rochdale grooming case

In some cases those girls were raped, callously, viciously and violently. Now they werent prepared to do that. "But people can feel some sense of reassurance that we are now bringing more cases to court.". [45] In particular they pointed out that the inquiry by the Office of the Children's Commissioner[33] found that, while a majority of victims were white and a majority of perpetrators were men of South Asian descent, there were many cases where "perpetrators and their victims were ethnically diverse. In relation to historical failures, he apologised to Daisy. Why the Rochdale 'grooming trial' wasn't about race Focusing on the ethnicity of the men convicted of child sex offences in Rochdale detracts from the real issue: this was ultimately about. The Rochdale case was one of several cases which prompted investigations looking into the claim that "the majority of the perpetrators have been British Pakistani"; the first was by Quilliam in December 2017, which released a report entitled "Group Based Child Sexual Exploitation - Dissecting Grooming Gangs", which claimed 84% of offenders were It revealed that some CSC staff have been subjected to disciplinary action, although no-one is thought to have been sacked. It was outrageous. [9] The men were aged between 24-59 and all knew each other. The perpetrators would pass the girls to their friends, often to settle a debt. Without Ambers initial evidence there might never have been a trial at all. One of the victims given the fictitious name Amber in Three Girls, the BBC One drama about the abuse was 14 when she was targeted by gang members. She was vilified and nicknamed in the press as the Honey Monster. [8], Some gang members told the court the girls were willing participants and happy having sex with the men. The NSPCC offers support to children on 0800 1111, and adults concerned about a child on 0808 800 5000. I didnt know what that meant. She was held in custody for hours before being released on bail. The probe began after a local teenager was arrested for smashing up a cabinet at the Balti . It was not until summer 2011 that Nazir Afzal, the new regional head of the CPS, reversed the decision not to prosecute. The organisation defined underage grooming as any situation where a child or young person received a gift in exchange for sexual favours. File on 4 - Groomed, abused and put in prison: Rochdale's untold story will be broadcast on BBC Radio 4 on Tuesday 14 July at 20:00 BST and repeated on Sunday 19 July at 17:00 BST. In this case the judge did indicate his belief that the Rochdale gang had deliberately sought victims outside their own community. RN Case Manager - Case Management at Providence Little Company of Mary Torrance Hospital $20,000 hiring bonus for eligible external hires that meet required qualifications and conditions for payment The recent BBC One drama Three Girls explored the harrowing true story of the Rochdale child grooming case. It was absolute disrespect that vulnerable young people did not have a voice. The mayor's office. An independent report commissioned by Rochdale council said three employees had spoken of victims making life choices rather than being rape victims. The men who abused her have never been prosecuted. But before what turned out to be the final interview, Oliver says she started to notice a change in tone from senior officers, and felt they were now deliberately trying to push this victim away. [14] The CPS's original decision was overturned in 2011 when a new chief prosecutor for the region, Nazir Afzal, a first generation British-Pakistani,[15] was appointed. Read about our approach to external linking. Must demonstrate independence and competence in the duties on a variety of procedures. The arrests are in relation to one of the five girls who gave evidence at Liverpool Crown Court in the case of a child sex grooming ring in Rochdale, Greater Manchester. It was then she told police for the first time what was going on. A serious case review by the Rochdale Safeguarding Children Board highlighted failures by 17 agencies who were meant to protect the children. Operation Span was the investigation launched in December 2009 into allegations made against the individuals who were convicted in 2012, and others. ", "Lesley Sharp: 'What happened to the girls in Rochdale is never far from my mind', "British-Pakistani researchers say grooming gangs are 84% Asian", Failing victims, fuelling hate: challenging the harms of the 'Muslim grooming gangs' narrative. 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The BBC is not responsible for the content of external sites. NINE men who ran the Rochdale child sex abuse ring were eventually jailed for a string of offences in 2012. Their treatment encompasses a range of catastrophic errors in one of the countrys most harrowing child sexual abuse scandals. One night in 2006, when she was just 14, a man became aggressive after she refused to have sex with him. Shabir Ahmed received the longest sentence, 19 years for rape, aiding and abetting a rape, sexual assault, trafficking for sexual exploitation and conspiracy to engage in sexual activity with children. You have only got my kind here. News. Social services became involved when she started to arrive at school dirty and sometimes smelling of alcohol. Assistant Chief Constable Steve Heywood said that about 550 officers were working on Operation Doublet in May 2013. Some of the men involved were arrested, tried and found guilty. "I tried to say no in a nice way, but he wasn't having it.". Following the case in Rochdale similar cases of grooming and sexual abuse/exploitation of young girls came to light in various towns and cities across the UK. The government would not comment on the Rochdale case but said it had deported more than 51,000 foreign national offenders since 2010. But the consequences of what happened to her are still preventing her from moving on with her life. It made me sick to my stomach. "[54], One of the seven officers retired without any sanctions being taken, even though his misconduct was found to have warranted disciplinary action. The men led the girls to believe they were in relationships with some of them, and it was normal to have sex. They contend that clouding the issue by calling them "Asians" is unfair towards other groups and detrimental to a frank discussion. She says she was never informed by police either that she was no longer being treated as a victim, or that none of those she alleged to be her abusers was to be prosecuted for her abuse. Craving love and attention, Amber was lured into a nightmare, subjected to repeated and often violent sexual abuse. [25] Furthermore, The Times article alleged: "with the exception of one town there is scant evidence of work being undertaken in British Pakistani communities to confront the problem" of "pimping gangs" largely consisting of "members of the British Pakistani community". Her act of pent-up frustration in the takeaway - followed by her bravery in speaking out - was the first step, a key moment that would lead to questions about the part which racial identity played in sexual grooming of children in the town and in other places up and down the country. Why has nothing happened to these men? Ive got a box in the back of my head, and I just put it all in there and its locked away.. It is committed by abusers from all walks of life, ethnicities, cultures and classes and it robs children of their childhoods and tears families apart. When police arrived, she says they did not believe her version of events. Finally, she has been exonerated. She added: "The danger with saying that the problem is with one ethnicity is that then people will only be on the lookout for that group and will risk missing other threats. Nine men from Rochdale and Oldham were sentenced for up to 19 years in prison in May 2012 after being convicted of offences including rape. "We have got a number of girls in Rochdale that we believe are being abused and many of them will not talk to us and, even if they did, will not tell us about what is happening and certainly don't want to make a complaint because that means they go into the criminal justice system.". Why can't I get a job? Charity Victim Support's chief executive Javed Khan said: "It is utterly unacceptable that, instead of protecting these vulnerable young victims from sexual exploitation, the authorities judged, blamed and disbelieved them and their families and, in doing so, exposed these victims to further abuse. Police began to investigate child grooming in Rochdale almost by accident. She walked out, refusing to go along with this decision, and was forbidden from speaking to Amber. The picture which emerged was one of vulnerable young girls, some as young as 10, who were being targeted for sexual abuse and written off by authorities who believed the girls were making their own choices. Another five-year sentence was given to Abdul Qayyum for conspiracy to engage in sexual activity with children, while Hamid Safi received four years for trafficking for sexual exploitation and conspiracy to engage in sexual activity with children. Of the 56 offenders convicted since 1997 for crimes relating to on-street grooming of girls aged 11 to 16, three were white, 53 were Asian of which 50 were Muslim, and most were from the British Pakistani community. [32], Wendy Shepherd, child sexual exploitation project manager for Barnardo's in the north of England, said that since she started working with the organisation, there has been "a shift from the men selling children in ones or twos to something that is much more organised in groups and networks. "I felt let down," she said. Address: CA Torrance 4101 Torrance Blvd. Even though she had been a victim, she was accused of being involved in the grooming. "We have to remember that in most of those cases, the girls themselves did not regard themselves as victims and were not willing to make complaints and that is still the situation now," he said. Parents felt agencies "failed to work together", did not listen or keep them informed. It was only when she met Oliver in early 2012 that things started to change. It was like a casual, Oh, bring your friends. She was a vulnerable child, being sexually abused, controlled and in fear. Two worked for the same taxi firm and another two worked at a takeaway restaurant; some came from the same village in Pakistan and another two men shared a flat. Or by navigating to the user icon in the top right. Sheer lack of resource, and also the fact that their bosses seemed reluctant to grasp the nettle for fear of being branded racist, contributed to delays in the investigation. Read about our approach to external linking. After the trials conclusion, there were public apologies from the police, the council and prosecutors for failing the victims. She had worked on Operation Augusta in 2004 which examined the sexual abuse of white girls by Asian men in Hulme and Rusholme. The abuse of minor female children that occurred in 2008 and 2009 centred around two takeaways in Heywood near Rochdale. Rochdale grooming case - what really happened? Speaking to BBC Five Live, Sir Peter Fahy, chief constable of Greater Manchester, denied his officers had failed to investigate allegations of rape made by underage girls before a decision was taken not to prosecute in 2008. He said: We now know that Rochdale was not an isolated case. This resulted in Greater Manchester Police launching Operation Doublet to investigate further claims of abuse with 19 men so far being convicted. I asked Amber what gave her the strength to give evidence to the police, after what she had gone through. She was being raped. Just before the due date of her second baby, she was called to the family court, where an application was made to remove both children on the grounds that Amber was an abuser and a danger to children. [32] The inquiry issued its final report in November 2013. The period during the buildup to the trial of the men accused of being part of the grooming gang, was dark for Amber. Kabeer Hassan was sentenced to nine years for rape and conspiracy to engage in sexual activity with children. "He asked me to come upstairs and I didn't really think anything of it," she explained. May stated the revocations were "conducive to the public good". Amber was also threatened at gunpoint by a man whom she subsequently identified to the police. She had a knack of speaking on a human level to estate kids and she was head-hunted by her bosses to persuade them to give evidence in the trial despite the woeful original investigation. I was like, 'why are you not listening? The ringleader, 59-year-old Shabir Ahmed, claimed the girls were "prostitutes" who had been running a "business empire" and it was all "white lies". [citation needed], Twelve men were initially charged with sex trafficking and other offences including: rape, trafficking girls for sex and conspiracy to engage in sexual activity with a child. But once the CPS advised the GMP that she was no longer seen as a suspect, she was persuaded by Oliver to begin a series of video interviews and ID parades. The three-part series tells the story of the victims of an infamous child grooming and sex trafficking scandal in Rochdale, and continues on Wednesday night. The report also showed that more than 3,000 children under the age of 18 were reported missing in Greater Manchester in 2014. Social workers focused on young people's high-risk behaviour and "not their vulnerability", the latest review found. The alleged offences that took place in Rochdale between 2005 and 2013 included rape, conspiracy to rape, inciting a child to engage in sexual activity, sexual activity with a child, and sexual assault. Behind the scenes, however, there was consternation. Posted: February 21, 2023. After the court case, social services started to pursue Amber, with the aim of having her children removed. While this is true, Amber believes that she was used as a scapegoat. Some studies suggest an overrepresentation of black and Asian offenders relative to the demographics of national populations. They were overlooked, they were discriminated against.. This vulnerable girl had been failed.. Sign up and we will email you daily with the best of our political and news coverage while also giving you a taste of our most-popular lifestyle, opinion and personal blogs. Indeed one witness, said in the course of the trial that he did not wish to be seen with young white girls in his community in Oldham.. pnc smartaccess check deposit, does yamhill county require deq, Offences in 2012, rochdale grooming case was forbidden from speaking to Amber I asked Amber what gave her the strength give. 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