Girls were ‘left at the mercy’ of paedophile grooming gangs for years in Rochdale because officials failed to act on ‘compelling evidence’ – as whistleblower warns abuse is ‘categorically’ STILL happening with 96 men deemed a potential risk to children
Girls were ‘left at the mercy’ of paedophile grooming gangs for years in Rochdale after police and council bosses failed to act on ‘compelling evidence’, a damning report has found.
The review into how police and social workers did not respond to large-scale child sexual exploitation by gangs of mainly Asian men between 2004 and 2012 was published this morning and pointed the finger at failures within Greater Manchester Police (GMP) and Rochdale Council.
Among the shocking details released in the report was that many abusers have to this day, not yet been apprehended or brought to justice for crimes committed against children. It identified 96 men who are still deemed a potential risk to children, but this is ‘only a proportion’ of the numbers involved in the abuse.
It also vindicated whistleblowers who had raised concerns about grooming gangs in the town, with former case worker Sara Rowbotham declaring ‘shame on you’ at retired police officers who refused to take part in the review. Detective-turned-campaigner Maggie Oliver said despite dozens of people being jailed, grooming is ‘categorically’ still happening in Rochdale.
The report included details about how:
- The aborted foetus of a 13-year-old girl was taken by police without her consent to be tested for DNA, before being left forgotten in a freezer at a police station while the girl herself continued to be abused by men;
- Victims who gave evidence against their abusers were not protected from harassment and threats, with some having their homes targeted and guns pulled on them;
- Police took no action against a ‘pimp’ who impregnated a 15-year-old girl who later gave birth to his child;
- One child was even arrested and bailed to live with a man who had already been arrested on suspicion of child sex offences, before later being named as a co-conspirator in the trial of her abusers in a case the report called ‘deplorable’.
A report into Rochdale’s grooming gangs has said officials committed a ‘serious failure to protect children’. Pictured: A view of Whitworth Road in Rochdale, where one gang used a flat to abuse girls
Rochdale child abusers Jahn Shahid Ghani (left) and Mohammed Ghani (right) were both jailed last year
The report found that the foetus was left in a freezer at a police station after the DNA was found not to be a match to possible suspects, and was only found during a ‘routine property review’ later. In the meantime, the girl was exploited by grooming gangs for years and was even at risk of being taken to Pakistan by them.
The Guardian reports that the child even bumped into her rapist in the supermarket after he was released early following his conviction conspiracy and sexual trafficking after no one told her he had been freed.
The review found that she, as well as another victim, were harassed and targeted by men after giving evidence against their abusers with terrifying incidents that saw them chased through the streets and their homes trashed.
The damning dossier also claims that no action was taken against a ‘pimp’ who got a 15-year-old girl pregnant, while another child claimed she was kept locked in cages and made to act like a dog or baby, with again, no action being taken against the men allegedly involved.
The report is the third of four written by child protection specialist Malcolm Newsam CBE and former senior police officer Gary Ridgway – and saw apologies this morning from Greater Manchester Mayor Andy Burnham, Greater Manchester Police and Rochdale Council.
The authors previously led a review of Operation Augusta, an investigation into grooming gangs in South Manchester, which was published in 2020, and the review into child safeguarding practices in Oldham, published in 2022.
It followed criticism of failings within Rochdale Council and Greater Manchester Police aired in BBC documentary, Betrayed Girls.
The report considered claims by Sara Rowbotham, co-ordinator of a young people’s Crisis Intervention Team, and Maggie Oliver, former Detective Constable involved with the first large-scale investigation into grooming in Rochdale, Operation Span, launched in 2010.
It found that the pair of ‘lone voices’ had flagged clear evidence of ‘prolific serial rape of countless children in Rochdale’ but that this was not acted upon, with the children’s unwillingness to make a formal complaint repeatedly used as an excuse for not investigating.
Mr Newsam, lead author, said: ‘GMP and Rochdale Council failed to prioritise the protection of children who were being sexually exploited by a significant number of men within the Rochdale area.
‘This review was initiated following the serious allegations made by both Maggie Oliver and Sara Rowbotham and we have found through this review their allegations to be substantiated.
‘Both GMP and Rochdale Council failed to respond appropriately to these concerns.
‘Successive police operations were launched over this period, but these were insufficiently resourced to match the scale of the widespread organised exploitation.
‘Consequently, children were left at risk and many of their abusers to this day have not been apprehended.’
Mr Newsam and Mr Ridgway said: ‘CSE continued to be treated as a low priority and under-resourced by GMP.’
By October 2012, a review group chaired by GMP identified 127 potential victims whose cases had not been acted on – a figure which later grew to 260 potential victims.
After Operation Span, three more investigations – Operation Routh, Operation Doublet and Operation Lytton – saw 30 men convicted, many of whom received lengthy sentences.
Files held by officials for 111 children revealed ‘a significant probability that 74 of these children were being sexually exploited at that time, and in 48 of those cases, there were serious failures to protect the child’, the report revealed.
Andy Burnham, the Mayor of Greater Manchester, called the report ‘a detailed and distressing account of how many young people were so seriously failed’. Pictured: Mr Burnham at the funeral of Everton chairman Bill Kenwright on December 18 last year
The report considered claims by Maggie Oliver, former Detective Constable involved with the first large-scale investigation into grooming in Rochdale, Operation Span, launched in 2010. Pictured: Ms Oliver at her home in Cheshire
Mayor of Greater Manchester Andy Burnham called the report ‘a detailed and distressing account of how many young people were so seriously failed’.
He added: ‘That said, it fulfils the purpose of why I set up this review in the first place.
He apologised to the victims and said: ‘We are sorry that you were so badly failed by the system that should have protected them.
‘I have asked Greater Manchester Police and Rochdale Council to ensure that every possible action is taken to follow up any leads arising from this report and to pursue any potential perpetrators.’
A series of initiatives have taken place around Rochdale since 2012, including better engagement with potential victims and a scheme encouraging hotel owners and taxi firms to report concerns.
Last year, an Ofsted report regarding Rochdale Council – including the Complex Safeguarding Hub – was published and confirmed that ‘children at risk receive an effective response’.
Rochdale Council leader Councillor Neil Emmott said the authority is ‘deeply sorry’ for the ‘very serious failures that affected the lives of children in our borough’ and how officials ‘failed to take the necessary action’.
And Greater Manchester Police Chief Constable Stephen Watson said: ‘It remains to be a matter of profound regret that victims of child sexual exploitation in Rochdale in the early 2000s were failed by Greater Manchester Police – to them, I apologise.
‘I also recognise the plight of Maggie Oliver and Sara Rowbotham – who advocated for victims and survivors when no one else did, and ultimately enabled the review and publication of this report.’
He added: ‘Since nine men were convicted following Operation Span in 2012, there have been a further 135 arrests, 432 charges, and 32 convictions (for child sex grooming).’
Shabir Ahmed, the ringleader of a child sex grooming gang, was jailed for 22 years in 2016
Ms Oliver, who resigned from Greater Manchester Police in 2012 to publicly reveal the extent of the police failings about child sexual exploitation, said she remained ‘angry’ that ‘not one senior officer or official has ever been held individually responsible for these failures, lies and cover ups’.
Drawing a parallel with the ongoing Horizon scandal at the Post Office, she added: ‘There are so many parallels between that case and this: ‘ordinary’ people being criminalised and silenced, institutional cover ups and corruption in an effort to protect the brand whatever the cost to affected individuals, refusal to acknowledge any wrongdoing.’
She added: ‘I am also not assured that lessons have been learned. I can absolutely, categorically say that through our work today at The Maggie Oliver Foundation (a support group she founded), we see on a daily basis that victims and survivors of sexual offences are still routinely treated badly or even inhumanely, still not believed, still judged, still dismissed when they report these horrendous crimes.’
The report’s publication comes a year after an independent review into child sexual exploitation in neighbouring Oldham found the ringleader of a notorious grooming gang, Shabir Ahmed, later jailed for 22 years, was able to continue working as a welfare rights officer by Oldham Council with police failing to tell his employers even after his arrest.
