Fact check: Home Office memo advised police how to deal with vulnerable children
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A series of claims have been shared about a 2008 communication sent by the Home Office to police across the country. The post added that the Home Office memo which “suggested the girls… had made ‘informed choices’,” was sent in 2008. It then said “Starmer was director of public prosecutions in 2008”.
This quote does not appear in the 2008 Home Office guidance. The document, which does not deal directly with grooming gangs, instead guides police officers on how to use their powers under the Children Act 1989. The quote comes from a 2018 interview with a former senior prosecutor – not Sir Keir – who was discussing the Home Office guidance. That prosecutor has since said this was the incorrect way to interpret the guidance.
Sir Keir Starmer led the Crown Prosecution Service (CPS) for five years from 2008, however the Home Office guidance was sent several months before he joined the service, while he was still working as a barrister. What did the 2008 Home Office guidance say?.
Where does the quote come from?. The fuller quote from Mr Afzal is: “You may know this, but back in 2008 the Home Office sent a circular to all police forces in the country saying ‘as far as these young girls who are being exploited in towns and cities, we believe that they have made an informed choice about their sexual behaviour and, therefore, it’s not for you police officers to get involved in’. If that’s the landscape coming from the top down in 2008, rest assured, all agencies are going to listen to it.”.
