Khan got a 13-year-old girl pregnant, but denied he was the father, then met another girl, 15, and trafficked her to others using violence when she complained. [20], Four of the convicted, Shabir Ahmed, Adil Khan, Abdul Rauf and Abdul Aziz, who had dual British and Pakistani citizenships, were denaturalized (stripped of their British citizenship) by then Home Secretary Theresa May in order for them to be deported to Pakistan. Mr Watson said the force should have done more to protect them. There were therefore many still walking free that had evaded detection. Finally, she has been exonerated. NINE men who ran the Rochdale child sex abuse ring were eventually jailed for a string of offences in 2012. Ten months after her case had been dropped, police decided to revisit the case after more complaints emerged. On one occasion, she was picked up by police on the moors, miles outside Manchester, and told officers she told a man she did not want to sleep with him and he had taken her coat, thrown orange juice over her, and left her to walk home with no socks or shoes on. [32] Ella Cockbain and Helen Brayley pointed out, "There is no criminal offence of 'on-street grooming' and as a result it is very difficult to measure the extent of the crime based on court statistics. 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. The BBC is not responsible for the content of external sites. it's reported matt hancock considered this to be a potent breach of the regulations In 2014 an inquiry led by MP Ann Coffey suggested sexual exploitation of children had become normal on some streets and estates in Greater Manchester. 17 miles | Rochdale, Manchester Features: Front+Back Dual cover,360 protection. To keep up with Rochdale news sign up to the MyRochdale newsletter here. The BBC reports Kabeer Hassan, then 25, of Oldham, was sentenced to nine years for rape and three years, concurrently, for the conspiracy conviction. Two members of a Rochdale grooming gang are to be deported to Pakistan after losing a seven-year legal fight to remain in Britain. She gave the police a list, at an early stage of Operation Span, with nicknames, telephone numbers and other details relating to offenders. The gang of nine men received jail sentences of between four and 19 years from a judge who said they treated their victims as though they were worthless and beyond any respect. Hamid Safi, then 22 and of no fixed address, was convicted of trafficking girls for the purposes of sexual exploitation and sentenced to four years. The Government retrospectively changing laws in response to being ruled against in DWP workfare case even before Appeal is heard and to prevent legal re-imbursement of seized benefits in defiance of Appeal Court ruling. 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. Case studies 41. We were making referrals from 2004, very explicit referrals, referrals which absolutely highlighted for protective services that young people were incredibly vulnerable, she said. Why Alex Murdaugh was spared the death penalty, Why Trudeau is facing calls for a public inquiry, The shocking legacy of the Dutch 'Hunger Winter'. Leeds man Robert Glendinning was jailed at Bradford Crown Court yesterday after a judge heard details of his repeated abuse of the children in the late 1970s. 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". Blind to his grooming, the girls were soon trapped in a terrifying cycle of sexual and physical abuse. They contend that clouding the issue by calling them "Asians" is unfair towards other groups and detrimental to a frank discussion. The Sun Online looks at the scandal Why Alex Murdaugh was spared the death penalty, Why Trudeau is facing calls for a public inquiry, The shocking legacy of the Dutch 'Hunger Winter'. [32], In 2011, the Child Exploitation and Online Protection Centre launched a five-month long investigation into whether there was a link between racial profile and the crime of underage grooming. Video, Russian minister laughed at for Ukraine war claims, Harry: I always felt different to rest of family, US-made cheese can be called 'gruyere' - court, AOC under investigation for Met Gala dress, The children left behind in Cuba's exodus, Alex Murdaugh's legal troubles are far from over, Walkie Talkie architect Rafael Violy dies aged 78, Saving Private Ryan actor Tom Sizemore dies at 61, Nelson's 97th-minute stunner gives Arsenal victory. History was repeating itself, said Maggie. Willmer added: "We think this is the tip of the iceberg", although she cautioned against treating the matter as a race crime: "It's a criminal thing. It was outrageous. Find a Job It took police 11 months to compile a file of evidence for the Crown Prosecution Service (CPS) after interviewing the young victim from the takeaway on four separate occasions. On one occasion he ordered a girl aged 15 to have sex with Kabeer Hassan, as a "treat" for his birthday Hassan then raped the girl. News Group Newspapers Limited in England No. Some studies suggest an overrepresentation of black and Asian offenders relative to the demographics of national populations. The staggering detail of how the victims in the Rochdale grooming scandal were treated exposed a system that was failing some of the most vulnerable children in our society This video cannot be. The women, who cannot be named for. Cockbain and Brayley expressed concern that "findings were being overextended from a small, geographically concentrated sample to characterise an entire crime type". [5] The girls were mainly White British. The vile group exploited girls as young as 13 and were. Aziz had renounced his Pakistani citizenship on 13 July, 2018, six years after he was jailed, but just days before the Court of Appeal ruled he could be deprived of his UK citizenship. In 2009, when Amber was 16, uniformed officers arrived at her mothers house, arrested her and took her to the police station. VideoRussian minister laughed at for Ukraine war claims, The children left behind in Cuba's mass exodus, Xi Jinping's power grab - and why it matters, Snow, Fire and Lights: Photos of the Week. Maggie spent six months speaking to the victims from Rochdale and persuaded them to give evidence. I push thoughts about the abuse out of my head. [1][2], The oldest person to be convicted, Shabir Ahmed,[16] was for a while the main trafficker of the victims. In subsequent cases, the racial and religious background of perpetrators have been exploited by some - but there have also been accusations that authorities were slow to act on concerns for fear of being dubbed racist. You are also agreeing to our Terms of Service and Privacy Policy. An independent report commissioned by Rochdale council said three employees had spoken of victims making life choices rather than being rape victims. The Chief Constable of Greater Manchester Police, Stephen Watson QPM, has met and personally apologised to three victims of grooming gangs in Rochdale for a catalogue of investigative failings that prevented their abusers from being brought to justice. Then, shortly after the ID parade, Oliver was told that they were no longer going to use Ambers evidence. The trial of nine of the grooming gang was pending, and in the meantime, despite never having been informed, arrested or cautioned, Amber was added to the indictment by the CPS as a co-conspirator. "It made me feel like I was pretty. Cast list: Playbook is told Theresa May, Hunt and Deputy PM Dominic Raab all plan to go to Windsor. The testimony of one of the five victims of the Rochdale grooming ring revealed the depth of the exploitation she suffered. The men led the girls to believe they were in relationships with some of them, and it was normal to have sex. "We would get free alcohol and cigarettes, food, free taxis," she said. "It's not a normal relationship when your boyfriend is getting you to sleep with all his friends for money.". Tellingly, he added: I believe that one of the factors that led to that was that they were not of your community or religion. Eight years later, following a second police investigation, nine men were convicted of sexual exploitation. Following a trial at Liverpool Crown Court, nine men were convicted in May 2012. When we met in a hotel in Rochdale last month, Amber was accompanied by Maggie Oliver, a former police detective who walked out of the job in protest at the way Amber had been treated. The grooming and subsequent abuse - which centred around the town of Heywood - began when the woman, now aged 19, was a 15-year-old schoolgirl. In 2015 three men were sentenced for a string of child sexual offences that took place in Rochdale. She was being raped. A 15-year-old girl was ordered to have sex with takeaway worker Kabeer Hassan as a birthday "treat", the judge told the court. And more than that, she was among a band of white girls who were being specifically targeted by a gang of largely Pakistani-heritage men because, as the trial judge would later acknowledge, the mens victims were not of your community or religion. She has forced the police and social services to apologise to her for their behaviour. Khan told the hearing: "I have a question for the Home Secretary, whether Mr Aziz was an angel and I am a devil?". Mohammed Amin, 45, of Falinge, was convicted of sexual assault and received a five-year jail term. Two members of the Rochdale grooming gang are set to be deported to Pakistan after a seven-year legal battle following a ruling by immigration judges. There were fears that press involvement would frighten the girls away. An External Reference Group, consisting of independent experts on child sexual exploitation . "[30], Tim Loughton, the Minister for Children and Families, said that while there was no evidence that ethnic communities condoned child sexual abuse, he was concerned that some had been slow to report it to the police, and urged police and social workers not to allow "political correctness around ethnicity" to hinder their work to apprehend such criminals. "[54], One of the seven officers retired without any sanctions being taken, even though his misconduct was found to have warranted disciplinary action. 2023 BBC. 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. Nine men were convicted of being part of the child sexual exploitation ring, Nazir Afzal regrets that the CPS dropped the original grooming case, Harry: I always felt different to rest of family, US-made cheese can be called 'gruyere' - court, The children left behind in Cuba's exodus, AOC under investigation for Met Gala dress, Canadian grandma helps police snag phone scammer. [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". Officers on the Rochdale division were under pressure at the time to hit volume crime targets like bringing down the number of burglaries and were overwhelmed by the sheer scale of the grooming problem they had uncovered. The NSPCC offers support to children on 0800 1111, and adults concerned about a child on 0808 800 5000. The Manchester Evening News reports how the former delivery driver and dad-of-four encouraged his victimsto call him daddy. Two members of the grooming gang the gangs ringleader Shabir Ahmed and Kabeer Hassan were arrested and released on bail. But wheres the evidence? The second woman was 14 when the abuse began. Instead of being viewed as child victims of sexual abuse, they were branded by police as "bad" or "unreliable" witnesses and were sometimes arrested themselves, the women said. She told me: So it didnt happen to anybody else. The abuse took place at two takeaway restaurants- now under new management - in the Heywood area of Rochdale by the men aged between 24 and 59. The women, who were abused as children, brought a legal claim against the police force, The men plied their victims with drink and drugs and "passed them around" for sex. Without Ambers initial evidence there might never have been a trial at all. He said the actions of criminals who thought "white teenage girls are worthless and can be abused" were "bringing shame on our community. Mr Watson told the women it was "a matter of profound personal regret that your childhood was so cruelly impacted by the dreadful experiences which you endured". Police drove her home and told her they could not do anything because they did not have the man's name. [2] One 13-year-old victim had an abortion after becoming pregnant. In October 2010 the M.E.N. [2] One gang member convicted of sex trafficking was a religious studies teacher at a mosque and a married father of five. Rochdale grooming gang members could be deported after judges uphold ruling to strip them of British citizenship Khan, who also trafficked a 15-year-old girl to others, using violence when she. Three trials were conducted where jurors were told of how these men preyed specifically on young girls under the age of 16 from vulnerable backgrounds. [19] In some cases they were driven round Rochdale and Oldham to be made to have sex with paying customers. Finally, after a gruelling 18 months and several hearings, the judge threw the case out. Team Management: Establish & manage globally distributed, co-located, virtual, cross-functional, high performing self-organizing teams leveraging onsite-offshore delivery models. Behind the scenes, however, there was consternation. 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.. 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After the trials conclusion, there were public apologies from the police, the council and prosecutors for failing the victims. Amber still sees those whom she says raped, beat and tortured her, out and about in Rochdale. In some cases those girls were raped, callously, viciously and violently. There was a complete lack of understanding of the world in which they existed. [13], As a result of the CPS dropping the case, the police halted their investigation, which was resumed when a second girl made complaints of a similar nature in December 2009. They were [1] Forty-seven girls were identified as victims of child sexual exploitation during the police investigation. Show. What's the least amount of exercise we can get away with? It drew statistics from organisations such as Barnardo's but the findings were considered inconclusive by expert academics because not all the figures had been compiled in the same way and ethnicity had not always been noted with each reported crime. ", "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. The ID parades were particularly gruelling for Amber, who did 12 in one day alone, correctly identifying 10 of her abusers. etween 2008 and 2010, a child abuse ring that came to be known as part of the grooming gang phenomenon operated in Rochdale. "[39], Nazir Afzal, who as the newly appointed chief crown prosecutor decided to bring the case to trial, said that sex, not race, was the key issue: "There is no community where women and girls are not vulnerable to sexual attack and that's a fact. And then, in July 2009, an experienced CPS lawyer ruled the victim was not credible and decided that the two men who raped her should be released without charge. A ringleader of a grooming gang has avoided being deported so it would therefore be wrong to deport two other gang members, a tribunal has heard. The inspector concluded the abuse could have stopped if the authorities had stepped in sooner. She told me: Police werent arsed with us, really. These involved the grooming and sexual exploitation of several girls, aged in their early teens. Greater Manchester Police have arrested a number of suspects involved in historical grooming gang crimes committed against women between 2002 and 2006 in Rochdale, England, one of the country's most notorious grooming gang epicentres. Lawyers for the victims - one who was aged 14 and two who were just 12 at the time of the abuse - successfully argued their human rights were breached by the force failing to protect them. It made me sick to my stomach. Ringleader Shabir Ahmed was originally handed a 19 year sentence which was upped to 22 years for repeatedly raping a girl. Because she was not involved in the trial, and therefore did not give evidence, she had no opportunity to defend herself. Rauf and Khan only renounced their Pakistani citizenship in September of the same year after the Court of Appeal ruling. This kind of institutional neglect of a whole sector of society must never happen again and we need programmes like Three Girls to remind us.. "At first I thought it was great because nothing sexual had happened, I thought I could just get all of this stuff for free.". Rochdale grooming gang: Wrong to deport members, tribunal told 27 June 2022 GMP Adil Khan (left) and Qari Rauf (right) were jailed in 2012 for a catalogue of serious child sex offences A. The case is another example of the worrying number of girls who . At conservative gathering, Trump is still the favourite. GitHub export from English Wikipedia. "It will always be there, but I know how to deal with it," she said. She later went on to positively identify a number of offenders, which enabled charges to be brought against them all. It formed a large part of the police investigation that became known as Operation Span. [35] "The citations are correct but they have been taken out of context," Cockbain told The Independent; "Nor do they acknowledge the small sample size of the original research, which focused on just two large cases." One delivered a takeaway to my house a few weeks back, she tells me. In June 2017 it was revealed that the members of the Rochdale gang facing deportation will receive legal aid to fight attempts to send them back to Pakistan, prompting widespread public anger. When police were called to a report of a 15-year-old girl smashing up the Balti House takeaway in Heywood, they had no idea that the crime they. He shouted in court, "Where are the white people? Find a Job Thin, fits your phone perfectly and provides maximum protection with slim appearance and ligh 5 10 days ago 2 Carlube silicone spray 13 miles | Bolton, Manchester But the investigation, according to one officer who was involved, was a car crash. Lancashire 1996-11-05. This means that we may include adverts from us and third parties based on our knowledge of you. After the court case, social services started to pursue Amber, with the aim of having her children removed. The first victim, who was 15 when the abuse began, told the police what had been happening to her in August 2008. As always you can unsubscribe at any time. And Ive done nothing wrong I was a victim of these men at the age of 14. What's the least amount of exercise we can get away with? "At first I felt really bad, dirty and ashamed. Assistant Chief Constable Dawn Copley said that, at the time of the earlier investigation, "there was a strong target driven focus, predominantly on serious acquisitive crime. The BBC is not responsible for the content of external sites. [52], In December 2013, the case review by Rochdale County was leaked, which highlighted findings from an internal police investigation. Some of you acted as you did to satiate your lust, some of you to make money, all of you treated them as though they were worthless and beyond respect.. [24], The case raised a serious debate about whether the crimes were racially motivated. Read about our approach to external linking. The trial at Liverpool Crown Court in 2012 heard five girls - aged between 13 and 15 - were given alcohol, food and money in return for sex but there were times when violence was used. [46], 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 of South Asian heritage. Can Nigeria's election result be overturned? The review recommended the Greater Manchester Police establish a monitoring system and commit to maintaining a child sexual exploitation team. Vile groupwho ran a child sex abuse ring were jailed for a string of offences in 2012. Of the three not convicted, one was cleared of all charges, the jury was unable to reach a verdict in the case of the second, and the third was not present at the trial after fleeing to Pakistan whilst on bail. Attempts by Rochdale Crisis Intervention Team co-ordinator for the NHS, Sara Rowbotham, to alert police and authorities to "patterns of sexual abuse" were ignored. Adil Khan, 51, and Qari Abdul Rauf, 52, had fought the deportation on human . The report makes recommendations for each of the agencies involved: CAFCASS; Rochdale MBC Children's Services (Targeted services, Safeguarding Children Unit, and Schools); Connexions Rochdale; Early Break (Young People's Drug and Alcohol Service) ; Greater Manchester Police; Pennine Acute NHS Trust; Pennine Care NHS Foundation Trust; RMBC We are a 3-branch practice, in the middle of the Sperrin Mountains, with only a 40-minute drive to our stunning North Coast and Glens, 40-minute drive to our airports and 40-minute drive from the hustle and bustle of Belfast or Derry city life. "[3], Sayeeda Warsi, co-chairperson of the Conservative Party, in an interview with the Evening Standard, said "You can only start solving a problem if you acknowledge it first," and added, "This small minority who see women as second class citizens, and white women probably as third class citizens, are to be spoken out against." Rauf, a father-of-five, trafficked a 15-year-old girl for sex, driving her to secluded areas to have sex with her in his taxi and ferry her to a flat in Rochdale where he and others had sex with her. Or by navigating to the user icon in the top right. 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Size 2XL I used to buy end of lines, torn boxes, opened packets etc to sell on markets. She later gave police the names or nicknames of 45 males who abused her or other children. In 2019, Amber, along with two other victims, with the help of the Centre for Womens Justice, issued a civil claim for damages against GMP and the director of public prosecutions (DPP). But their nightmare was only just beginning . [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. "[32] Further research has been pursued since late 2011 by the Office of the Children's Commissioner. The men, she said, were friendly at first, simply chatting with the girls now and again in a takeaway shop. They dont give a fuck when youre not from a wealthy background.. After a troubled upbringing, Amber had been placed on the child protection register as being at risk of sexual and emotional abuse and neglect.