rochdale grooming case details. 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. Speaking at the conclusion of a 10-week trial at Liverpool Crown Court, the woman, who cannot be identified, said she was forced to have sex with up to five different men in a day, at least four times a week. Most of you were many years older than they were. "[54], One of the seven officers retired without any sanctions being taken, even though his misconduct was found to have warranted disciplinary action. Find a Job I gave hours of interviews, reliving all the abuse. She told me: It wasnt like a forced thing. 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. The book oers intimate details of the lives that they've never publicly revealed. They were. [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. Read about our approach to external linking. For other inquiries, Contact Us. Adil Khan (left) and Qari Rauf (right) were jailed in 2012 for a catalogue of serious child sex offences. Abdul Rauf, then 43, of Rochdale, was convicted of trafficking a child within the UK for sexual exploitation and received six years. 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. The case is another example of the worrying number of girls who . The M.E.N's crime reporter John Scheerhout gives his insight into the BBC dramatisation of the Rochdale grooming case Nazir Afzal, the newly-appointed chief crown prosecutor for the north west, reversed the decision not to prosecute the two who had been arrested and eventually authorised the charging of ten men in June 2011. Saving Private Ryan actor Tom Sizemore dies at 61. They were 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. Adil Khan was sentenced to eight years for the same offences. [2][3][4] The men were British Pakistanis, which led to discussion on whether the failure to investigate them was linked to the authorities' fear of being accused of racial prejudice. Pat Hurst, PA. October 26, 2022, 12:21 PM. Two girls aged 13 and 15 and a 13-year-old boy were groomed by the three men between September and October 2014 after repeatedly going missing from care. Lawyers for Rauf said the law demands consistency of treatment and although Rauf could regain his Pakistani nationality simply by signing a form, he refuses to do so because he does not want to be deported. And Ive done nothing wrong I was a victim of these men at the age of 14. The skinny 15-year-old girl was arrested and taken to the police station but then spent six hours pouring her heart out about precisely why she had acted in such an antisocial manner. [2], The victims, vulnerable teenagers from deprived, dysfunctional backgrounds, were targeted in "honeypot locations" where young people congregated, such as takeaway food shops. It was not until summer 2011 that Nazir Afzal, the new regional head of the CPS, reversed the decision not to prosecute. "I feel relieved that finally, after an all-consuming 10-year battle, GMP have at last acknowledged their horrific treatment of these three victims was wrong, even inhumane," she said. The National Association for People Abused in Childhood (Napac) offers support for adult survivors on 0808 801 0331. She told me: Police werent arsed with us, really. Last Tuesday Amber, with two other victims of the Rochdale grooming gang, finally received an apology delivered personally by Stephen Watson, the chief constable of Greater Manchester police (GMP). 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 There was a string of different inquiries into what went wrong. The report added that professionals repeatedly said the victims had it 'in their power' to stop the abuse 'suggesting this was something they could choose not to do'. The organisation defined underage grooming as any situation where a child or young person received a gift in exchange for sexual favours. Two members of a Rochdale sex grooming gang have lost their long-running appeal against being deported to Pakistan. [19] While GMP has finally settled the claim, which includes the personal apology from the chief constable, the DPP has so far resisted. Contribute to chinapedia/wikipedia.en development by creating an account on GitHub. Speaking in 2012 Judge Gerald Clifton said the men treated the girls "as though they were worthless and beyond respect". 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. Police seized the foetus as evidence, but she was not notified, nor was her mother or any responsible adult. Abdul Aziz received a similar sentence: nine years (concurrently) for trafficking for sexual exploitation and conspiracy to engage in sexual activity with children. 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. 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. Wide elastic waistband with black edging. The testimony of one of the five victims of the Rochdale grooming ring revealed the depth of the exploitation she suffered. She walked out, refusing to go along with this decision, and was forbidden from speaking to Amber. What's the least amount of exercise we can get away with? 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. 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. [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. For further details of our complaints policy and to make a complaint please click this link: thesun.co.uk/editorial-complaints/, Top row, left to right, Abdul Rauf, Hamid Safi, Mohammed Sajid and Abdul Aziz; bottom row, left to right, Abdul Qayyum, Adil Khan, Mohammed Amin and Kabeer Hassan, Shabir Ahmed, the ringleader of a gang of Asian men who groomed young white girls for sex. Nine men were convicted, of whom eight were of British Pakistani origin and one was an Afghan asylum-seeker. Copley said: "We apologise to the victims and we give them our assurance that lessons have been learned, changes have been made and we are determined to use this to continue making improvements. At best this was distracting for leaders and influenced the areas that resources were focused on". She plans to become a social worker, partly due to the ordeal she suffered while still a vulnerable young girl. He took his victim to flats in Rochdale where she was plied with vodka and drugs and coerced into sex with gangs of men in return for payment to him. 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.. "The Sun", "Sun", "Sun Online" are registered trademarks or trade names of News Group Newspapers Limited. One in five children and young people who go missing from home or care is at risk of serious harm, with major concerns about the links between children running away and the risks of child sexual exploitation, it said. Victor Farrant 73. I asked Amber what gave her the strength to give evidence to the police, after what she had gone through. "I felt let down," she said. I think it was because they were afraid of being called racist. 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. 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. 'No one told me it wasn't normal to be hospitalised for period pains. [44], One study suggested that the British media's portrayal of South Asian men as perpetrators of sexual violence against white victims is an example of a moral panic. This service is provided on News Group Newspapers' Limited's Standard Terms and Conditions in accordance with our Privacy & Cookie Policy. 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. Show. The men from Rochdale and Oldham were found guilty of offences including rape and conspiracy to engage in sexual activity with a child. Amber had, under pressure from the abusers, taken some of her friends to the takeaway where the ringleaders operated from. Their trial heard how young girls were plied with alcohol and drugs and gang-raped in rooms above takeaway shops, and were ferried to different flats in taxis where further abuse took place, sometimes with cash changing hands. View our online Press Pack. Three women who were groomed, raped and abused by gangs of men in Rochdale have received "substantial" damages and an apology from Greater Manchester Police. Who were the men in the Rochdale grooming gang and what happened to them? We also may change the frequency you receive our emails from us in order to keep you up to date and give you the best relevant information possible. History was repeating itself, said Maggie. Amber was understandably reluctant to trust the police. "What they did to me was evil, they ripped away my dignity, my self-esteem," she said. This eventually led to the successful prosecution of nine men for offences included rape, trafficking girls for sex and conspiracy to engage in sexual activity with a child. NINE men who ran the Rochdale child sex abuse ring were eventually jailed for a string of offences in 2012. Part of HuffPost News. The victim told police in 2008 Freddie Kendakumana raped her but he was not charged until October 2012. [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. had learned about the investigation but after approaching GMP we were told to hold off until the victims had been spoken to. But in court, she was portrayed by the prosecution and defence as an assistant pimp. 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'. Those failings allowed seven youngsters, and potentially dozens more later identified by police, to be exposed to a catalogue of horrific sex abuse at the hands of manipulative predators. Some studies suggest an overrepresentation of black and Asian offenders relative to the demographics of national populations. It was only when she met Oliver in early 2012 that things started to change. Child sexual exploitation has been uncovered in towns, cities and counties all over the country and it affects both girls and boys from all backgrounds. While this is true, Amber believes that she was used as a scapegoat. In December 2013 a further five men were jailed after an investigation into the sexual abuse of a girl was reopened following the exposure of police failings. Police said the victims were from chaotic, council estate backgrounds and as many as 50 girls could have been victims of the gang. 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'. But not all. They contend that clouding the issue by calling them "Asians" is unfair towards other groups and detrimental to a frank discussion. They added that although the abuse was happening "in plain sight" and despite police and social services having the names of the men involved and their victims, a police operation to tackle the gangs was closed down abruptly in 2004. Social services became involved when she started to arrive at school dirty and sometimes smelling of alcohol. It is worth remembering though that none of it would be happening without a frightened, angry girl who had been raped venting her rage in a takeaway in Heywood and then being courageous enough to speak about what had happened. Amber still sees those whom she says raped, beat and tortured her, out and about in Rochdale. There was a complete lack of understanding of the world in which they existed. The abuse of minor female children that occurred in 2008 and 2009 centred around two takeaways in Heywood near Rochdale. News Group Newspapers Limited in England No. anyone coming from abroad was required to quarantine for 14 days. [22] Suggestions emerged that police and social work departments failed to act when details of the gang emerged for fear of appearing racist, and vulnerable white teenagers being groomed by Pakistani men were ignored. 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 court heard how the men - eight of Pakistani origin and one from Afghanistan - gave their victims drink and drugs before passing them round for sex. Later, Rochdale sexual health worker Sara Rowbotham told an inquiry that all the girls had been treated appallingly by protective services. 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 Sun website is regulated by the Independent Press Standards Organisation (IPSO), Our journalists strive for accuracy but on occasion we make mistakes. "Eventually I moved out of the area as I couldn't stay there anymore.". After a troubled upbringing, Amber had been placed on the child protection register as being at risk of sexual and emotional abuse and neglect. Find Jobs. He was a driver for Eagle Taxis for 14 years and was known as "Car Zero". This reluctance was because shed been in this position before. [5] The girls were mainly White British. On one of those interviews a police officer can be heard yawning while repeatedly asking why she had put herself in such a vulnerable position. [2] One gang member convicted of sex trafficking was a religious studies teacher at a mosque and a married father of five. Tellingly, he added: I believe that one of the factors that led to that was that they were not of your community or religion. The BBC is not responsible for the content of external sites. [6] Sara Rowbotham, the sexual health worker who first recognised patterns of child abuse in the community and fought to bring these crimes to police attention, was made redundant in 2014. Because she was not involved in the trial, and therefore did not give evidence, she had no opportunity to defend herself. Can Nigeria's election result be overturned? The Independent Office for Police Conduct quoted a chief inspector on the sexual abuse cases in Rotherham saying "With it being Asians, we can't afford for this to be coming out" - cementing the. A chance to stop the gang was missed in 2008 and both the police and the CPS were forced to apologise for their failings. funfetti pancake mix cookies rochdale grooming case details. . A new investigation, dubbed Operation Span, was launched. In this case the judge did indicate his belief that the Rochdale gang had deliberately sought victims outside their own 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". I shouldve been helped, not punished.. The third woman, who was also 12 at the time, was punched in the face by one of her abusers but was herself arrested for harassment. The tribunal had heard how all three were liable to be deprived of UK citizenship and deported as they also held Pakistani nationality, and then-home secretary Theresa May ruled it would be "conducive to the public good". He said the investigation was at "an extremely sensitive stage" and street grooming was the force's top priority, "a bigger priority than gun crime". He said the actions of criminals who thought "white teenage girls are worthless and can be abused" were "bringing shame on our community. "We would get free alcohol and cigarettes, food, free taxis," she said. This means that we may include adverts from us and third parties based on our knowledge of you. Research has found that group-based child sexual exploitation offenders are most commonly white. I took it online and made 25k', Jasmine Shum turned to Instagram after she was banned from selling her creations in the playground. 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. But after a while it had been going on for so long and with so many different men, I didn't feel anything towards it anymore. Nine men have been convicted of sexually exploiting young girls in Greater Manchester. [1] Forty-seven girls were identified as victims of child sexual exploitation during the police investigation. Adil Khan, 51, and Qari Abdul Rauf, 52, are . Inside sinister rise of pink cocaine sweeping UK nightclubs as warring cartels battle to control 'Coca Cola of drugs', We live on Britain's WORST street - it's rife with drug addicts, crime & prostitutes we're terrified for our lives, Man 'naked and covered in blood' arrested before mum found 'murdered' at home as neighbours reveal hearing screams, Leicester 'explosion': Listen to massive 'sonic' boom that shook homes and rattled windows. "[29] Cryer had attempted to reach the Muslim community and persuade it to take action: "I went to a friend of mine, who was a local councillor and happened to be a Muslim and therefore able to represent me to the elders, because I thought it was a good move to try to get those elders involved. At conservative gathering, Trump is still the favourite. 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. Handout pictures released by Greater Manchester police in 2012 show eight of nine men convicted in connection with the child sexual exploitation ring. What's the least exercise we can get away with? Two members of the grooming gang the gangs ringleader Shabir Ahmed and Kabeer Hassan were arrested and released on bail. The vile group exploited girls as young as 13 and were. The abuse took place in Rochdale, in Greater Manchester, in the early 2000s. . Cockbain and Brayley expressed concern that "findings were being overextended from a small, geographically concentrated sample to characterise an entire crime type". 17 miles | Rochdale, Manchester Features: Front+Back Dual cover,360 protection. 2023 BBC. I never thought that they would do what they did to me, because you don't think that would happen.". He said the investigation was looking at cases in Rochdale dating back to 2003. [34], A report by The Times on 5 January 2011, related to convictions for child sex grooming in the North and Midlands. I hoped that I would be able to persuade the elders to go knocking on doors and say 'this behaviour is un-Islamic and I want it to stop because I'm going to tell the whole community about you and what youre doing if you dont'.