Gov refuses home office investigation into historic child sex abuse in Oldham

[Perzival]

I've just read on x that Jess Phillips has formally declined Oldham council's request for the HO to investigate the grooming gangs in Oldham. Why on Earth would they do this? Apparently JP says it should be a local investigation? Clearly that is a conflict of interests and if the council are asking for help they should?

The only link I can find other than x is GB news (apologies).

https://www.gbnews.com/news/oldham-grooming-gangs-labour-government-inquiry-abuse-scandal

50 towns!? Wtf, this is a massive institutional failure.

It is in the video. I would need to watch ir again to remember the name.

Firstly. The Home Office cannot investigate. They don't have any investigative capacity or legal powers. The only national body with such powers is the NCA. However this is wildly outside their remit and it was a huge mistake that they were brought in to investigate Rotherham. They have been bogged down for years and pretty much ended up outsourcing the job to staff brought in.

So whilst I have no time for Jess Phillips or the awful government she is part of that makes promises galore from opposition and then refuses to make good, this is actually the right decision. The local force should be doing any required investigation and if they are not, then the Mayor (Andy Burnham) should hold the chief Constable to account for his rationale.

You may disagree with this but Urban Scoop (you tube) have the actual documentaries that delve into this. You may indeed not like the presenter (I will hold my hands up and say I do like the presenter) But the girls involved,their families and supporting agencies all talk about what is happening. It is not a nice watch but I think it is very important.
As for JP ..well nothing will happen there as we will not upset" certain communities "so the above victims can shut up. Theres your two tier for you!

It looks as if Louise Casey's report was pretty much buried too. She has just brought out a recent report on corruption/ misogyny/ racism in the Met police and we haven't heard much about that either.

People – at all levels of society – turned a blind eye to this, and still do, because it's a 'right-wing concern' and it would be 'racist' to bring it up.

As if that's more important than protecting children from the most sickening abuse.

The pattern is clear as day.

Who?

Anne Cryer received so may death threats after spealing out about this that her health broke down and she stood down from her position as MP.
It is all depressingly familiar.

I think the hate towards Jess Phillips is misplaced and frankly quite dangerous. I read this as Oldham should conduct their own investigation first as an independent review has already happened and they are wanting to implement its findings rather than further reviews.

I do worry that stirring up hate against a female politician is dangerous, Jo Cox anyone?

The whole thing is disgusting though and was covered up for years allowing children to be be continuously abused and raped, blaming them and to avoid civil unrest. Utterly depraved behaviour.

Must be Keir's wife

Yep. But unfortunately a lot of people prefer drama to the actual process required.

Thanks

I have never once heard the Muslim community say what they will do to tackle this problem. Not once. It makes me sick. It goes completely ignored by them.

Thanks for this more here
https://conservativepost.co.uk/labour-blocks-call-for-grooming-gangs-inquiry-survivors-slam-jess-phillips-sickening-betrayal/

As to the disgusting posters jumping on this morning in defence of labour and Jess Philips you should hang your heads in shame.

Utterly vile, and utterly shameful. It was easy when labour were in opposition to cast stones now they are in charge all the disgusting apologists are out in force trying their best to cover up and save their votes.

Thanks to others in this thread I’m now watching GB news.

Jess Philips is a careerist before she is a feminist. No one thinks more highly of Jess Philips than Jess Philips. According to Jess Philips, Jess Philips is a strong, fEiSty, fearless feminist who never stops fighting for vulnerable women and girls. Until those vulnerable women and girls threaten to expose Jess Philips for turning a blind eye to decades of gender-based abuse on her patch. At that point, Jess Philips' actions demonstrate that in Jess Philips' world, Jess Philips comes first.

This can also be applied to jumping the queue in A&E by virtue of her political views and then boasting about it on Twitter. So that all of Jess Philips' constituents can see how blessed, privileged and savvy their adored Jess Philips is.

I don't think Jess Phillips has covered herself in glory but she is just the latest minor functionary acting on behalf of a system which wants to cover this up - focus should be on the abused girls and the men who rape/d them, and the way this was covered up both by complicit police/council members and by well-meaning people who didn't want to look racist.

I find it interesting to compare this to say Sarah Everard - which had heaps of full threads here on Mumsnet.

I've been hunting for coverage of this story and hardly finding a thing. OP - why do you apologise for it coming from GB News? They've covered this but still they're wrong in the eyes of some. What a shame you see it like that..

Huh? So the rapes/grooming took place over an approx 15 year period from the late 90s to around 2013, a report in 2014 highlighted the issues and the multitude of failures.

So what exactly did the Tories do about all of this for the 14 years?

Why isn't a localised investigation for relevant now? it would certainly report a lot quicker than some judge led inquiry reporting in 5 years time aka as the CV inquiries/bloody Sunday shootings/infected blood etc etc

Surely a better use of public funds would be to stop the sexual violence against women and children which has now become endemic over the last decade or so, with prosecutions at all time lows.

But what seems to happen with all these Tory failures is that Tory supporters will blame Labour for them.

The government are not the police. It's is not their role to investigate crimes.
A government enquiry would take place if and when the local authority/ police have concluded their investigations and only it was thought that they were improper / inadequate.

The reason this is not being reported except on Twitter and GBbies is because it a non story designed to beat Labour with and whip up an angry mob.

As someone who was generally aware of the scandal and cases, some of the details coming out have sickened me. It is almost unimaginable depravity.
it is astounding, nay disgusting there isn’t to be a wider investigation into the events and those that sought to cover them up. Agree with a pp who said it is frankly sinister.
(Really horrific written details contained in the sensitive image).

We have govt inquiries for everything... except this.

https://x.com/sashworthhayes/status/1874087771465539614?s=46&t=omuKeAgAjscgni2jfxrNng
Sam Ashworth-Hayes posts on the coverup are essential but deeply disturbing reading. It’s vile and rotten.

@itsjustbiology I saw that when I went down a rabbit hole for hours last night. I’m going to watch it today - apparently it has been shadow banned on YouTube (so I read).

Its interesting how people are so quick to label GB news and the urban scoop presenter etc. Surely you can agree with one thing a person says and disagree with another rather than cancelling them completely? Anyone who investigates child rape being covered up by authorities is surely doing the right thing.

The government need to investigate why the media are not reporting on this or are the government asking them to be silent? If so it’s good for the public that X users are highlighting this. So much stuff is apologised for on MN (ie referencing the daily Mail, gb news etc).

I don’t see how a local council or local police force can investigate what has happened, too many reports of officials wanting it covered up/threats etc. An external body/ external county needs to do it. This was occurring in 50 plus towns and some say it’s still going on. A young girl called Charlene was murdered - I won’t write here what they think happened to her body.

It’s the AMOUNT of men from these communities that are involved. Why are the other men silent? Why are the women and religious leaders silent? Are the men just chatting to each other over dinner about raping young girls. What is going on? 50 plus towns. So thousands of men (plus however many have not been caught). Why do they think it’s okay to abuse white and Sikh girls? Is this a radical issue? Is it racism? If so why aren’t moderates in the communities speaking out? Are Muslim girls are also being raped and abused are they just remaining silent or do they only rape people not part of their community?

How do these men find each other? Why are there so many of them?

I am very impressed that this has reached so many people on Twitter. I hope it enables the women and girls to get the justice they deserve. I am no longer sure why I am paying for a TV licence tbh - the bbc seem to hide so much. I doubt Starmer will be interested in this. His behaviour surrounding Southport was disgusting.

Now we luckily have Australians, Americans asking questions that OUR leaders should have been asking. Hopefully shame will make our leaders investigate and listen to people like Sammy and the other victims of abuse and their offspring who are forced to see gang rapists - (why would the authorities allow the child of a child rape victim see the gang rapist father who is okay with gang raping small children?).

I am also saddened as to why people like Sammy Woodhouse etc are not posting on Mumsnet. This is about children. Do they feel that we wouldn’t listen and support?

I do now think the government are okay with little white girls being collateral damage to keep the peace. It’s a fucking disgrace.

I see on X that Rupert Lowe is going to be asking parliament questions. He’s a reform MP.

https://x.com/KemiBadenoch/status/1874749990842814606
The time is long overdue for a full national inquiry into the rape gangs scandal. Trials have taken place all over the country in recent years but no one in authority has joined the dots. 2025 must be the year that the victims start to get justice

These men find each other because they work together, are related to each other and live in very close knit communities, share the same religious and cultural beliefs. The chance of anyone who knew them reporting the behaviour would be virtually zero. I remember these events as if it was yesterday and thinking then that the cover up was extraordinary. What happened to Anne Cryer (and female teachers, nurses, social workers and the parents of girls who actually had parents) was dreadful, but nothing has changed.