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The Independent
2 days ago
- The Independent
Rotherham survivors say they were also abused by police officers
Survivors of sexual exploitation in Rotherham have 'no faith' in the police force investigating allegations its own officers took part in abuse in the town, according to solicitors. The police watchdog has said there is no conflict of interest surrounding South Yorkshire Police (SYP) investigating its own staff after victims of the Rotherham abuse scandal said they were abused by serving officers. Five women have told the BBC how they were exploited by grooming gangs in the town when they were children and also sexually abused by officers. According to a special report by the BBC, one girl was raped from the age of 12 in a marked police car and the officer threatened to hand her back to the groomers if she did not do as he said. SYP is carrying out inquiries into these allegations under the direction of the Independent Office for Police Conduct (IOPC). So far, three former officers who worked for the force have been arrested. The law firm Switalskis, which represents survivors of abuse in Rotherham, said it had hoped that alleged abuse by officers would have been unearthed following Operation Linden – a long-running, IOPC investigation into how police responded to child sexual abuse in Rotherham between 1997 and 2013. The firm said in a statement: 'That never came. For years SYP resisted our requests for an investigation into the alleged criminality of police officers, despite us providing them with the accounts of survivors. 'Those that have suffered abuse in Rotherham have no faith that SYP will do a thorough job of investigating alleged abuse by their own officers. 'In addition, dealing with SYP is retraumatising for them. Many of our clients refuse to report offences to SYP because they do not think they will be believed and because they were treated so badly in the past. 'This investigation must be handed over to an independent police force to ensure that survivors feel confident enough to come forward. 'The accounts we have heard, which we expect are only a fraction of the full scale of abuse, are utterly harrowing.' According to the BBC report, Prof Alexis Jay who led an independent report into sexual abuse in Rotherham, was 'shocked' that SYP was investigating its former officers and felt that another organisation should be leading. An IOPC spokesman said: 'We first became aware of complaints from victim-survivors relating to child sexual abuse allegations involving former SYP officers when we received a referral from SYP in October 2024 and instructed the force to carry out an investigation under our direction and control. 'This means that the IOPC is responsible for the investigation and all of the key decisions. 'Since the investigation began, three former SYP officers have been arrested.' He added: 'We have been in contact with solicitors representing some of the victim-survivors regarding further reports of offending to ensure that any new complaints are investigated. The investigation has since widened to involve complaints from six women. 'We want victim-survivors to feel confident that all complaints will be treated extremely seriously and sensitively. We encourage any victim-survivors or any witnesses to come forward if they have not already done so.' The spokesman said: 'We were assured by the force that none of the investigating officers had either worked with any of the former officers under investigation or were themselves investigated as part of Op Linden. 'We are satisfied that there is no conflict of interest but, as a matter of course, we keep these matters regularly under review during directed investigations.' SYP Assistant Chief Constable Hayley Barnett said a dedicated team of officers was working on the continuing inquiries. She said: 'We know how hard it must be for a victim or survivor who has been so badly let down in the past, to put their faith into the South Yorkshire Police of today. 'We honour that trust with the utmost respect and care. 'Victims and survivors have been and continue to be at the heart of this investigation and all of our actions continue to be made in their best interests.' Ms Barnett said that the force is also working with Operation Stovewood – the National Crime Agency's huge investigation into child sexual exploitation in Rotherham between 1997 and 2013. She said this was to 'help us ensure we leave no stone unturned'. In 2022, Operation Linden concluded that SYP fundamentally failed in its duty to protect vulnerable children and young people during the period under investigation. Operation Stovewood has identified more than 1,100 children involved in the exploitation in Rotherham.
Telegraph
3 days ago
- Telegraph
Rotherham police sexually abused us too, say five grooming victims
Five grooming gang victims have come forward to claim that they were abused by police. One victim claimed she was raped from the age of 12 by a serving South Yorkshire Police officer who threatened to hand her back to her abusers if she did not comply. Three retired officers have been arrested on suspicion of historic sex offences dating back 30 years as part of a new criminal investigation into the involvement of the police in the Rotherham grooming scandal. Speaking to the BBC, one of the alleged victims said she was raped by a South Yorkshire Police officer in the back of a marked car. She said she had been abused by an Asian grooming gang, and the officer said he would hand her back to the men if she complained. She said: 'He knew where we used to hang out, he would request either oral sex or rape us in the back of the police car. 'In a world where you were being abused so much, being raped once [each time] was a lot easier than multiple rapes and I think he knew that.' The woman claims she was later forced into an abortion when she was 15, leading a social worker to contact the police. But she said the officer who turned up to interview her was the same one who had been abusing her and he then ripped up her statement in front of her. Another woman claimed that when she was a child, she would hear a police officer having sex with girls in exchange for drugs and money. Another said she witnessed a police officer supplying class A drugs to members of a grooming gang. Three other women, who have provided written testimonies, also claim they were beaten up by police officers when they were children, including once in a police cell. At least 1,400 girls were abused, mainly by Pakistani grooming gangs, in Rotherham between 1997 and 2013. Details of the shocking abuse emerged in 2014 with the publication of Prof Alexis Jay's report. The latest witness statements form part of a civil claim being brought against South Yorkshire Police in an attempt to secure compensation for the victims. One of the women who is part of the claim has alleged that she was sexually abused by hundreds of men over five years by the age of 11. She said two police officers also sexually abused her, with one repeatedly tracking her down in his police car in Rotherham town centre. South Yorkshire Police has said it now has a dedicated team of detectives working on the case, who are pursuing all lines of inquiry. But Prof Jay told the BBC she believed the criminal investigation should be run by an independent police force or His Majesty's Inspectorate of Constabulary and Fire and Rescue Services. David Greenwood, of Switalskis Solicitors, which is representing the claimants, said he was concerned that officers from the force could be 'burying evidence or just not finding evidence deliberately', because they may know some of those involved in the allegations. It comes after Sir Keir Starmer bowed to pressure earlier this year and commissioned a national inquiry into the sexual exploitation of thousands of girls. The Prime Minister's about-turn followed a report by Baroness Casey, which found that police and council leaders had covered up the scale of Asian grooming gangs because they feared being called racist. In her 200-page report, Lady Casey accused officials of being 'in denial' about the scale of the grooming gangs problem and said lessons had not been learnt from crimes committed in Rotherham a decade ago. It also disclosed that asylum seekers and foreign nationals have been involved in a 'significant proportion' of live police investigations. The scandal re-entered the spotlight at the start of this year when Elon Musk, the tech billionaire, started repeatedly criticising Sir Keir and demanding a nationwide inquiry. In a statement the law firm representing the alleged victims said they had no faith in the force to investigate the allegations. A spokesman said: 'For years SYP resisted our requests for an investigation into the alleged criminality of police officers, despite us providing them with the accounts of survivors. 'Those that have suffered abuse in Rotherham have no faith that SYP will do a thorough job of investigating alleged abuse by their own officers. 'In addition, dealing with SYP is re-traumatising for them. Many of our clients refuse to report offences to SYP because they do not think they will be believed and because they were treated so badly in the past. 'This investigation must be handed over to an independent police force to ensure that survivors feel confident enough to come forward. 'The accounts we have heard, which we expect are only a fraction of the full scale of abuse, are utterly harrowing.'
Scottish Sun
3 days ago
- Scottish Sun
Cops ‘also abused Rotherham child victims' after they were targeted by sick grooming gangs
Three officers have been arrested as part of an investigation SHOCK CLAIMS Cops 'also abused Rotherham child victims' after they were targeted by sick grooming gangs Click to share on X/Twitter (Opens in new window) Click to share on Facebook (Opens in new window) VICTIMS of the Rotherham grooming gangs were also targeted by police officers, it has been claimed. A criminal investigation has been launched after five women alleged they were sexually abused by South Yorkshire cops. Sign up for Scottish Sun newsletter Sign up 3 A criminal investigation has been launched after five women alleged they were sexually abused by South Yorkshire cops Credit: Alamy 3 A report by Professor Alexis Jay in 2014 revealed Asian gangs were allowed to prey on young white girls between 1997 and 2013 Three arrests have been made following the accusations, which claim that the abuse by serving officers occurred between the mid-90s and early 2000s. This would coincide with the same period of time that hundreds of children were being exploited in vast child abuse rings in Rotherham. A report by Professor Alexis Jay in 2014 revealed Asian gangs were allowed to prey on young white girls between 1997 and 2013. But now, it has been claimed that girls as young as 11 were also targeted by cops, with many abused in their teens. According to a BBC report, some officers were even accused of working alongside the grooming gangs, by refusing to act on their sickening behaviour or by supplying them with drugs. Testimony from the women has revealed horror stories, including one officer who allegedly had sex with girls in exchange for rewards such as money or drugs. One of the victims, referred to as Willow, claims she was targeted by two officers after initially being abused by hundreds of men over a five year period. Willow claims one particular officer would pick her up in a marked car and threaten to contact the gangs if she didn't have sex with him. She told the BBC: "He knew where we used to hang out, he would request either oral sex or rape us in the back of the police car. "I would rather be raped once, or give one man oral sex, than to be taken somewhere where I know it'd be 15... 20 guys one after another. "That was just easier." In bombshell allegations, she claimed that PC Hassan Ali raped her. Rotherham paedo gang victim claims 'authorities made me feel like a racist when I reported attacks 14 YEARS ago' She added: "The first time, he literally said, 'you do it for the other officer. So you're gonna do it for me'." Another victim claimed she had been beaten up by officers in a police cell, with two others suffering similar abuse. Testimonies from 17 victims were handed to South Yorkshire Police, who confirmed three officers had been arrested in relation to these accusations. Assistant Chief Constable Hayley Barnett said: "Victims and survivors have been and continue to be at the heart of this investigation and all of our actions continue to be made in their best interests. "We have a dedicated team of detectives working on this case who have worked diligently to explore all lines of enquiry. "This has led to three arrests. One of those former officers remains on police bail pending further enquiries. "The other two have been released from bail while the investigation continues." The force has called in agents from the National Crime Agency for the extensive probe into their own officers. And the police watchdog, the IOPC, is overseeing the investigation. Chief Constable Barnett added: "We know how hard it must be for a victim or survivor who has been so badly let down in the past, to put their faith into the South Yorkshire Police of today. "We honour that trust with the utmost respect and care. "The investigation is overseen by the IOPC, which has directed South Yorkshire Police to investigate on its behalf. "In the interests of maintaining and building the trust and confidence of those who have been brave enough to come forward, we are also working closely with colleagues from the National Crime Agency, who bring with them significant expertise through Operation Stovewood to help us ensure we leave no stone unturned." Child abuse legal firm, Switalskis Solicitors, is working with the victims to bring a separate civil claim against the force. Amy Clowrey, who works for the law firm, slammed a "lack of accountability" in the town. Child sexual exploitation in Rotherham, South Yorkshire, was at epidemic levels from as early as the 1980s before being exposed in 2012. The Times journalist Andrew Norfolk revealed the vast scale of child protection failings in the town — saying the police and social services knew of but did little about the danger Asian grooming gangs posed. Prof Jay's report found that at least 1,400 children, most of them white girls aged 11–15, had been sexually abused in the South Yorkshire town by predominantly British-Pakistani men. Police, schools, social workers and other authorities largely turned a blind eye on the abuse, the report said, out of fear of being branded racist. It added that horrific rape, threats, violence, and child pregnancies, miscarriages and abortions were rife. Rotherham's entire Council executive resigned, as did its Director of Child Services and the Police and Crime Commissioner for South Yorkshire police. A 2015 government report by Louise Casey into Rotherham Council found that bullying and intimidation by council staff led to a silencing of whistleblowers and was it "not fit for purpose".
BBC News
3 days ago
- BBC News
Police officers ‘also abused' Rotherham grooming gang victims
Warning: This story contains descriptions of sexual violence Five women, who as children were exploited by grooming gangs in Rotherham, say police officers in the town also sexually abused them at the says she was raped from the age of 12 by a serving South Yorkshire Police (SYP) officer in a marked police car. He would threaten to hand her back to the gang if she did not comply, she says."In a world where you were being abused so much, being raped once [each time] was a lot easier than multiple rapes and I think he knew that," she tells the have seen written accounts from these women, plus testimony from 25 other victims of grooming gangs, with some of them saying that corrupt police officers worked alongside the gangs or failed to act on child sexual exploitation. At least 1,400 girls in Rotherham were abused by gangs of men, identified by victims as being of mainly Pakistani heritage, between 1997 and 2013 - the landmark Jay Report concluded in 2014.A new criminal investigation into the involvement of police officers in the Rotherham grooming scandal is now being led by SYP's major crime unit, under the direction of the police watchdog. Prof Alexis Jay who led that independent inquiry into abuse in the town has told the BBC she is "shocked" that SYP is investigating its own former officers and says the criminal investigation should be handed to another force or independent response, Hayley Barnett, SYP assistant chief constable said:"We know how hard it must be for a victim or survivor, who has been so badly let down in the past, to put their faith into the South Yorkshire Police of today."But she added that victims and survivors were "at the heart" of the investigation, with all actions being taken in their best interests. The 30 witness accounts seen by the BBC detail shocking allegations: Years of abuse from serving police officers, from the mid-90s to early 2000s, at the same time as being exploited by Rotherham grooming gangsMost alleged victims were in their teens but some were as young as 11One woman says as a child she would hear a police officer having sex with girls in exchange for drugs and moneyAnother woman says as a child she witnessed a police officer supplying illegal class A drugs to a grooming gangThree women describe being beaten up by officers as children - one says this happened in a police cell The women's accounts, seen by the BBC, are redacted to protect their identities. They were collected by a specialist child abuse legal firm, Switalskis Solicitors, as part of a bid to bring a separate civil claim against SYP and secure compensation for alleged of the women, Willow - not her real name - says she was sexually abused by hundreds of men over five years after first being targeted, as an 11-year-old in 1997, by a grooming gang. Two police officers also sexually abused her, she says. Over three years, one of the SYP officers would repeatedly track her down and pick her up in a police car in Rotherham town centre, she says."He knew where we used to hang out, he would request either oral sex or rape us in the back of the police car," she tells the she tried to refuse his requests, says Willow, he would even contact the grooming gang directly to threaten her."I would rather be raped once, or give one man oral sex, than to be taken somewhere where I know it'd be 15... 20 guys one after another. That was just easier," she she was pressured into an illegal abortion by the grooming gang, she says a youth worker contacted social services and the police. But she was left "destroyed", she says, when one of the officers who had been abusing her turned up to interview her.A few days later, the same officer ripped her statement up in front of her and threw it in the bin, she says, and no further action was taken. 'No accountability' Of the 30 women who gave their accounts to Switalskis Solicitors, only 17 have agreed to their testimony being given to the of the remaining potential witnesses have withdrawn from the SYP investigation, say the solicitors, with some saying they do not trust the force or have lost faith in the justice system."It's beyond belief, the accounts we have heard," says Amy Clowrey from Switalskis, who has been collecting testimony of alleged police abuse, corruption and misconduct in Rotherham for 10 years."There has been no accountability in the town - and without accountability, there will continue to be a distrust of South Yorkshire Police," she response South Yorkshire Police told us it has a "dedicated team of detectives working on this case who have worked diligently to explore all lines of enquiry" and the investigation is being overseen by the Independent Office of Police Conduct (IOPC). Another survivor of a grooming gang, Emma - not her real name - says the current investigation into former officers and their role in the Rotherham scandal should have happened decades ago."We're forgotten children. We're dirty little secrets. That's how they look at us," she was in care in the late 1990s and often ran away from children's homes. When she was found, she would be raped by a police officer in a squat, she targeted children in care, she says, because he knew they were vulnerable, playing on their fear and naivety."He knew we wouldn't be missed, he knew we wouldn't be reported. He knew we wouldn't be able to say anything. He knew that he had the upper hand," she explains. A list of organisations in the UK offering support and information with some of the issues in this story is available at BBC Action Line Prof Alexis Jay believes, because of the way some officers in the force behaved, there were "many, many legitimate causes for victims and survivors at the time to feel a total lack of trust in SYP".It is important that potential conflicts of interest are brought "to light before the process starts", she wants the current criminal investigation to be run by an independent police force - or even His Majesty's Inspectorate of Constabulary and Fire and Rescue Services (HMICFRS), which assesses the effectiveness and efficiency of forces."In far too many cases, the priority for the institution, of whatever kind, is to protect their reputation rather than prioritising the welfare of children and the devastating effect that sexual abuse can have," Prof Jay Greenwood from Switalskis Solicitors says he doesn't have confidence that there are not officers who are "burying evidence or just not finding evidence deliberately", because they may know some of those involved in the allegations."I'm sure that the full truth in terms of the level of corruption and the extent of it in Rotherham has yet come out," he adds. While the police watchdog, the IOPC, is overseeing SYP's investigation - one of its former investigators says he has no faith in it doing a good Harper spent two years working on the IOPC's Operation Linden - an investigation into how SYP responded to allegations of child sexual abuse in Rotherham between 1997 and eight-year investigation was "an abject failure from beginning to end", says Mr Harper, adding that SYP "managed to evade almost any accountability".The watchdog upheld 43 complaints against individual officers, with eight facing misconduct and six facing gross misconduct charges. But no officers lost their jobs or faced criminal charges."Operation Linden involved 91 investigations," an IOPC spokesperson told the BBC. "We concluded in 2022 that SYP fundamentally failed in its duty to protect vulnerable children and young people during that time."With regard to the current criminal investigation, the spokesperson said they were "satisfied that there is no conflict of interest" and that the IOPC had been assured by SYP that "none of the investigating officers had either worked with any of the former officers under investigation, or were themselves investigated as part of Operation Linden". Officer named We cannot see the names of the former SYP officers referred to in the accounts of their alleged victims, because the women's accounts have been three former officers have been arrested since December 2024 on suspicion of historic sexual offences - including attempted rape, indecent assault and misconduct in a public office. The crimes are alleged to have taken place between 1995 and 2004 while the officers were on duty as PCs. None has been the BBC understands that one alleged victim, Willow - in a report to police - has named PC Hassan Ali as having raped her."The first time, he literally said: 'You do it for the other officer. So you're gonna do it for me,'" she tells Ali died in January 2015, a week after he was hit by a car. On the day the collision took place, he had been put on restricted duties because of an investigation into alleged misconduct in the abuse scandal. He was never also says that both officers who abused her, including PC Ali, were also involved in supplying drugs. A SYP spokesperson told the BBC the complaints the force had received regarding Hassan Ali had not been drug-related and concerned "allegations of persistently asking a victim on a date, sharing information and failure to safeguard victims".Former IOPC investigator Garry Harper says he was also aware of allegations facing PC Ali - and says the officer's links with organised crime groups were discussed inside the IOPC during Operation Linden."There were several complaints that he had supplied and taken drugs, as well as sexually abused some of the survivors," he the time, the IOPC and SYP were aware of a second officer accused of abuse against children, he adds, but SYP had allowed the officer to retire."At best it was a reputational covering exercise. That's me being incredibly generous to them. At worst, it was out and out corruption to let him go."The IOPC told the BBC it had "no record" of such allegations against PC Ali being raised by "any of the victim-survivors involved in Operation Linden".It said it had investigated a report from a third party that a former officer had a sexual relationship with "two young vulnerable females". These individuals had been spoken to as adults and had denied this took place, it Yorkshire Police told the BBC that none of the former officers forming part of the force's current inquiries "had an allegation of rape against them at the time of their retirement".Do you have any information about this story? You can contact Ruth Green by email
News18
17-07-2025
- Politics
- News18
Will UK Come Clean On British-Pakistani Grooming Gangs?
The effort to water down the 2020 report on grooming gangs is palpable, as also the coverage of its main findings by mainstream media For years now, the euphemism 'South Asian" has been used, particularly in the UK, in a vain, although not inexplicable, attempt to hide the culpability of British-Pakistanis in heinous crimes perpetrated there. And nowhere has this been more egregious than in the case of the long-running so-called 'grooming" scandal in which underage white girls in the northern UK were lured, abducted, and then sexually abused by gangs of mostly Brit-Pakistani men, often for years. Although the specific ethnicity of the criminals was known from the beginning, local councils and even national watchdogs glossed over that detail and even sought to minimise the implications of it. Even though Professor Alexis Jay had conducted a seven-year inquiry into child sexual abuse, grooming gangs were not the sole focus and her recommendations were actually aimed at better supervision of the authorities responsible for the care of abused children. Now, British Prime Minister Sir Keir Starmer, feigning that he had just gotten wind of the 'real story", has ordered a fresh inquiry into the grooming issue, and the Pakistani angle has finally been brought out of the shadows. After stonewalling for months, Starmer has suddenly accepted the recommendations of Baroness Louise Casey's audit of the data and evidence of group-based child sexual abuse and ordered a national inquiry covering England and Wales. In April 2023, when Rishi Sunak was PM, the government promised more specific data on those notorious grooming gangs, including their ethnicity, to ensure they could not 'hide behind cultural sensitivities as a way to evade justice". At that time, Sunak and his Home Secretary Priti Patel, were accused of bias, racism, and 'dog whistling" by Labour because they are of Indian ancestry ,even though there was no doubt that the culprits were of Pakistani descent. So what are the chances that the Labour government will be honest in this matter now, especially given the emergence of a significant and united 'Muslim vote" in the last general elections there? Even Prof Jay had concluded that in Rotherham, most 'known perpetrators were of Pakistani heritage," including five convicted in 2010; in 2012, the men convicted in the Rochdale abuse case were also all British Pakistani. As were the seven men convicted in Telford in 2013. The effort to water down the 2020 report on grooming gangs is palpable, as is also the coverage of its main findings by mainstream media. The writers of that official report asserted that the majority of child sexual abuse gangs comprise white men under the age of 30, but they do not provide relevant evidence. If that is indeed the case, the fact that most of the men who were tried and convicted for grooming and abusing young girls have not been white should raise questions. Interestingly, Sarah Champion, Labour MP for Rotherham since 2012, wrote an op-ed in August 2017 averring that 'Britain has a problem with British-Pakistani men raping and exploiting white girls. There. I said it. Does that make me a racist? Or am I just prepared to call out this horrifying problem for what it is?" Just before that, she told BBC Radio 4 that 'more people are afraid to be called a racist than they are afraid to be wrong about calling out child abuse". She had to resign from her post as Shadow Women and Equalities Minister for her candour that same month. And her party became an avid advocate of the 2020 report's conclusion, supposedly based on the findings of multiple studies on child sexual exploitation, that there was not enough evidence to conclude that grooming gangs were disproportionately made up of 'Asian" offenders. Voices challenging that were dismissed as far-right, racist Islamophobes. The statutory public inquiry will summon witnesses and examine to what extent the police, local councils, and officials were negligent in their duty towards vulnerable girls by mishandling, downplaying, or ignoring their complaints. It can reinvestigate old cases and demand answers to complaints about wrongdoing. Meanwhile, the National Crime Agency will lead the initiative to reopen grooming gang cases and identify those men who had evaded justice earlier. Already, 800 cases have been reopened in 2025. Ironically, Home Secretary Yvette Cooper now says the girls had been ignored for 'too long" and this was the way to get 'truth and justice", adding that 'not enough people listened to them then. That was wrong and unforgivable. We are changing that now." Chancellor Rachel Reeves also weighed in, saying, 'PM wanted to assure himself that everything possible was being done. This is about justice—not grandstanding." Well, these admissions certainly indicate the extent of the cover-up or bungling earlier and the probable reasons for it. There must be a considerable build-up of popular anger around the UK about the whitewashing of these horrific crimes for Starmer to backtrack from his instinctive wariness and announce a wider probe. But has the government really had a change of heart, or is the probe a clever ploy to find the 'evidence" to shift the focus from the British Pakistanis? After all, as recently as this January, Labour MPs had ensured that an amendment tabled by the opposition Conservative MPs to force a vote on establishing an inquiry did not get passed, leading to suspicions of intentions to cover up official negligence. But now ministers are at pains to convince people that the 'culture of denial" about the grooming scandal will be discarded and there will be an impetus for local-level inquiries with national-level supervision. The most egregious denial has been the 'over-representation" of men of Pakistani origin. To obfuscate, they were even labelled as 'South Asian", to misleadingly draw Indian-origin men into the equation. At the forefront of that battle to protect Brit-Pakistanis have been Left-oriented academics who accused anyone who pointed at that demographic of being racist, 'demonising" communities, and stereotyping Muslim men as patriarchal, misogynistic religious fanatics. The Left argument to draw the flak away from Brit-Pakistani men is to aver that the grooming issue is not about the ethnicity—and therefore also not about any obvious cultural disconnect either—of the perpetrators. Instead, the Left wants the focus to be on the 'systemic failures" that led to children being abused. They also refused to accept any Muslim angle, asserting that the 'broader context" is poverty, institutional neglect, and gender inequality. The near-term political exigency for such a stance by the ruling party is clear, and its stance is given an intellectual heft by slanted academic attacks on any findings that point to significant Brit-Pakistani involvement. One such 'research" concluded that 'Muslim grooming gangs" is just a right-wing trope (never mind the overwhelming evidence in the form of the convicted men), amplified by rogue feminists. They even blame 'partisan" studies by the other cohort. They even say the term 'grooming gangs" itself is misleading, and crimes singled out under this heading are actually no different from other sex offences involving children. That way, the incriminating ethnic specificity of this genre of crime can be merged into a wider cesspool of child sex offences. Will this latest 'investigation" instituted by the Labour government be an exercise to bolster the Left narrative on this issue or an honest effort to nail culprits, Brit-Pakistani or not? The author is a freelance writer. Views expressed in the above piece are personal and solely those of the author. They do not necessarily reflect News18's views. tags : Britain pakistan sexual abuse UK view comments Location : New Delhi, India, India First Published: June 18, 2025, 21:48 IST News opinion Opinion | Will UK Come Clean On British-Pakistani Grooming Gangs? Disclaimer: Comments reflect users' views, not News18's. Please keep discussions respectful and constructive. 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