GROOMING gang victims were failed by cops and public officials more bothered about not being considered racist.
how the State was in “denial”; over
Dame Louise Casey found
Ministers have ordered an inquiry into the widespread cover-up of the crimes, which disproportionately involved Asian men, many of heritage.
The findings have forced the and pledge a package of measures to combat predators.
yesterday apologised to victims for the “failure of our country’s institutions through decades to prevent that harm and keep you safe”;.
But leader accused of “an extraordinary failure of leadership”; after originally dismissing calls for a full inquiry.
Across almost 200 pages, Baroness Louise Casey’s report details how officials let down vulnerable victims on a devastating scale.
It highlights authorities’ failure to collect – and even deliberately twist – data on the perpetrators’ ethnicity.
The independent Whitehall troubleshooter says her rapid three-month audit into the scandal reveals that “questions about ethnicity have been dodged for years”;.
It uncovered many examples of the topic being avoided “for fear of appearing racist”;.
Baroness Casey says there have “been enough convictions across the country of groups of men from Asian ethnic backgrounds to have warranted closer examination”;.
But she added: “Instead of examination, we have seen obfuscation. In a vacuum, incomplete and unreliable data is used to suit the ends of those presenting it.
“The system claims there is an overwhelming problem with White perpetrators when that can’t be proved.”;
A whole chapter is devoted to a culture of “denial”; by institutions – such as the and councils – to confront the prevalence of Asian gangs.
She says: “Blindness, ignorance, prejudice, defensiveness and even good but misdirected intentions, all play a part in a collective failure to properly deter and prosecute offenders or to protect children from harm.”;
While two-thirds of perpetrators have no ethnicity recorded, police data in the few areas where it is collected show a “disproportionate number of men from Asian ethnic backgrounds”;.
Ms Cooper branded the findings “deeply disturbing”;.
She said she will accept a recommendation for all authorities to track ethnicity data.
Ministers will also take on the others, including mandatory rape charges for anyone having penetrative sex with an under-16.
The report also calls for an end to the harmful “adultification”; of teenage girls, especially those in care, who are too often judged as complicit rather than recognised as vulnerable children.
Baroness Casey said if we got this right years ago “then I doubt we’d be in this place now”;.
Child sexual exploitation should be treated with the same seriousness as major organised crime, she says.
Loopholes in taxi licensing will be closed as inconsistent local regulations have been exploited by some drivers, often placing kids at greater risk of sexual exploitation.
Victims will be offered trauma counselling immediately and without legal delay, with their recovery treated as a priority.
Ms Cooper told MPs: “This will mark the biggest programme of work ever pursued to root out the scourge of grooming gangs and child sexual exploitation. Those vile perpetrators who have grown used to the authorities looking the other way must have no place to hide.”;
She also vowed to kick out asylum seekers who are found to have committed child sexual exploitation.
The Home Secretary will further strengthen the law so that any migrant convicted of
The package will come alongside the national inquiry, expected to take around three years.
The National Agency is also to reopen more than 800 closed grooming-gang cases.
Speaking from the G7 summit in Canada, Sir Keir said it will go “wherever it needs to go”; to uncover the truth.
After initially slapping down calls for a probe, he said he changed his mind “on the basis”; of Baroness Casey’s findings.
The PM said: “I’ve looked at her report, I’ve considered that material. I think she’s right, and that’s why it’ll be a national inquiry. It’ll be a statutory inquiry.”;
But he was savaged by Ms Badenoch in a fiery Commons debate.
She blasted: “The Prime Minister’s handling of this scandal is an extraordinary failure of leadership.
“His judgment has once again been found wanting.
“Since he became Prime Minister, he and the Home Secretary dismissed calls for an inquiry because they did not want to cause a stir.
“They accused those of us demanding justice for the victims of this scandal as, and I quote, ‘jumping on a far-right bandwagon’, a claim the Prime Minister’s official spokesman restated this weekend.
“Shameful.”;
Baroness Casey yesterday admitted she initially opposed an inquiry but changed her mind after realising that no local council except Oldham was willing to take part.
She warned that children across Britain are still being sexually abused in gangs but officials cannot say how many.
She found there is “no recent study”; and “incomplete data”; across police, councils and the system.
In 2023, cops logged 700 group-based exploitation crimes but the report said the true figure is much higher.
Some 500,000 kids are likely to be sexually abused each year, yet most cases are never reported or recognised, it added.
Whitehall officials attempted to cover up the scandal in 2011, ex-No10 adviser claimed.
He said they tried to help Rotherham Council block The Times from exposing it.
