British MP Rupert Lowe has called for court transcripts from grooming and rape gang trials to be made available to the public free of charge.
Lowe, who is currently holding an independent inquiry into the largely Pakistani Muslim-led sexual abuse gangs, has said that current laws require that such transcripts be purchased
“It’s simply wrong to charge for the transcripts of what’s happening legally; it is effectively a paywall on justice,” he said.
“It’s absolutely essential that court transcripts of the horrors and the evils which have been happening over the last twenty-five years are made available to everybody so that people can actually listen to the gravity and the seriousness and the vileness of what’s been going on.”
Lowe called on the public to sign a petition to this effect in order to have a “debate in Westminster Hall”.
The independent inquiry was launched last Friday and will run until Friday this week, with testimonies from rape gang survivor Fiona Goddard, who previously stepped away from Kier Starmer’s national inquiry, saying that she was unsatisfied with what she called “condescending and controlling language used towards survivors” during the process.
She also expressed concern at certain panel members from the police and social services, saying that these were the very agencies that had turned a blind eye to the decades-long abuse of grooming gang victims.
Goddard was targeted by Pakistani child rapists in Bradford and was abused from the age of 13- 14 when she was living in a children’s home.
Fellow survivor Sammy Woodhouse (pictured above), who was groomed by a British Pakistani man when she was a young teenager, is also taking part in the inquiry.
Lowe also hit out at the NHS after he said young girls were presenting to clinics having been ‘beaten’ and displaying signs of rape.
“Following deeply disturbing testimony to our inquiry this week, I have today written to the Home Secretary requesting an official investigation into the overseas trafficking of rape gang victims – including an urgent review of all relevant missing women cases in targeted areas.”
The inquiry also claims to have uncovered that victims of grooming gangs have been trafficked overseas, largely to Pakistan, to be sexually exploited.
“We are being presented with evidence that suggests a number of British girls have been trafficked overseas by their rapists,” he said, adding, “They are groomed, raped, married, and then taken.”
“This has not been widely spoken about, but I am increasingly concerned that countless girls are currently trapped overseas, in a foreign country, with their rapists,” he said, calling on the Home Office to initiate an official investigation.
“What’s so difficult is that the men use both physical and psychological torture to beat these girls into submission. They accept it. They believe it’s the right thing for them,” he said of the findings.
“That’s what makes it so wicked for families. Some have been fortunate, escaping or being extracted. But how many haven’t? How many remain trapped today? Some even overseas. How many girls have been abducted to Pakistan?”
Lowe stated that the “vast scale of the rape is impossible to comprehend”, stating that one child victim says she was raped by upwards of 600 – 700 men.
Lowe has vowed to bring private prosecutions against anyone who is found to have known about the abuse and turned a blind eye. He also stated that civil litigation will be initiated against “negligent public officials”.
A previous investigation into the grooming gangs revealed that girls have been targeted in at least 50 towns and villages across the UK over decades.
Claims of Islamophobia
After a discussion on GBN News, in which commentator Emma Trimble discussed having interviewed an abuse survivor who said parts of her ordeal were tied to the Islamic Eid celebrations, Muslim advocacy group MEND made a public call for host Patrick Christys to be reported to British broadcasting regulator OFCOM.
Lowe also claimed that the Muslim Council of Britain has stated that the findings from the independent inquiry are “Islamophobic”, saying that “this may have worked before to shut down debate”, but it “will not work now”.