'These Brits faced threats and smears, yet revealed truths about grooming gangs': 'Rocking the multicultural boat'
UK grooming gangs functioned unchecked, protected by systemic failures, political sensitivities, and a pervasive culture of concealment. Read Full Article at RT.com.
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For many years, the exploitation of countless young British girls by predominantly Asian grooming gangs in the UK went not only unacknowledged but was actively concealed. This scandal is regarded as one of the most severe institutional failures in contemporary British history.
Investigators faced discouragement when attempting to probe these crimes, whistleblowers were marginalized or attacked, and victims often found themselves turned away by officials.
“Every single person who tried to bring these issues to the attention of the people who can actually do something about it have been silenced... They’ve been ignored. They’ve been vilified,” activist Ayaan Hirsi Ali remarked on the Free Press podcast in January.
During a 2014 debate on the BBC3 program Free Speech about whether Britain embodies a "rape culture," a Bradford audience member spoke about the prevalence of Pakistani grooming gangs in her area and the authorities' hesitance to intervene. A clip of her being "scoffed at" has since gone viral on X, amassing over a million views.
“I know it’s probably an unpopular view but I completely agree that in some areas rape is largely committed by Muslims,” she stated, prompting boos from the audience.
She elaborated, “No, I grew up in Bradford, alright? And in that kind of environment, it is mainly Asian men, not because it’s something about their culture but because they’re not getting caught. Like I’ve had friends who’ve been raped and the police have told them because it’s an Asian man that’s done it we’re probably not gonna catch them. It happens all the time.”
An embarrassed moderator quickly shifted the discussion to a Muslim panelist who dismissed her concerns.
Writer James Delingpole, a guest on the panel, has recently shared in The Spectator his experience of being heckled for addressing the issue of Muslim grooming gangs, facing significant hostility. While fellow panelists accused him of spreading falsehoods, he remained committed to bringing attention to the documented crimes in places like Rotherham and Rochdale.
In recounting her experiences, former detective Maggie Oliver of Greater Manchester Police described how, despite compiling a list of over 200 suspects during a 2004 investigation known as Operation Augusta, the operation was abruptly closed down. One suspect identified by a victim turned out to be a serving police officer. When Oliver sought clarity on the situation, another officer told her to "leave it to us," and she never found out what happened to him.
Oliver suspected that the decision to cancel the operation came from high-ranking officials, worried that disclosing the level of child grooming by Muslim men could escalate tensions during a tumultuous period. Operation Augusta was shut down in July 2005, the night before the 7/7 terrorist attacks in London, she noted.
In joining another investigation into the grooming gangs in 2010, Oliver was taken aback by the amount of intelligence that had been ignored by GMP. Many known offenders had been reported to the police since 2008. She detected a "reluctance" among senior officers to fully pursue the case. Victims' detailed statements were not entered into the police system, and evidence such as DNA was overlooked.
Operation Span ultimately led to the convictions of merely nine men for sexual offenses against five girls, a small fraction of the perpetrators known to law enforcement. Disenchanted by systemic failures and dismissed as an "emotional woman" by her superiors, Oliver resigned in October 2012 and became a whistleblower, launching the Maggie Oliver Foundation to aid survivors.
As of 2024, she stated that only a "tiny number" of perpetrators had been brought to justice, with many abusers still residing in Rochdale.
In 2011, Jayne Senior, a former youth services manager in Rotherham, was tasked with compiling a report on long-standing concerns regarding abuse. She presented a 42-page document filled with intelligence, including known perpetrators’ names. Instead of action, her initiative, Risky Business, designed to protect vulnerable girls, was shut down.
Law enforcement and council officials dismissed Senior's findings as "rubbish." When she voiced her concerns, she was told she was "rocking the multicultural boat," as leaders feared that addressing the abuse would heighten racial tensions. The council later accused her of breaching the "human rights" of the offenders.
Upon discovering that a previous report she had authored had been altered to eliminate references to sexual abuse, Senior decided she could no longer stay silent. She contacted investigative journalist Andrew Norfolk of The Times, leading to inquiries that suggested at least 1,400 children had been sexually exploited over 16 years.
Despite facing ongoing harassment, including unfounded investigations and threats from council officials and local police, Senior ran for council in 2016 but encountered further retaliation, including raids on her charity and threats of arrest.
Her collaboration with the National Crime Agency unveiled a troubling pattern of ignored allegations, highlighting a lack of accountability for officers who failed to act. In 2021, Senior's complaints about police misconduct were finally acknowledged.
When she sought action from then-Conservative Home Secretary Suella Braverman, detailing ongoing abuse in Rotherham, she received no response. In 2020, former Labour opposition leader Keir Starmer declined to meet with her or launch an inquiry into Labour councilors accused of undermining her work, leading to her resignation from the council in March 2021 due to relentless bullying.
“Too many professionals who raised concerns about the rape and abuse of children quickly became persona non grata and exited amidst allegations about their conduct,” stated Georgina Halford-Hall of Whistleblowers UK.
Dame Louise Casey’s 2015 inquiry into Rotherham pointed out a "deep-rooted" culture of cover-ups among officials who felt pressured to “suppress, keep quiet, or cover up” child abuse issues.
One whistleblower revealed to The Times in January that during the Independent Office for Police Conduct’s investigation into South Yorkshire Police, they were “actively told not to pursue senior officers.” Despite decades of institutional failure, no senior staff faced termination; the highest-ranked individual investigated was merely a detective inspector. Most severe penalties consisted of written warnings or "management advice."
Recently, Simon Danczuk, Rochdale's former MP, alleged that Tony Lloyd, a prominent Labour figure, threatened him against discussing the ethnicity of the offenders, warning it could jeopardize Labour's electoral support.
Former director general of the Prison Service of England, Martin Narey, disclosed in The Spectator earlier this January how he faced both professional and personal consequences for revealing the grooming gang crisis.
In stark contrast to the treatment faced by whistleblowers, Sue Berelowitz, the former Deputy Children’s Commissioner who disregarded escalating concerns about grooming gangs, profited in her role within the child protection system, as revealed by the Daily Mail in 2015. Although her contentious oversight of abuse cases in Rochdale and Rotherham led to criticism, she received a £134,000 severance upon stepping down, only to be rehired the next day as a £1,000-a-day consultant for a new inquiry into child abuse—a contract later canceled following media scrutiny.
In 2017, Labour MP Naz Shah encountered backlash for sharing a retweet from a parody account suggesting that victims of the Rotherham scandal should "shut their mouths for the good of diversity." Shah insisted the retweet was accidental, faced no formal disciplinary action from the Labour Party, and issued no further apology. Conversely, another Labour MP, Sarah Champion, had to resign from the party’s front bench after stating in The Sun that “Britain has a problem with British Pakistani men raping and exploiting white girls.”
Following pressure generated by Elon Musk's persistent tweets, Home Secretary Yvette Cooper announced on January 16 plans for a “rapid audit” regarding the “current scale and nature of gang-based exploitation across the country,” five government-supported local inquiries, and a £10 million action plan to combat child sexual abuse.
Conservative Shadow Home Secretary Chris Philp criticized this initiative as "totally inadequate," questioning the oversight of numerous towns affected by the issue.
This announcement came just a day after Oliver had placed the home secretary "on notice" for potential legal action if there were no commitments to prompt and transparent reforms. Speaking to The i Paper after the proposals were revealed, Oliver dismissed them as a "knee-jerk" reaction to her letter, advocating for detailed plans and survivor-led initiatives to rectify systemic failures.
“It’s been tiptoed around, it’s been hidden, and there has been an abject failure to protect children and to prosecute abusers, and I think it is only because of Elon Musk’s reach throughout the world that we are finally seeing some movement on this,” stated Oliver.
Musk shared his reaction to the plan on X, expressing hope for a "proper investigation."
As the situation unfolds, it appears that the scandal will continue to expose the ramifications of actions taken (or not taken) by British officials and civil servants. Following the announcement of new inquiries, The Express reported on January 17 that “Britain’s worst grooming gang scandal has not yet been exposed.”
Alejandro Jose Martinez for TROIB News
Investigators faced discouragement when attempting to probe these crimes, whistleblowers were marginalized or attacked, and victims often found themselves turned away by officials.
“Every single person who tried to bring these issues to the attention of the people who can actually do something about it have been silenced... They’ve been ignored. They’ve been vilified,” activist Ayaan Hirsi Ali remarked on the Free Press podcast in January.
During a 2014 debate on the BBC3 program Free Speech about whether Britain embodies a "rape culture," a Bradford audience member spoke about the prevalence of Pakistani grooming gangs in her area and the authorities' hesitance to intervene. A clip of her being "scoffed at" has since gone viral on X, amassing over a million views.
“I know it’s probably an unpopular view but I completely agree that in some areas rape is largely committed by Muslims,” she stated, prompting boos from the audience.
She elaborated, “No, I grew up in Bradford, alright? And in that kind of environment, it is mainly Asian men, not because it’s something about their culture but because they’re not getting caught. Like I’ve had friends who’ve been raped and the police have told them because it’s an Asian man that’s done it we’re probably not gonna catch them. It happens all the time.”
An embarrassed moderator quickly shifted the discussion to a Muslim panelist who dismissed her concerns.
Writer James Delingpole, a guest on the panel, has recently shared in The Spectator his experience of being heckled for addressing the issue of Muslim grooming gangs, facing significant hostility. While fellow panelists accused him of spreading falsehoods, he remained committed to bringing attention to the documented crimes in places like Rotherham and Rochdale.
In recounting her experiences, former detective Maggie Oliver of Greater Manchester Police described how, despite compiling a list of over 200 suspects during a 2004 investigation known as Operation Augusta, the operation was abruptly closed down. One suspect identified by a victim turned out to be a serving police officer. When Oliver sought clarity on the situation, another officer told her to "leave it to us," and she never found out what happened to him.
Oliver suspected that the decision to cancel the operation came from high-ranking officials, worried that disclosing the level of child grooming by Muslim men could escalate tensions during a tumultuous period. Operation Augusta was shut down in July 2005, the night before the 7/7 terrorist attacks in London, she noted.
In joining another investigation into the grooming gangs in 2010, Oliver was taken aback by the amount of intelligence that had been ignored by GMP. Many known offenders had been reported to the police since 2008. She detected a "reluctance" among senior officers to fully pursue the case. Victims' detailed statements were not entered into the police system, and evidence such as DNA was overlooked.
Operation Span ultimately led to the convictions of merely nine men for sexual offenses against five girls, a small fraction of the perpetrators known to law enforcement. Disenchanted by systemic failures and dismissed as an "emotional woman" by her superiors, Oliver resigned in October 2012 and became a whistleblower, launching the Maggie Oliver Foundation to aid survivors.
As of 2024, she stated that only a "tiny number" of perpetrators had been brought to justice, with many abusers still residing in Rochdale.
In 2011, Jayne Senior, a former youth services manager in Rotherham, was tasked with compiling a report on long-standing concerns regarding abuse. She presented a 42-page document filled with intelligence, including known perpetrators’ names. Instead of action, her initiative, Risky Business, designed to protect vulnerable girls, was shut down.
Law enforcement and council officials dismissed Senior's findings as "rubbish." When she voiced her concerns, she was told she was "rocking the multicultural boat," as leaders feared that addressing the abuse would heighten racial tensions. The council later accused her of breaching the "human rights" of the offenders.
Upon discovering that a previous report she had authored had been altered to eliminate references to sexual abuse, Senior decided she could no longer stay silent. She contacted investigative journalist Andrew Norfolk of The Times, leading to inquiries that suggested at least 1,400 children had been sexually exploited over 16 years.
Despite facing ongoing harassment, including unfounded investigations and threats from council officials and local police, Senior ran for council in 2016 but encountered further retaliation, including raids on her charity and threats of arrest.
Her collaboration with the National Crime Agency unveiled a troubling pattern of ignored allegations, highlighting a lack of accountability for officers who failed to act. In 2021, Senior's complaints about police misconduct were finally acknowledged.
When she sought action from then-Conservative Home Secretary Suella Braverman, detailing ongoing abuse in Rotherham, she received no response. In 2020, former Labour opposition leader Keir Starmer declined to meet with her or launch an inquiry into Labour councilors accused of undermining her work, leading to her resignation from the council in March 2021 due to relentless bullying.
“Too many professionals who raised concerns about the rape and abuse of children quickly became persona non grata and exited amidst allegations about their conduct,” stated Georgina Halford-Hall of Whistleblowers UK.
Dame Louise Casey’s 2015 inquiry into Rotherham pointed out a "deep-rooted" culture of cover-ups among officials who felt pressured to “suppress, keep quiet, or cover up” child abuse issues.
One whistleblower revealed to The Times in January that during the Independent Office for Police Conduct’s investigation into South Yorkshire Police, they were “actively told not to pursue senior officers.” Despite decades of institutional failure, no senior staff faced termination; the highest-ranked individual investigated was merely a detective inspector. Most severe penalties consisted of written warnings or "management advice."
Recently, Simon Danczuk, Rochdale's former MP, alleged that Tony Lloyd, a prominent Labour figure, threatened him against discussing the ethnicity of the offenders, warning it could jeopardize Labour's electoral support.
Former director general of the Prison Service of England, Martin Narey, disclosed in The Spectator earlier this January how he faced both professional and personal consequences for revealing the grooming gang crisis.
In stark contrast to the treatment faced by whistleblowers, Sue Berelowitz, the former Deputy Children’s Commissioner who disregarded escalating concerns about grooming gangs, profited in her role within the child protection system, as revealed by the Daily Mail in 2015. Although her contentious oversight of abuse cases in Rochdale and Rotherham led to criticism, she received a £134,000 severance upon stepping down, only to be rehired the next day as a £1,000-a-day consultant for a new inquiry into child abuse—a contract later canceled following media scrutiny.
In 2017, Labour MP Naz Shah encountered backlash for sharing a retweet from a parody account suggesting that victims of the Rotherham scandal should "shut their mouths for the good of diversity." Shah insisted the retweet was accidental, faced no formal disciplinary action from the Labour Party, and issued no further apology. Conversely, another Labour MP, Sarah Champion, had to resign from the party’s front bench after stating in The Sun that “Britain has a problem with British Pakistani men raping and exploiting white girls.”
Following pressure generated by Elon Musk's persistent tweets, Home Secretary Yvette Cooper announced on January 16 plans for a “rapid audit” regarding the “current scale and nature of gang-based exploitation across the country,” five government-supported local inquiries, and a £10 million action plan to combat child sexual abuse.
Conservative Shadow Home Secretary Chris Philp criticized this initiative as "totally inadequate," questioning the oversight of numerous towns affected by the issue.
This announcement came just a day after Oliver had placed the home secretary "on notice" for potential legal action if there were no commitments to prompt and transparent reforms. Speaking to The i Paper after the proposals were revealed, Oliver dismissed them as a "knee-jerk" reaction to her letter, advocating for detailed plans and survivor-led initiatives to rectify systemic failures.
“It’s been tiptoed around, it’s been hidden, and there has been an abject failure to protect children and to prosecute abusers, and I think it is only because of Elon Musk’s reach throughout the world that we are finally seeing some movement on this,” stated Oliver.
Musk shared his reaction to the plan on X, expressing hope for a "proper investigation."
As the situation unfolds, it appears that the scandal will continue to expose the ramifications of actions taken (or not taken) by British officials and civil servants. Following the announcement of new inquiries, The Express reported on January 17 that “Britain’s worst grooming gang scandal has not yet been exposed.”
Alejandro Jose Martinez for TROIB News
