It was not until summer 2011 that Nazir Afzal, the new regional head of the CPS, reversed the decision not to prosecute. Between 2008 and 2010, a child abuse ring that came to be known as part of the grooming gang phenomenon operated in Rochdale, Greater Manchester. He was a married father-of-five and religious studies teacher at a local mosque. Adil Khan, 51, and Qari Abdul Rauf, 53, were convicted in 2012. independent.co.uk. Amber was understandably reluctant to trust the police. Perhaps this week you could include something agitating hundreds of thousands of people. She has forced the police and social services to apologise to her for their behaviour. The testimony of one of the five victims of the Rochdale grooming ring revealed the depth of the exploitation she suffered. While this is true, Amber believes that she was used as a scapegoat. [25][26][27] A report by the deputy children's commissioner in 2012 said that 33% of child sex abuse by gangs in Britain was committed by British Asians, where Asians are 7% of the population, but concluded that it was "irresponsible" to dwell on the data. Kabeer Hassan was sentenced to nine years for rape and conspiracy to engage in sexual activity with children. 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. It was then she told police for the first time what was going on. I didnt want other people to feel how I felt. Her courage and Olivers support resulted in a database of abusers whom she identified by names, car registrations, telephone numbers and addresses. 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). 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'. 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'. We use your sign-up to provide content in the ways you've consented to and improve our understanding of you. Back in the police station, the girl who had just vandalised the takeaway provided a detailed account of the abuse and the perpetrators as well as evidence in the form of her underwear, which carried traces of one of her attackers' DNA. The BBC is not responsible for the content of external sites. Saving Private Ryan actor Tom Sizemore dies at 61. Ten months after her case had been dropped, police decided to revisit the case after more complaints emerged. Two men who were part of the notorious Rochdale grooming gang have lost an appeal against deportation back to Pakistan following a seven-year legal . Cockbain and Brayley expressed concern that "findings were being overextended from a small, geographically concentrated sample to characterise an entire crime type". [citation needed], Twelve men were initially charged with sex trafficking and other offences including: rape, trafficking girls for sex and conspiracy to engage in sexual activity with a child. Grooming victim: "What they did to me was evil. [53], On 13 March 2015, Greater Manchester Police apologised for its failure to investigate child sexual exploitation allegations more thoroughly between 2008 and 2010. One of the victims given the fictitious name Amber in Three Girls, the BBC One drama about the abuse was 14 when she was targeted by gang members. Girls aged between 13 and 15 were trafficked, prostituted, raped and assaulted by the gang. The investigation slowly built a compelling case, away from the public gaze. 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. 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. . 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. [7] A former Detective Constable who was investigating the grooming gangs, Margaret Oliver, resigned in 2012 in disgust of the handling of the cases by the police force and spoke out as a whistleblower to inform the public. May stated the revocations were "conducive to the public good". 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. As a responsible publication the M.E.Ns editors respected this request from senior detectives at GMP and eventually our story was published a few months later. The second woman was 14 when the abuse began. Assistant Chief Constable Steve Heywood said that about 550 officers were working on Operation Doublet in May 2013. They were. 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. Why not follow BBC North West on Facebook, Twitter and Instagram? After a while, the girl was being driven to different houses or flats where there would be other men waiting. Business. There were fears that press involvement would frighten the girls away. "I've had a lot of problems in the past, suicide attempts and drinking, but now I know something is being done to prevent it happening again. View our online Press Pack. The BBC is not responsible for the content of external sites. One delivered a takeaway to my house a few weeks back, she tells me. "[35] By May 2012, according to The Independent, Crop had "gone suddenly silent" concerning the percentage of abusers of Asian origin who had come to the organisation's attention: Willmer explained to the paper: "We've been accused of being a cover for the BNP". Finally, officers did not challenge a Crown Prosecution Service decision not to prosecute. [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. Or by navigating to the user icon in the top right. [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. Three Girls review a brave new focus on the Rochdale child sexual abuse scandal, Original reporting and incisive analysis, direct from the Guardian every morning. In some cases those girls were raped callously, viciously and violently. Read about our approach to external linking. [1] The abusers paid small sums of money for the encounters. Read about our approach to external linking. Adil Khan, 51, and Qari Abdul Rauf, 52, are . She gave the police a list, at an early stage of Operation Span, with nicknames, telephone numbers and other details relating to offenders. During that period, Amber by now pregnant and living in a one-room flat continued to be targeted by the grooming gangs. [23], In March 2015, ten men aged between 26 and 45 were charged with serious sex offences against seven females aged between 13 and 23 at the time. But in court, she was portrayed by the prosecution and defence as an assistant pimp. Search more than 3,000 jobs in the charity sector. She told me: It wasnt like a forced thing. [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. [18] Among the incidents recorded by the police were a 15-year-old victim too drunk to recall being raped by 20 men, one after the other; and another victim so drunk that she vomited over the side of the bed as she was being raped by two men. [1][2], The oldest person to be convicted, Shabir Ahmed,[16] was for a while the main trafficker of the victims. The BBC is not responsible for the content of external sites. 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. I shouldve been helped, not punished.. [45] In particular they pointed out that the inquiry by the Office of the Children's Commissioner[33] found that, while a majority of victims were white and a majority of perpetrators were men of South Asian descent, there were many cases where "perpetrators and their victims were ethnically diverse. 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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). [I] cant remember exactly what they said, but it was something along the lines of being a madam, she recalled. The picture which emerged was one of vulnerable young girls, some as young as 10, who were being targeted for sexual abuse and written off by authorities who believed the girls were making their own choices. Writing for HuffPost UK, chief executive Javed Khan of childrens charity Barnardos described Three Girls as absolutely vital viewing.. Not just once - but repeatedly - by a gang of men who would ply her with vodka and threaten her with violence unless she succumbed to horrific abuse. [10] The gang worked to secure underage girls to rape and exploit.[11][12]. Now they werent prepared to do that. 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. I gave hours of interviews, reliving all the abuse. After the court case, social services started to pursue Amber, with the aim of having her children removed. 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. Later, Rochdale sexual health worker Sara Rowbotham told an inquiry that all the girls had been treated appallingly by protective services. She specifically spoke of her abuse at the hands of two members of the gang who would later be jailed four years. Show. She later gave police the names or nicknames of 45 males who abused her or other children. She plans to become a social worker, partly due to the ordeal she suffered while still a vulnerable young girl. And Ive done nothing wrong I was a victim of these men at the age of 14. 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. Operation Span was the investigation launched in December 2009 into allegations made against the individuals who were convicted in 2012, and others. Writing in The Guardian, Cockbain and Tufail wrote of the report that "The two-year study by the Home Office makes very clear that there are no grounds for asserting that Muslim or Pakistani-heritage men are disproportionately engaged in such crimes, and, citing our research, it confirmed the unreliability of the Quilliam claim". [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". If such people know they have been 'rumbled', and they will sense it by the way people look at, behave and react to them, it will help disrupt their activities. As a result of police failures to respond to evidence, the men who had groomed the three children were able to continue . Nine men were convicted of sex trafficking and other offences including rape, trafficking girls for sex and conspiracy to engage in sexual activity with a child in May 2012. Convicted rapist who murdered one woman and attempted to murder another. This resulted in Greater Manchester Police launching Operation Doublet to investigate further claims of abuse with 19 men so far being convicted. All three men from Rochdale involved in the appeal were found guilty of conspiracy to engage in sexual activity with children under the age of 16 and trafficking for sexual exploitation following. "[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." They were overlooked, they were discriminated against.. We were making referrals from 2004, very explicit referrals, referrals which absolutely highlighted for protective services that young people were incredibly vulnerable, she said. But wheres the evidence? A decision has also yet to be made on whether two of the men, Adil Khan and Qari Abdul Rauf, will be deported back to Pakistan after they appealed against an original ruling. [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. [9] The men were aged between 24-59 and all knew each other. "[32] Further research has been pursued since late 2011 by the Office of the Children's Commissioner. The men from Rochdale and Oldham were found guilty of offences including rape and conspiracy to engage in sexual activity with a child. Wide elastic waistband with black edging. In other words, victims of horrific abuse had been ignored until one of them - the girl who smashed up the takeaway - finally made her story heard. Another five-year sentence was given to Abdul Qayyum for conspiracy to engage in sexual activity with children, while Hamid Safi received four years for trafficking for sexual exploitation and conspiracy to engage in sexual activity with children. Khan and Rauf claim deportation would interfere with their human rights. In some cases they were driven round Rochdale and Oldham to be made to have sex with paying customers. Speaking at the conclusion of a 10-week trial at Liverpool Crown. It was said he came to the UK on a lorry in 2008 and claimed asylum and would be deported to Afghanistan at the end of his sentence. 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. [2], The victims, vulnerable teenagers from deprived, dysfunctional backgrounds, were targeted in "honeypot locations" where young people congregated, such as takeaway food shops. Then, shortly after the ID parade, Oliver was told that they were no longer going to use Ambers evidence. Abdul Rauf was sentenced to six years for trafficking for sexual exploitation and conspiracy to engage in sexual activity with children. Finally, after a gruelling 18 months and several hearings, the judge threw the case out. In a case with similarities to the grooming gang scandals of Rotherham and Rochdale, girls were groomed, drugged and raped by paedophiles and victims warn the crimes are still happening. Two members of a Rochdale sex grooming gang have lost their long-running appeal against being deported to Pakistan. The apology was made after a review by the Independent Police Complaints Commission "examined the conduct and actions of 13 officers who were involved in Operation Span and the policing of Rochdale Division." Read about our approach to external linking. 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. [21], Following the break up of the first sex ring in May 2012, the police made arrests in relation to another child sexual exploitation ring in Rochdale. 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. History was repeating itself, said Maggie. To see all content on The Sun, please use the Site Map. Abdul Aziz received a similar sentence: nine years (concurrently) for trafficking for sexual exploitation and conspiracy to engage in sexual activity with children. [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. The BBC is not responsible for the content of external sites. After having been appointed head of the Crown Prosecution Service (CPS) in November 2008, Sir Keir's half decade in the position oversaw cases as large and polarising as the Rochdale grooming . Social media companies assisting MTU in wake of cyber attack, High Court hears,In an update to the court the judge was told that 6GB of data taken from MTU's IT system had been made available for publication by the hackers. Richard Moriarty; Jonathan Reilly; Published: 21:11, 8 Apr 2021; Updated: 21:11, 8 Apr 2021: 21:11, 8 Apr 2021 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. Also cited were a lack of managerial oversight in 2008 and 2009 and lack of resources and managerial support for the investigations despite formal requests. She continued to receive phone calls from her abusers, and cars with drivers she recognised were parking outside. [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. rochdale grooming case details. Read about our approach to external linking. Abdul Aziz, 51, Adil Khan, 51, and Qari Rauf, 52, were among nine gang members jailed in 2012 for a catalogue of child sex offences in Rochdale. Adil Khan (left) and Qari Rauf (right) were jailed in 2012 for a catalogue of serious child sex offences. [8] The victims, plied with drugs and alcohol, were passed around friends and family,[18] and taken to various locations in the north of England, including Rochdale, Oldham, Nelson, Bradford and Leeds. What happened to the Rochdale grooming ring and how many men were found guilty in the child sex abuse scandal? Their treatment encompasses a range of catastrophic errors in one of the countrys most harrowing child sexual abuse scandals. Case studies 41. "I tried to say no in a nice way, but he wasn't having it.". Abdul Rauf, then 43, of Rochdale, was convicted of trafficking a child within the UK for sexual exploitation and received six years. The Sun website is regulated by the Independent Press Standards Organisation (IPSO), Our journalists strive for accuracy but on occasion we make mistakes. 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. had learned about the investigation but after approaching GMP we were told to hold off until the victims had been spoken to. What's the least amount of exercise we can get away with? Brand new in box. "[54], One of the seven officers retired without any sanctions being taken, even though his misconduct was found to have warranted disciplinary action. Speaking in 2012 Judge Gerald Clifton said the men treated the girls "as though they were worthless and beyond respect". "I felt let down," she said. She was vilified and nicknamed in the press as the Honey Monster. A group of twenty men were found guilty in October 2018 of running a child grooming gang in Huddersfield, with the men being convicted of 120 offences against 15 different girls. The legal documents involved in the case revealed one of the women, who was 12 at the time, was passed around "like a ball" between "thousands" of men for rape and sexual abuse. Environmental-friendly TPU material, and special processing that makes it more transparent and crystal. Two men who were part of the notorious Rochdale grooming gang have lost an appeal against deportation back to Pakistan following a seven-year legal battle, immigration judges have ruled. They dont give a fuck when youre not from a wealthy background.. Social services became involved when she started to arrive at school dirty and sometimes smelling of alcohol. [25], The findings have been questioned by researchers Ella Cockbain and Helen Brayley, from whose work for the UCL Jill Dando Institute of Security and Crime Science The Times report had drawn much of its evidence. Eleanor Williams, now 22, constructed a web of lies that saw in 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 report also showed that more than 3,000 children under the age of 18 were reported missing in Greater Manchester in 2014. After a troubled upbringing, Amber had been placed on the child protection register as being at risk of sexual and emotional abuse and neglect. 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. rochdale grooming case details. 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'. She was being shared around paedophiles across the north of England. Two of the women's cases formed the basis of the BBC drama Three Girls. No further action was taken against Amber, but it would be another two years before the CPS agreed that she should be treated as a victim and witness rather than a suspect. Blind to his grooming, the girls were soon trapped in a terrifying cycle of sexual and physical abuse. The victims, many of whom were from difficult backgrounds and therefore particularly vulnerable, were plied with drugs, alcohol and fast food, and then taken to chill houses across the north of England to be abused. Greater Manchester Police (GMP) investigated Kabeer Hassan and another man, aged 59. etween 2008 and 2010, a child abuse ring that came to be known as part of the grooming gang phenomenon operated in Rochdale. At conservative gathering, Trump is still the favourite. It was reported he would be deported back to Pakistan following the conclusion of his sentence. The victim told police in 2008 Freddie Kendakumana raped her but he was not charged until October 2012. Abdul Rauf reportedly asked a 15-year-victim if she had any younger friends and would drive some of the girls to other men who would use them for sex. In 2009, when Amber was 16, uniformed officers arrived at her mothers house, arrested her and took her to the police station. To inquire about a licence to reproduce material, visit our Syndication site. They ripped away all my dignity". "He asked me to come upstairs and I didn't really think anything of it," she explained. 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How long have Keir Starmer and Sue Gray been secretly cooking up their plot? Furious, Maggie vowed never to be part of such an investigation in future. Id been used. I agreed to help the police to stop it happening to others, Amber wrote to Oliver in the midst of her campaign for justice. 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 alleged offences that took place in Rochdale between 2005 and 2013 included rape, conspiracy to rape, inciting a child to engage in sexual activity, sexual activity with a child, and sexual assault. An independent report commissioned by Rochdale council said three employees had spoken of victims making life choices rather than being rape victims. Behind the scenes, however, there was consternation. A SURVIVOR of a Rotherham grooming gang says she knew all along a teenager was posing as a "fake" victim of sexual abuse. [48][49], A further investigation was carried out by the British government in December 2020, when the Home Office published their findings, showing that the majority of child sexual exploitation gangs were, in fact, composed of white men and not British Pakistani men.[50][51]. An External Reference Group, consisting of independent experts on child sexual exploitation . 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. Her evidence helped put abusers behind bars, yet Amber was vilified by the authorities and says her torment will never end. In October 2010 the M.E.N. Four members of the grooming gang including ringleader Shabir Ahmed face deportation to Pakistan. Rauf and Khan only renounced their Pakistani citizenship in September of the same year after the Court of Appeal ruling. Aziz was jailed for nine years in 2012, for conspiracy to engage in sexual activity with a child by penetrative sex and trafficking for sexual exploitation a 15-year-old girl. Mohammed Sajid, then 35 and of Rochdale, was convicted of one count of rape, sexual activity with a girl under 16 and trafficking for sexual exploitation and was jailed for 12 years. Size 2XL I used to buy end of lines, torn boxes, opened packets etc to sell on markets. A new investigation, dubbed Operation Span, was launched. The Manchester Evening News reports how the former delivery driver and dad-of-four encouraged his victimsto call him daddy. . 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.