failings and tens of thousands of victims across England and Wales.
However a children’s charity has cautioned that the government must not wait until the end of the new inquiry to implement the recommendations from Professor Jay.
Lynn Perry, chief executive of Barnardo’s, said: “Children and survivors of abuse have already been waiting many years for action, so it’s vital the government doesn’t wait for the outcome of this new inquiry to implement recommendations from previous ones.
“That includes upskilling social workers and other professionals to spot the signs of abuse, as well as investing in vital support services to help children experiencing life-changing consequences of abuse and to keep them safe from further harm.”
More follows on this breaking news story…
