The narrative of London having miraculously escaped the scourge of child rape grooming gangs may be on the verge of starting to unravel, with accusations of a “cover-up” being levied as investigations have uncovered potential examples of abuse operating in the British capital.
While the focus of investigations into England grooming gang activity, in which mostly Pakistani Muslim men sexually exploited and raped often young white working class girls, has been centred in northern areas of the country, such as Rochdale, Rotherham, and Telford, there long have been rumours that similar crimes were being committed in London, which like so many other cities is home to diverse populations living side by side.
London’s Mayor Sadiq Khan has consistently denied, and often quite testily, that such gangs exist in the city. Earlier this year, during a heated interaction with Conservative Assembly Member Susan Hall, Khan attempted several times to claim that he did not understand what Hall meant by grooming gangs, before finally saying that they do not operate in London. Metropolitan Police Commissioner Sir Mark Rowley has also maintained this stance, saying that the Met has “not seen” such groups in London.
However, a recent investigation from the Daily Express newspaper and MyLondon has identified at least six cases with the hallmarks of grooming gangs, including a 15-year-old girl who was brought by several men to a London hotel before being plied with drugs and alcohol and ultimately raped. Another case identified involved a 17-year-old girl who was give alcohol by multiple men before being raped.
When presented with the details of the case of the 15-year-old girl, former Detective Constable with the Greater Manchester Police turned grooming gang whistle-blower Maggie Oliver said that it was “100 per cent a grooming gang”.
Meanwhile, after being presented with evidence of potential grooming gangs operating in London, the Met appeared to change its stance away from the initial denials, with Sir Mark Rowley acknowledging last week that the police force has a “steady flow” of group-based child sexual exploitation investigations ongoing as well as a large number of historical cases to investigate for previous instances of grooming.
Yet, seemingly attempting to discourage a full accounting of the scale of the issue in London, Rowley said: “If we were to do a full investigative review and reinvestigations of them all that is going to be many, many, many millions of pounds. Millions of pounds a year for several years.”
The discovery of potential examples of grooming gangs operating in London, has led to allegations that Mayor Khan and the Metropolitan Police have engaged in a “cover up” ‘stonewalling’ questions, as has been alleged against other local officials and police forces in previous instances, often done out of politically correct concerns and fear of appearing racist. These claims against London’s leadership have not been conclusively proven. Nevertheless, calls to find out more are being made.
Reform UK MP Lee Anderson said that Khan has “serious questions to answer,” adding: “There is real, credible evidence that grooming gangs exist in London, and for the Mayor to have potentially turned a blind eye is utterly shameful”.
Anderson said that the country cannot “go on making the same catastrophic errors we saw in Rochdale, Rotherham, and all over the country” and said that victims deserve “proper justice”.
Conservative MP and Shadow Home Secretary Chris Philp MP said: “It is shameful that the Mayor of London is claiming to have no indication that grooming gangs are operating in London despite personally responding to reports containing evidence of victims abused by grooming gangs in the city. It is clear Sadiq Khan is facilitating a cover up.”
Whistleblower Maggie Oliver told GB News: “These reports were in the public arena, and yet, even having read those, as the Police and Crime Commissioner, Sadiq Khan still would not answer any questions posed by Susan Hall. He stonewalled her.
“Grooming gangs do operate in and out of London, and I’ve seen it before, but the Met are probably one of the last bastions that are able to pretend this doesn’t go on there.”
The controversy comes amid the national inquiry launched by Prime Minister Sir Keir Starmer into grooming gangs has descended into chaos as multiple members of the survivors/victims advisory panel have resigned in protest over alleged conflicts of interest, including those tipped to chair the inquiry being members of the police and social care services, both of which have previously been implicated in covering up grooming gang crimes.
One of those to resign, Fiona Goddard, also alleged that members of the survivors panel also included people with potential conflicts of interest over “affiliations” to the left-wing Labour Party, which controlled the local governments in many of the main areas of grooming gang child sexual exploitation.
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