To be horrified at how much worse the "grooming gangs" actually were than I thought

There was not this level of information. I say this as somebody who reads a broadsheet daily, watches , is active on social media, on here, etc.

As others said, the narrative was that these were girls tricked into having exploitative sexual relationships with older men who they believed were their boyfriends. They were plied with dino and dugs. Reprehensible, abusive, but not the level of violence and sadism we have since seen. Neither was the widespread corruption in the police, councils, social services etc given much prominence.

In any case, even if it were shouted to the rooftops previously, why should we not discuss it now? Why are you so keen for this not to be discussed?

From the first 2013 article I linked

The girls – all of whom came from backgrounds in care – were drugged, raped, sold as prostitutes and trafficked around the country while supposedly in the safekeeping of the local authority in the city.

Police were alerted at least six times by victims – who were aged between 11 and 15 – of the exploitation and horrors that were taking place within flats and guesthouses and in the parks and open spaces of the Cowley area of Oxford

The gang of men – most of whom are of British Pakistani descent – subjected the girls to acts of sexual depravity of such extreme violence that police sources said it amounted to torture.
The men – who included two sets of brothers – denied 47 charges relating to six girls aged between 11 and 15 over eight years in the Cowley area.
In all they faced 66 counts, which included trafficking, forcing girls into prostitution, procuring an illegal abortion, rape and physical violence. The men plied the girls with drink and drugs such as crack and heroin, to which they became addicted.

Just because you couldn’t be bothered to read beyond the headlines doesn’t mean that this wasn’t covered by the media.

Child rape, murder and torture gangs

I believe they are having to crowd fund to even get some of the transcripts of the court cases. So no, it hasn't all been out in the open for years.

It is truly horrendous and words cannot express how badly these girls have been treated. By so, so many.

It was child sexual abuse on an epic scale. Nearly all were children.
It’s an absolute travesty and scandal.
I tried to read the impact statements and couldn’t get to the end.
The fact is do we know this has even stopped? What is being done to prevent the same thing happening again and again?

@Bluepiano God I hate posts like yours.
Totally ignoring it is a male problem just because a teeny % of women are involved, and those are usually because of men. Fuck off.

I haven't read any recent news reports about it but was aware of those details having read the reports of the trials at the time. It was well publicised in the papers and I think there were also TV shows about it.

I am also from West Yorkshire and completely agree with everything you've said.
The naivety of some posters who think that all of this stopped and disappeared once there was an enquiry into it is astounding.
This is still going on, it's a huge problem and it's still being covered up.

Grooming gang' is what they were called but it's much worse, child abuse ring?

The word abuse sounds too tame for what they did.

OP did you see what happened when a Telford survivor, Samantha Smith, spoke about her ordeal on GB News?
The police paid her a visit.

Hang on: you are denying there are gang-controlled areas in the UK to a woman who is telling you she knows there are (/were) because she was there.

I don’t know how old you are, but Belfast was/is riven with gang-controlled areas.

In the present, my home town has just seen a gang murder of teenagers (white on white, if that makes it more palatable to you) over territory.

How are you so sure no such thing exists?

Do you mean the accounts of abuse? The testimony given at trial? Did you really need to read every graphic detail before you could summon up some outrage and empathy? These girls were horrifically abused. That’s why many (though not all) the men involved were jailed.

I was the same as the OP though. I thought that what was happening was that young girls from difficult backgrounds or in care were voluntarily entering into these relationships, albeit that they were too young in some cases to legally consent to sex. I knew that police and social workers were turning a bllind eye. It was all bad enough, and the classism was shocking, but I had NO IDEA that there was extreme sexual torture, gang rape, violence, intimidation and murder.

Statistically, 99% of sexual abuse is carried out by men. I was going to say 98%, but that was the previous figure. The most recent data shows it is 99%.

So yes, occasionally, women carry out these crimes. But the vast, vast majority are perpetrated by men.

It is true.

Women DO NOT OFFEND AT THE RATE MEN DO.

When women offend it is usually coercion rather than torture imprisonment and gang rape.

Stop talking utter shit on a women's forum.

Indeed and the abuse is ongoing.

And more than 90% of the time when women do it, it because a man wants them to.

Can we call them "child rape and torture gangs"?

If someone does a bit of shoplifting then murders a man at the bus stop on the way home they are a murderer, not a shoplifter.

These men are child rapists. There are thousands of them. In West Yorks we have MANY police in these gangs - police, councillors and 'community elders' involved in cover ups. It is evil incarnate and have effected hundreds of thousands of poor girls over decades and NO ONE HAS DONE ANYTHING.

Follow and listen to Maggie Oliver - she is an authority and wise.

there has been many Investigations into such events. The problem is that the recommendations have not been implemented.

Do you mean the accounts of abuse? The testimony given at trial? Did you really need to read every graphic detail before you could summon up some outrage and empathy? These girls were horrifically abused. That’s why many (though not all) the men involved were jailed.

I think the reason is that nice middle-class people who were lucky to be born into nice, fortunate families think that most people get where they get to because of their own choices, just like they did.

These girls (so the middle classes think) are just girls who made poor choices, and chose to sell sexual access to their bodies for cigarettes or a mobile phone.

Nice middle-class girls wouldn't do that, they have more self respect.

Some girls apparently like having their anus stretched with a pump so 4 men can penetrate their anus at one time. Choicey choices. Sex work is work. It would be rude to slut shame. Sex positivity. Stop being so narrow minded.

The number of men heavily outweighs the number of women

This simply isn’t true. There are plenty of examples of women sexually abusing children. They are not hard to find.

Maggie Oliver was talking about it for years. She was a police officer who went on leave to care for her dying husband. When she arrived back at work, after he had sadly passed, the investigative unit she had been head of had been disbanded. She left the service over it I believe. She’s absolutely brilliant.

Maggie Oliver Foundation:-

www.themaggieoliverfoundation.com