Listen: Bishop of Manchester's bizarre grooming gang speech
This is not a pattern of offending confined to any particular ethnic cultural or religious group. I hope that the forthcoming inquiry will help us find ways to keep young girls safe from the groups of predatory older men, whatever their origin. But it is a natural human tendency to want to think that such horrendous crimes are only carried out by people who are not like us.
Whilst gangs may dominate the news headlines, child protection experts affirm that the vast majority of child sexual exploitation is committed by the victim's close family members or family friends.
In fact, Pakistani men are up to five times as likely to be responsible for child sex grooming offences than the general population, according to figures from the Hydrant Programme, which investigates child sex abuse. Around one in 73 Muslim men over 16 have been prosecuted for 'group-localised child sexual exploitation' in Rotherham, research by academics from the universities of Reading and Chichester has revealed.
Indeed, after Reverend Walker's speech, presenter Nick Robinson noted the new national inquiry announced by Sir Keir Starmer was into grooming gangs constituted 'of men of largely Pakistani heritage'. Listen to the full clip here:
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