A report has exposed failures by Greater Manchester Police (GMP) and British social services in investigating “compelling evidence” of the abuse of children in Rochdale between 2004 and 2012
The review compiled by the GMCA – which looked at the cases of 111 children – found there was “a significant probability” that 74 of these children were being sexually exploited and that in 48 of those cases, there were serious failures to protect the child
Former GMP detective turned whistle blower, Maggie Oliver previously described the gangs’s activity as “systematic organised sexual abuse” noting that those involved were “almost exclusively Pakistani” in origin.
The report states that an “emerging threat of child sexual exploitation was not addressed between 2004 and 2007” and that in 2007 “due to escalating concerns” GMP and Rochdale Council were alerted to the presence of “an alleged organised crime group believed to be dealing in child sexual exploitation in Rochdale and using these children to facilitate the gang’s illicit dealing in Class A drugs.”
The report says the GMP and Rochdale Council “chose not to progress any investigation into these men” calling this decision “a serious failure”.
Former Labour MP for Keighley, Ann Cryer. said in some cases younger “handsome” Pakistani youths who posed as boyfriends lured victims into situations where they were sexually abused, in some cases, by multiple older men.
In 2003 grooming gang victim Victoria Agoglia died after reportedly being injected with heroin by a 50-year-old man. Victoria who was in state care had been repeatedly raped by members of the grooming gangs.
Although 15-year-old Victoria had told a social worker that she was being injected with drugs and raped, appropriate action was not taken in time to save her with the report stating that ‘lessons were not learned’ from her death.
The report says that victim’s unwillingness to make formal complaints was used as an excuse not to investigate allegations of abuse and that, “No disruptive or investigative action” was taken to tackle “very dangerous individuals” with children “ left to be abused by them and subsequently by their associates.”
Council Worker Sara Rowbotham who said she made multiple submissions to police flagging the abuse previously told the BBC that in some cases abusers threatened to kill victims’ family members and that many of the girls were afraid of the social consequences of making official complaints.
Rowbotham and her colleagues were praised by the report’s chief author Malcolm Newsom as being “lone voices” in flagging the abuse.
He also said that Rowbotham was “unfairly criticised by the two serious case reviews for not having appropriately referred children at risk of exploitation.”
Child 1.
In 2005 Rowbotham raised serious concerns for the welfare of a 14-year-old girl referred to as ‘Child 1’
The report contains details of this girl’s abuse stating: “Child 1 also admitted to having had loads of sexual partners and had engaged in [explicit description of profound sexual abuse]. She also stated that sometimes this was against her will and that if she didn’t do what some men asked for, they would hit her and therefore she had to do what they wanted.”
An abuser whose name was redacted from the report who is said to be married, have a house, and drive a taxi was said to organise parties to which he invited teenage girls, and encouraged them “to have sex with his friends.”
The report says neither GMP nor Rochdale Council “addressed this threat to children nor was there any attempt to disrupt or remove the threat presented by these men or their associates.”
Child 3.
Child 3 was a 15 year old girl who in 2006 was flagged as being likely “groomed for prostitution” by Rowbotham who at the time wrote:
It was noticed that Child 3 was appearing in school with notes from a social worker’s meeting saying she had a £500 phone and a £400 necklace given to her by “Asian” men.
However the case was closed in December 2006 with social workers claiming that the concerns “could not be evidenced.”
Girls as young as 12 gang raped above takeaways
A GMP investigation into takeaway two takeaway shops in Rochdale which involved male suspects, was aborted prematurely after higher ups in the police force failed to resource it properly with the Crown Prosecution Service (CPS) deciding that the main child victim was an unreliable witness.
Between 2008-2009 after a child who was arrested for damagiing a takeaway shop alleged that up to 60 men were involved in sexual abuse a police officer’s requests for resources to investigate the allegation were denied by bosses.
“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,” the report said.
It took until 2010 for Operation Span to be launched which led to the conviction of nine men in 2012 in relation to the gang rape of girls as young as 12 above takeaway shops.
Shabir Ahmed – the gang’s ringleader – was convicted of 30 rapes.
Rochdale Online reported that Ahmed worked as a welfare officer in Oldham for a year despite facing multiple accusations of rape.
However the report says that multiple other opportunities to bring abusers to justice were missed.
‘Amber’
In what the report calls a “deplorable” move a child referred to as ‘Amber’ who gave “significant evidence” of serious abuse of herself and other children over a six-month period was branded a “co-conspirator in the sexual exploitation of other children” and had her included her name on an indictment.
‘Amber’ was never informed of this with the report stating that there was “a foreseeable risk to her and her family’s personal safety that was either ignored or not considered.”
After the launch of the report Mayor of Greater Manchester Andy Burnham said, “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.”
He added, “We are sorry that you were so badly failed by the system that should have protected you.”
Newsam said, “Successive police operations were launched over this period [2004-2012 ], 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.”