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>Grooming gangs commit two sex offences a day, first figures reveal Data from all forces in England and Wales find 572 child ‘grooming’ crimes in first nine months of 2024
Sir Keir Starmer, the Prime Minister, was head of the Crown Prosecution Service at the height of the scandal in Oldham, Greater Manchester. He has come under fire for his party’s refusal to back a national inquiry into grooming gangs.
Keir Starmer QC, the director of public prosecutions,
Sir Keir Starmer was the director of public prosecutions at the height of the scandal Credit: Lewis Whyld/PA
3.7pc of offences ‘group-based’
The new analysis shows that “group-based” offending – defined as involving two or more individuals – accounted for 4,228 offences, or 3.7 per cent of all 115,489 child sexual abuse and exploitation crimes, including those online, in 2023.
Of these 4,228, 17 per cent – or 717 – were “grooming gang” cases involving child sexual exploitation. Cases where two or more people within a family were abusing children accounted for 26 per cent of the group-based offences.
Investigators have also uncovered a significant proportion of “other” cases which includes child sexual abuse committed by other children – a phenomenon that police believe has been fuelled by pornography on the internet and growing online lifestyles of young people.
The majority of perpetrators – 83 per cent – were white, while some 7 per cent were defined as Asian, 5 per cent as black and 3 per cent as mixed race.
However, police admitted the breakdown was “limited” and had to be treated with caution. The breakdown only covered 34 per cent of suspects because ethnicity can only be recorded once they have been interviewed by police and confirmed their ethnic background.
Readers on the grooming gang inquiry
Richard Fewkes, the director of the Hydrant Programme, said the data suggested the profile of offenders reflected the overall ethnic mix of the UK population.
He told The Telegraph: “In very general terms, what we see across all group based offending is that no particular ethnicity stands out based on population data.”
Mr Fewkes said police forces accepted that they had allowed “cultural sensitivities” in the past to impede investigations but he said it was “absolutely not” the case now.
He added: “Our point is that wherever a child is at threat, wherever a child has been abused, that response should be robust right the way across the board, whoever’s committed it, whatever colour their skin, whatever religion they are, the policing response should be robust.”
Historically, police forces and prosecutors often failed to take action against groomers, who have been primarily of British-Pakistani origin, amid fears they would be branded racist or Islamophobic.
Sir Keir addressed this failing in 2012 when he was the director of public prosecutions, saying: “In a number of cases presented to us, particularly in cases involving groups, there’s clearly an issue of ethnicity that has to be understood and addressed. As prosecutors we shouldn’t shy away from that.”
‘Gangs’ focus could have negative impact on victims
However, Mr Fewkes warned that the focus on “grooming gangs” – which accounted for a minority of offences even within group-based child sexual abuse – could have a negative impact on victims of other types of offending who might be deterred from coming forward.
He said: “We hear it directly from victims and survivors.
“Because if, let’s say, you are a victim of child sexual abuse within a family setting, which is our biggest threat, and you hear the narrative and the priority pushed by statutory agencies, and its focus is in one particular area, that has the impact of you thinking, ‘Well, I’m probably not going to be listened to because I’m not a priority.’”
He also warned that unbalanced mass media coverage was “triggering” memories for many victims “because it is in essence bringing back to the fore their trauma from the abuse”.
Earlier this week, Jess Phillips, the safeguarding minister, opened the door to a specific inquiry on child grooming should victims want one, saying “nothing is off the table”.
It emerged a week ago that Ms Phillips had refused to back an inquiry into abuse in Oldham, prompting Kemi Badenoch, the Conservative Party leader, to call for a national inquiry.
On Wednesday, MPs voted by 364 to 111 against the demand, fuelling accusations from the Tories that Sir Keir had committed an “act of cowardice”.
PB
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