Government on child sex abuse and rape gangs - new authority set up, gang enquiries dropped.

[ArabellaScott]

New child protection authority to be set up.

https://www.independent.co.uk/news/uk/home-news/government-jess-phillips-home-office-inquiry-elon-musk-b2729520.html

“Building on the national child safeguarding review panel, the child protection authority will address one of IICSA’s central recommendations for providing national leadership and learning on child protection and safeguarding.
“Work to expand the role of the panel will begin immediately, and we will consult on developing the new authority this year.”
...
'Baroness Casey’s three-month national audit on group-based child sexual exploitation and abuse is ongoing. It is building a comprehensive national picture of what is known about child sexual exploitation, identifying local and national trends, assessing the quality of data, looking at the ethnicity issues faced, for example, by cases involving Pakistani heritage gangs, and reviewing police and wider agency understanding. We are developing a new best practice framework to support local authorities that want to undertake victim-centred local inquiries or related work, drawing on the lessons from local independent inquiries such as those in Telford, Rotherham and Greater Manchester. We will publish the details next month.'

However:

Five enquiries into grooming gangs are dropped.

'Katie Lam MP, who responded to the statement, told GB News: “Children across Britain have been sexually tortured by gangs of men.
"We must confront the reality of these crimes and how so many people in positions of power let them go on so long.
“Local inquiries are not good enough — they can’t compel witnesses, they can’t look at themes across the country, and they can’t address national issues like deportation.
“Now the Government is watering them down even further. We won’t let them get away with it.”

'In January, the Home Secretary said that the Government would conduct five local inquiries into the rape gangs who have terrorised so many innocent children. More than three months since the Government announced those local inquiries, Tom Crowther KC, a barrister invited by the Home Office to help establish them, knows almost nothing about their progress, and neither do we. Why is the framework for local inquiries now being led by Ministers, rather than by independent voices such as Tom Crowther? Why is the £5 million set aside for inquiries no longer being allocated, but instead delivered on an “opt-in” basis? What do the Government intend to do about local leaders who say there is no need for an independent inquiry, as they do in Bradford and in Wales?'

https://www.gbnews.com/news/labour-grooming-gang-inquiries-plan-dropped-jess-phillips

Hansard:

https://hansard.parliament.uk/commons/2025-04-08/debates/4FDDC9A4-1AC6-4F34-8E6B-3DF6CC2C981A/TacklingChildSexualAbuse

Content warning: The most upsetting speech I've ever heard from Westminster. Details of CSA.

There's a problem both with the police and certain area Asian grooming gangs. It's not one or the other. They wouldn't have succeeded if not for the willingness of authorities to look the other way, as well as social workers etc.

There is some statistics to indicate this see i.e. https://www.spectator.co.uk/article/how-pakistans-rape-culture-led-to-the-uk-grooming-gangs/ I don't agree with all the analysis but unfortunately mainstream media avoids considering any suggestion of a cultural aspect. NB most sexual assault is known to victim which would explain why most perpetrators are white. Again there is also some evidence Asian victims are less likely to be believed and reported.

There are suggestions that there were and may still be substantial Asian gangs in other areas as bad or worse than Rotherham but there hasn't been a proper inquiry and bringing to light in the same way. However it seems quite likely that there were similar motivations towards white girls who were "othered" and easy to target.

I was following a particular important trial, and the only reporting I could find on it was GB news. The only reporter there was GB news. After Elon Musk suddenly it was on the BBC and elsewhere.

The other inquiry incorporated one victim:

https://x.com/cdp1882/status/1910357283013337147?s=46&t=WHoOZ_3Kv5G6-FyQuvE0LQ

A solicitor who worked on it said it didn’t look at the grooming issue under discussion

x.com/richard_scorer/status/1910362193670873427?s=46&t=WHoOZ_3Kv5G6-FyQuvE0LQ

And nor did they try to get such cases into their work

https://x.com/richard_scorer/status/1910382375843881429?s=46&t=WHoOZ_3Kv5G6-FyQuvE0LQ

Maggie Oliver published her witness statement, which the inquiry heavily redacted. She called the inquiry a whitewash in an interview

https://www.themaggieoliverfoundation.com/images/in-the-media/Margaret-Oliver-Witness-Statement-IICSA-2.pdf

https://x.com/talktv/status/1876559226492854471?s=48&t=WHoOZ_3Kv5G6-FyQuvE0LQ

You have paraphrased 'culture' into 'brown Muslim men'. Your mind went there, not mine.
All the various reports make recommendations that the ethnicities of perpetrators and victims should be recorded, along with other data such as age and disability. They would not do this if they did not think that ethnicity might be a factor, for any number of reasons.
You want me to be one of the bad guys, but you are mistaken. However, there are plenty of bad guys out there and everytime the 'racist, right wing' label is wheeled out a few more of them shift even further to the right. You are part of the problem.

Julie Bindel did a good article about it in May 2021-

Most media reports approach complex stories like this as being about race or class or sex – never all three at once. But the truth is that these children were abused because they were girls. They were denied any pretence of protection from the authorities because they were poor. They were targeted because of their race and then ignored by authorities that simultaneously feared being accused of racism while adopting racist assumptions about the sorts of white girls who would “sleep with” brown men. This is about race and class and sex. And misogyny runs through all three.

The UK’s ‘grooming gang’ scandal is about race, class and misogyny

Well said.

it’s not small to those girls

exactly

3.9% of [group-based child abusers] were of Pakistani origin. The figure increases ... to 13.7% if you remove institutional groups, such as sports groups, schools and church-based group[s]...

So, if you remove from the count those groups least likely to include Pakistanis, they will increase as a proportion of the remaining count (and vice versa) . White men join institutions to get opportunities to offend. Pakistanis instead are already known or related to one another and to do work that facilitates the abuse (taxis and takeaways).

Different policing opportunities: dismal response both by institutions and the police. Because misogyny, snobbery, callousness, institutional defensiveness, and laziness ("worried about community tensions" - puhlease! These men are terrorising their own communities, abusing the electoral process, and corrupting their young men and boys).

The one aspect I hadn't previously fully grasped until I heard Lam's speech (as an elderly female lefty, I had rather vaguely assumed that this was a problem that would be fixed by better, cleverer, police-work) is that social workers, policemen, and council employees/representatives have been colluding or actively taking part. And are now asked to mark their own homework, and given a risible amount of money to do it, to boot. Even if collusion is not rife, this approach to investigation is full of moral hazard.

At the very least, if police are going to analyse historic NFA reports, get an independent out-of-county force to do it. It's a small measure, but it could be the sort of thread which, if pulled on, will unravel the whole thing.

You are almost there, but for the fact that the girls were put in taxis and driven miles across country to be shared with another group of related/ connected individuals. It wasn't just one town. It was a network across and up and down the country.

Presumably it's still happening. So ◇ who is independent enough, and powerful enough, to stop it happening, and quickly? The police can't all be corrupt or lazy.

◇ not a rhetorical question.

Request for transcripts of a court case rejected. Reason: “not in the public interest”

https://x.com/cdp1882/status/1910995830816879066?s=46&t=WHoOZ_3Kv5G6-FyQuvE0LQ

https://x.com/cdp1882/status/1911009441564053719?s=46&t=WHoOZ_3Kv5G6-FyQuvE0LQ

https://x.com/_robbiemoore/status/1911011326383599888?s=46&t=WHoOZ_3Kv5G6-FyQuvE0LQ

https://x.com/recusant_raja/status/1911012774810894643?s=46&t=WHoOZ_3Kv5G6-FyQuvE0LQ

I think maybe a full inquiry isnt needed, but targeted investigations.

Like who decided that the police investigation that Maggie Oliver was involved in was to be closed down?

Why would a judge decide that publishing a court transcript not in the public interest - surely the court cases wasnt behind closed doors in the first place?

Also issues with sentencing.

x.com/RobertJenrick/status/1881248515206127948

Jan 20
A queue of men awaiting their turn to rape a child.

Bradford Crown Court's answer?
6 years. Out on licence in 4.

This is not justice.

A 🧵
Robert Jenrick
@RobertJenrick
Last week 3 child gang rapists were sentenced.

They were sent down for 6, 7 and 9 years respectively.

For Category 1A offences, the guidelines stipulate a starting point of 15 years with a range of 13-19 years.

When guidelines say 15 years and courts give 6, something's gone badly wrong.

You get longer for dealing drugs than for raping children.
2/6
7:52 AM · Jan 20, 2025

Jan 20
The court's reasoning was shocking:

One rapist got a reduced sentence because he's now "very, very different" and "involved with his local mosque."

How does being involved in your local mosque reduce your sentence for child rape?

This isn't just weak sentencing. It's dangerous naivety.
3/6
Robert Jenrick
@RobertJenrick
·
Jan 20
These cases are not unique.

A man from Sheffield was found guilty of eight counts of child rape and jailed for just 13 years.

A man from Rotherham got 35 years for 23 counts of rape, involving 15 girls. That’s less than 2 years for each rape.
4/6

Robert Jenrick

Jan 20
Every day these sentences stand is another day victims lose faith in justice.

Multiple rapes. Multiple attackers. Multiple victims. Minimum sentences.

I’ve written to the Attorney General requesting he review these as ‘unduly lenient sentences’ and send them to the Court of Appeal.

Jan 20
Our criminal justice system needs fundamental reform.

Judges should be applying the guidelines to pass stronger sentences now.

And the law should be strengthened.

Under the Sentencing Bill which fell at the general election, rapists would have served their entire sentences in prison

Yvette Cooper employed the ex leader of Oldham council. Its perfectly reasonable to employ a fellow party professional, but it demonstrates how intertwined regional and national politics are, and where loyalties and inflence can form.

The transcript that the judge has decided ‘is not in the public interest’ was to cost the victim £7000 and the money was crowdfunded.

I believe it is. in the public interest to read the transcript. It’s clearly not in the Government’s interest though, they don’t want the world seeing their coverup. The transcripts show the men tortured their victims, they show they had a problem with white girls (white trash etc). Did this happen all over the U.K.?

GB news extract with open justice. GB have done a very good job on this topic in 2025.

https://x.com/GBNEWS/status/1910993147686969720

BBC article on rape last year -

Sophie Francis-Cansfield, head of external affairs at charity Women's Aid, said victims had "long been lobbying the government" on the issue, stressing "access to justice should not cost survivors thousands of pounds".
"Survivors and victims' families currently face an impossible choice - either attend court and be sat next to the defendant and their family, or be actively discouraged from attending and therefore unable to establish what happened during trial", she said.
"These options are not conducive to open justice and do not enable recovery from what is without a doubt a traumatic event."

www.bbc.co.uk/news/uk-england-london-68881897.amp

I started a thread about the rape and gang culture crisis in Sweden being perpetrated by their newly arrived immigrants from Muslim countries. Pretty much shouted down by the leftie feminists. These people, however, are second or third generation Pakistanis. Which means the misogyny is deeply embedded in their culture and religion. 1,2,3, deleted,

Excellent article by Kathleen Stock. I particularly like the zooming in and out metaphor. This has occurred on this thread.

https://www.thetimes.com/article/f3830e8e-80fc-4165-a71d-028b8358b8bd?shareToken=c87c639c2f63a8efec93ba1bbf7276ed

But a desire for better understanding is not the only reason to hold inquiries in public. They also serve an important symbolic function. In this case, an inquiry would bear witness, in front of the watching world, to the wholly undeserved suffering of women who by now have been victimised multiple times: first as children at the hands of their aggressors and then by police, social workers, councillors, politicians and everyone else who sneered or looked embarrassed, then looked away. They fully deserve a public hearing of their own. Assuming Labour doesn’t want the right to take over the issue entirely, it simply cannot afford to prioritise the avoidance of hurtful words over the scrutiny of hurtful deeds.

In the ensuing fallout, a familiar, frustratingly counterproductive approach from political leaders has been taken, which I call the “zoom-out” protocol. The unspoken rule seems to be: whenever there’s a negative social issue mainly involving members of a non-white ethnic or religious minority, zoom out as if you were operating a wide-angle lens and talk about the problem as a general one, rooted only in human nature. If, on the other hand, you are talking about a negative issue involving mostly white people, relax about any unflattering angles; feel free to zoom in with as high definition as your camera provides.

There has definitely been some zooming out on this thread

@Imnobody4

The zoom in / zoom out is a very interesting description.

I am reading historic articles too - I found this written by Yasmi Alibhai- Brown in 2017. It’s in the daily mail but it involves interviews with the wives and children of the Rochdale criminals. The women suggest the men were abusing their wives too (domestic violence and rape) but the wives also blamed the white girls.

www.dailymail.co.uk/news/article-4936754/amp/Wives-men-jailed-rape-blame-victims-too.html

Extract -

‘’Yet, painful as it is to say, it became clear, too, that the men are not alone in blaming the victims. I asked the women how they would feel if their children had been drugged and raped. They agreed it would break their hearts. But, Mariam said: ‘It can’t happen to our children because they are not in the streets. We look after them.’
Only Nusrat and Nila were prepared to condemn the abuse without reservation. The others, it seemed, privately blamed the girls and even their parents. It became clear they had a very confused sense of morality.

Nusrat fought back, saying: ‘You know our girls are raped by uncles, fathers, brothers and imams. My neighbour’s daughter had a baby when she was 12. It was her uncle. They blamed her. Sent her to Pakistan. We don’t see the truth.’

But later, at a separate meeting, I encountered Suju, the wife of another jailed groomer. She was afraid of him but she, too, thinks white girls are: ‘Filthy. How they dress. They have no shame, no fear of Allah.’’

Personally I think a full inquiry is needed. We need to know why this was covered up and those in authority who covered this up need to face the law and hopefully time in prison.

And what are we doing about the vile men that are raping their wives and nieces and sisters? Nusrat saying girls are being raped by brothers and imams. Was this investigated? Does this need to be addressed too? Are these women still at risk?

I will say again that nurses, GPs, teachers and social workers knew all this was going on decades ago. It has been covered up and excused for so long, it is difficult to know how on earth it is all going to be unravelled after all this time.

And MPs and local councillors.

I wonder if some of the reports, like the police officer arresting girls, but not the perpetrators, are officers trying to get girls out of immediate danger, knowing nothing will come of arresting the men?

There's a report of a social worker attending the 'wedding' of a 15 year old girl and being allowed to live with the man and his parents. I cant see how that protects the girl, even temporarily.

It's a failure of policing. What nurses, GPs, teachers and social workers may have done or not done is irrelevant although if they were aware of abuse they should have reported it to the police & now have a legal obligation to report abuse. There are police officers who should be fired for misconduct. An external police force needs to be called in to investigate the police.

Someone upthread pointed out that there's a county lines type enterprise going on for trafficking victims between areas. So you'd have to make sure it was the right external police force.

They were reporting it to the police.
The same way the nurses at Stoke Mandeville were trying to raise awareness about Jimmy Saville. But JS was best friends with the top echelons of West Yorkshire police.