A police chief has promised to go after child rapists and paedophiles “relentlessly” after decades of failures over grooming gangs.
Greater Manchester Police (GMP) Chief Constable Sir Stephen Watson also said those who failed victims in the past “should face justice like anyone else”.
Mr Watson was speaking after a press conference in response to a report by police watchdogs which was largely positive about GMP’s turnaround in tackling the gangs.
The report also said the force is now investigating more than 1,000 grooming gang suspects.
Mr Watson said: “To those who are responsible for these repugnant crimes – as is now very apparent – we will pursue you relentlessly.”
The chief constable also said the role ethnicity plays in grooming gang offending is a “legitimate question” and may be explored in a future national inquiry.
Asked if prosecutions should follow if the inquiry shows officials failed to act, Mr Watson said: “It is my hope that where people do bear an accountability, that they should legitimately answer for their decisions and if the determination is that they are somehow culpable then of course they should face justice like anyone else.”
GMP has made “significant improvements” in how it investigates group-based sexual exploitation of children, or grooming gangs, and other types of child sexual abuse offences, according to the report by His Majesty’s Inspectorate of Constabulary and Fire & Rescue Services.
The 76-page report looks at the current and ongoing way grooming gangs and other child sex offences are handled by the police, health bodies and the 10 councils in Greater Manchester.
It said police have live investigations into “multi-victim, multi-offender” child sexual exploitation inquiries, involving 714 victims and survivors, and 1,099 suspects.
Michelle Skeer, His Majesty’s Inspector of Constabulary, said: “We found that since 2019, when Greater Manchester Police started to review its non-recent child sexual exploitation investigations, the force has improved its understanding and approach to investigating allegations of child criminal and sexual exploitation.
“It is clear that the force has, for many years, been trying to provide a better service to those who have or may have experienced sexual exploitation.
“But for some, trust and confidence in the police had been lost, and the force would not be able to rectify their experiences.
“It is vital that improvements are led by victims’ experiences, and if they do come forward, they are supported, protected and taken seriously.”
The report from inspectors found Sir Stephen and other senior officers make sure all ranks understand child protection is a priority, it said, with he or deputy chief constables having personally spoken to every supervisor in the force about it.
The report states: “Officers told us that, due to a cultural shift in Greater Manchester Police, investigating child sexual exploitation is now considered ‘everyone’s business’.”
Grooming gangs also “feature heavily” in chief officer meetings, with performance monitored closely, the report said.
GMP is the only force in the country to set up a dedicated team to investigate grooming gangs, which it did in 2021, now called the Child Sexual Exploitation Major Investigation Team (CSE MIT), with around 100 staff and a ring-fenced budget.
The force also approaches child sexual exploitation as it does serious and organised crime gangs, using specialist tactics.
In October 2024, the force told inspectors there were 59 live multi-victim, multi-offender child sexual exploitation investigations, of which 13 were being managed by the CSE MIT.
In these active investigations, there were 714 victims and survivors, and 1,099 suspects.
The force has also recorded demographic data, such as the age, sex and ethnicity of potential victims and suspects, and uses “intelligence products” to produce “problem profiles” to detail emerging threats and risks.
A recent report by Baroness Casey found a significant over-representation of Asian men who are suspects in grooming gangs in Greater Manchester, adding though authorities are in “denial” more needs to be done to understand why this is the case.
Inspectors also said the force is aware of “training gaps” in some investigation teams and that some victims had been let down in the way their case was handled.
The report also pointed to issues with data sharing, with local councils sometimes not willing to provide detectives with information, leading to “significant delays in investigations” into grooming gangs.
It cites problems with intelligence provided by Manchester City Council, which took months to arrive and “was so heavily redacted that some pages contained only a few words”, the report said.
Nevertheless, so far the CSE MIT and the earlier grooming gang investigations have resulted in 42 convictions and more than 430 years’ imprisonment for offenders.
Investigations are ongoing and several more trials are scheduled.
The report adds: “The force fully accepts that it made mistakes in the past.
“It has taken positive and effective steps to learn from these mistakes and improve how it investigates recent and non-recent child sexual exploitation.”
Mayor of Greater Manchester Andy Burnham said: “I am confident in my view that the Greater Manchester system is in a demonstrably different and far stronger place today than it was when the failings happened.
“The effect of the assurance review I commissioned has been to usher in widespread culture change across all GM bodies. Never again will any child here be labelled or dismissed when they come forward to report concerns.
“Now the national inquiry is being put in place, we must allow victims the space and the right climate to have their voices heard, allow the actual truth to be established and accountability delivered.”
