Independent MP Rupert Lowe stood in the oldest chamber of the British Parliament and read aloud. What followed was not a political speech. It was testimony, compiled from women who had spent years being ignored, dismissed, and in several cases, punished for their own abuse.
Lowe compiled these accounts during his independent inquiry into group-based child sexual exploitation and abuse.
A girl, thirteen years old, raped by 600 to 700 different men over three years.
A teenager who had a liquor bottle forced inside her body, the glass breaking. She was twelve or thirteen.
Girls locked inside dog cages in the back of a van.
A survivor raped by multiple police officers across different parts of the country.
A 15-year-old, bleeding internally, discharged from hospital with tablets and no questions asked.
A baby with a cigarette stubbed out on its face.
“I sincerely urge this Parliament to listen to the testimonies from these brave survivors and to act, to finally act,” Lowe said.
The word “finally” is doing twenty-five years of work.
Because none of this was new. None of this was secret. The abuse had been reported to police, to councils, to social workers, to politicians, for decades. Files were opened. Files were closed. Girls kept screaming. The system kept looking away.
What happened in Westminster Hall on June 1 was not a revelation. It was a reckoning that arrived, for tens of thousands of victims, approximately decades too late.
What is a grooming gang?
In Britain, grooming gangs refer to groups of people who physically, mentally, and sexually abuse children, mostly young girls. They lure them with words, convincing them that they are their friends. Once children begin to trust them, they keep them under control through pressure and intimidation, and then exploit them.
UK NGO The Children’s Society released a report titled ‘Old Enough To Know Better’, stating that around 50,000 girls aged 16–17 were abused by grooming gangs. Of these, only 5,000 girls filed complaints with the police.
In 2017, UK think tank Quilliam Foundation also released a report claiming that 84% of grooming gang criminals are of Asian origin, and of those, most are British citizens of Pakistani origin.
How do grooming gangs operate?
In the British state of West Yorkshire, a case was filed against these gangs and 20 accused were sentenced. This case revealed that grooming gangs target young and vulnerable girls.
They lure them with gifts, make them feel special, and establish a relationship. They convince girls that they love them and care for them. Once girls begin to trust them, they gradually trap them in a web of exploitation.
These girls are taken to parties and given alcohol and drugs. They are then forced into relationships with older boys and men.
They are addicted to alcohol, cannabis, and other drugs so that they remain intoxicated and keep complying with gang members’ demands.
These girls cannot even understand that they are being sexually abused. Many of these girls also became victims of human trafficking.
According to the BBC, the girls trapped in grooming gang networks were minors, many were just 11 years old.
Gang members beat them to keep them under control. They even threatened to throw a bomb at one girl’s house.
Girls told the court they were taken to cars, parks, snooker clubs, and kebab houses, where they were forced into relationships with one or sometimes multiple men.
Many of these girls became pregnant and had to get abortions. Many gave birth to children but did not even know the father’s name.
These grooming gangs operated across the whole of Britain, but they trapped the most girls in Rochdale, Rotherham, and Telford.
Who were the main targets?
Grooming gangs targeted girls who were alone, bullied at school, or mentally vulnerable. It is easy to trap such girls.
By the time they realised they were being exploited, it was already too late. Many times, girls could not even understand whether they were being exploited or not.
Why couldn’t many victims escape?
When cases reached court, many girls said they believed they were in a real relationship. Their minds were brainwashed in such a way that they could not understand the exploitation happening to them.
One girl said: “I think when you are young and you are being bullied at school, if someone gives you even a little attention, you like it. If someone helps you or gives you a gift, you like all of that. But as soon as you enter into a relationship with them, you cannot get out.” Another girl revealed that they threatened her, saying: “I am coming to pick you up, and if you don’t come, I will take your mother.”
How were grooming gangs able to operate for so long?
Girls and their families filed complaints with the police, but police took no action. Police and government officials continued to ignore the crimes of grooming gangs out of fear of being accused of racism. The court also placed a ban on reporting these cases in November 2017, which was later lifted following complaints from the media.
According to various British media reports, a 13-year-old girl was found by police in Huddersfield, West Yorkshire, wearing torn and tattered clothes. A neighbour had heard the girl’s screams and called the police.
It was morning, a group of boys and that one girl alone. She had been given vodka. Police did not question the boys but arrested the girl on charges of consuming alcohol and disturbing the peace.
In Huddersfield, another 12-year-old girl was found drunk in a car with a 22-year-old man. Police reached the spot after hearing the girl’s screams. The man had obscene photographs of the girl on his mobile phone, but he was not questioned.
Why do grooming gangs commit these crimes?
No single clear motive of grooming gangs is known. From their pattern of work, it can be estimated that by trapping young British girls, they extort money, sexually abuse them, and push them into prostitution. They blackmail victims by making obscene videos.
Cases of trafficking of these girls have also come to light in many instances. Victim Dr. Ella Hill, in an interview with Triggernometry, stated that grooming gangs rape on the basis of caste and religion.
120 offences, 221 years in prison
Between 2004 and 2011, the court heard crimes of the grooming gang in Huddersfield, West Yorkshire. For the first time, 41 people were sentenced in a grooming gangs case. This was called Operation Tendersee.
What is the debate over Pakistani-origin offenders?
In 2020, England’s Home Office released a report on Child Sexual Abuse stating that Black and Asian criminals are over-represented among grooming gang perpetrators. However, it is not possible that only one community is involved in such gangs.
The report also stated that even though several high-profile cases have emerged in Rotherham, Rochdale, and Telford, in which grooming gang members were mostly of Pakistani origin, there is still no concrete evidence establishing a definitive link between any particular race and such crimes.
