Girls ‘Left at the Mercy’ of Asian Grooming Gangs in Rochdale by Police and Council Failures: Report

A teenage girl-a victim of sexual abuse and grooming, poses in Rotherham, England, on Sept. 3, 2014. Christopher Furlong/Getty Images

Underage girls were failed by senior police officers and council chiefs and were “left at the mercy” of Asian grooming gangs in Rochdale, a report has concluded.

Between 2004 and 2013 Greater Manchester Police (GMP) and the local council in Rochdale missed or ignored a number of opportunities to identify a gang that was abusing teenage girls, most of whom were from poor white families, said the report.

Greater Manchester Mayor Andy Burnham, who commissioned the 173-page report, said it was “hard to read.”

But he added: “That said, it fulfils the purpose of why I set up this review in the first place. It is only by facing up fully and unflinchingly to what happened that we can be sure of bringing the whole system culture change needed when it comes to protecting children from abuse.”

The report identified 96 men who are still a potential risk to children but said that number was “only a proportion” of those involved in the abuse.

‘Many Abusers Not Apprehended’

The coauthor of the report, Malcolm Newsam, said, “Successive police operations were launched over this period, but these were insufficiently resourced to match the scale of the widespread organised exploitation within the area.”

“Consequently, children were left at risk and many of their abusers to this day have not been apprehended,” he added.

In 2017 a BBC documentary, “The Betrayed Girls,” featured evidence from a former detective, Maggie Oliver, and another whistleblower, Sara Rowbotham.

The report said Ms. Rowbotham, coordinator of the Crisis Intervention Team set up to support young people in Rochdale, and Ms. Oliver, who resigned from GMP in disgust, were “lone voices” who had flagged the clear evidence of “prolific serial rape of countless children in Rochdale.”

The Rochdale report, which was coauthored by Gary Ridgeway, a former detective superintendent, follows reports by the same authors on grooming in Manchester and Oldham, which found similar failings by the local authorities.

In 2022 GMP apologised to three women in Rochdale who were abused by the gangs and paid them substantial damages.

The campaign group Don’t Divide Us said in September 2022 that racist and misogynistic attitudes within Britain’s Pakistani community led to the “industrial rape” of more than 1,000 white girls and said little had been done to tackle those beliefs.

Speakers (L to R) Khadija Khan, Rakib Ehsan, and Hardeep Singh at a Don't Divide Us event in London on Sept. 1, 2022. Chris Summers/The Epoch Times

In April 2023 Prime Minister Rishi Sunak vowed to crackdown on Britain’s grooming gangs after admitting “cultural sensitivity and political correctness” had prevented child abusers being brought to justice.

Former Chief Prosecutor Admits ‘Ethnicity Was an Issue’

But on Monday, Nazir Afzal, the former chief prosecutor for the northwest of England, wrote on X, formerly known as Twitter: “In Rochdale, ethnicity was an issue but not THE issue. THE issue when it comes to rape and sexual offences is that authorities refused to listen to victims, to women & girls. Misogyny is the reason why offenders offend & why those with responsibility to safeguard, failed to do so,” he added.

Monday’s report sets out the timeline of failure in Rochdale.

It said the Crisis Intervention Team alerted GMP and Rochdale Council in 2007 to the presence of a gang “believed to be dealing in child sexual exploitation in Rochdale” and using the girls to help with dealing in Class A drugs.

The Crisis Intervention Team identified at least 11 girls they believed had been sexually exploited by the Asian gang but GMP and Rochdale Council “chose not to progress any investigation” into them.

The report said the girls’ unwillingness to make a formal complaint—usually over fear of the consequences—was repeatedly used as an excuse for not investigating crimes.

Police Failed to Fund Investigation Into Takeaway Shop Abusers

Another police investigation into 30 men involved with two takeaway shops in Rochdale was also closed down because GMP failed to give it enough resources and the Crown Prosecution Service said the main child victim was an “unreliable witness.”

In January 2010 a new multi-agency Sunrise Team was set up in Rochdale and a girl told a social worker of widespread abuse by up to 60 men.

One police report said, “What is clearly emerging is an organised industry where vulnerable young children are being targeted for sexual abuse.”

A detective inspector asked for more officers to investigate the claims but his superiors denied the request.

The report states, “Once more, children were left at the mercy of their abusers because of an inadequate response by GMP and children’s social care to the serious exploitation of vulnerable children.”

In December 2010 GMP finally launched Operation Span, which led to the conviction in 2012 of nine men.

The trial heard girls as young as 12 were given alcohol and drugs in rooms above takeaway shops and gang-raped by men who would pay the gang to abuse them.

But the report said Operation Span—which was hailed by GMP as “a fantastic result for British justice”—actually ignored the allegations by many other children, leading to dozens of abusers being let off the hook.

The report said Operation Span “only scraped the surface” of the grooming crisis in Rochdale.

GMP has since launched further investigations, which have resulted in the conviction of 42 men over allegations involving 13 children.

Ms. Oliver has since founded The Maggie Oliver Foundation, a charity that supports the adult survivors of childhood sexual abuse.

PA Media contributed to this report.