The UK's grooming gangs and the lessons never learned (trigger warning)
(sickening and heartbreaking and absolutely disgusting)
The UK’s grooming gangs and the lessons never learned (trigger warning)
It is high time for Britain’s criminal justice system to stop failing vulnerable girls victimised by predatory men.
Julie Bindel
Journalist, author and feminist campaigner
Published On 23 Feb 202423 Feb 2024
An independent report published in the UK last month found that girls in the Greater Manchester town of Rochdale were "left at the mercy" of grooming gangs for years because of failings by police, council authorities [Al Jazeera]
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When it comes to official responses to criminal justice failures, the phrase “lessons will be learned” has become a wretched cliche. Once uttered by a cornered police chief or politician, it is hard to respond to it with anything other than raised eyebrows and a sardonic scowl because we have come to know it means nothing at all. I clearly remember it being repeated over and over again after the extent of child sexual exploitation in the northern town of Rotherham was exposed in the United Kingdom a decade ago. In August 2014, a groundbreaking report by former senior social worker Alexis Jay revealed that an estimated 1,400 children had been sexually abused in the town from 1997 to 2013, predominantly by Pakistani-British men. It revealed that council staff and others knew of the abuse but turned a blind eye to what was happening and refused to identify the perpetrators in part for fear of being branded racist. The report laid bare the disastrous consequences of failing to prevent predatory men – of whatever racial background, for whatever reason – from accessing vulnerable victims. In response to the report’s damning revelations, so many in positions of power looked straight into the cameras and said “lessons will be learned.”
Tragically, however, what happened in Rotherham was not an anomaly. About 60km (35 miles) down the road in Rochdale, Greater Manchester, girls were also being abused, as they were all over the UK. Last month, the latest in a long line of reports found that the National Health Service crisis intervention team in Rochdale had referred 260 victims to children’s social care services and these referrals has “not been acted on over the years”. The report was commissioned by Andy Burnham, mayor of Greater Manchester, when he was first elected in 2017. Covering the period from 2004 to 2013, the report identified at least 96 individuals who still pose a serious risk to children, most of whom have yet to be prosecuted. Apologising to the victims, Greater Manchester Police Chief Constable Stephen Watson promised a “day of reckoning” for those men. But so far, not one of the men identified in the report has been arrested. Every state agency, the review found, has failed hundreds upon hundreds of girls targeted by organised sexual abusers. In short, girls were “left at the mercy” of predatory men for years. Once again, authorities responded to the report with empty promises and platitudes. “Lessons will be learned,” they said.
. . . .
But the problem is neither immigration nor a particular racial or religious group. The problem is the incompetence of those tasked with protecting the most vulnerable in our society and a criminal justice system that is geared to fail all victims. Indeed, there are countless white, British-born men abusing girls and getting away with it in this country. In fact, the majority of child abusers in the UK are white men, most of whom are never reported to the authorities let alone prosecuted and jailed. The police forces working in areas with large Muslim, South Asian populations being reluctant to go after predominantly Muslim, South Asian grooming gangs in fear of accusations of racism is just one part of the problem. In many cases, girls subjected to such abuse, no matter the racial and religious background of their abusers, are not believed by the police – and at times they are even blamed for what happened to them.
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“What the police and CPS did to me was worse than the abuse,“ Amber told me. “I agreed to help the police to stop it happening to others. I trusted the police and thought I would be helped.” “I was the victim of these men at the age of 14. I should’ve been helped, not punished.” Amber is but one of the countless victims of sexual violence whose trauma has been compounded by shockingly poor police practice. Because she and others chose to speak out and call the police to task, it can no longer be denied that our criminal justice system is not fit for purpose. The extensive report published last month into the systemic failures in the handling of Rochdale grooming gangs is undoubtedly a step in the right direction. Let’s hope that this time “lessons learned” means exactly that.
https://www.aljazeera.com/opinions/2024/2/23/the-uks-grooming-gangs-and-the-lessons-never-learned