Oldham gang rape survivor blasts ‘appalling’ Labour plan for local grooming inquiries and ‘rapid audit’
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Survivor Samantha Walker-Roberts hit out at Yvette Cooper’s plan and called £5million budget for five government-backed inquiries ‘absolutely shocking’. A woman who was raped in Oldham aged 12 has branded Labour’s new plan for government-backed local inquiries into grooming gangs as “appalling”.
![[Home Secretary Yvette Cooper giving a statement in the House of Commons]](https://static.independent.co.uk/2025/01/17/09/e4c02e5761bb95293b22254b90bfb934Y29udGVudHNlYXJjaGFwaSwxNzM3MTkwODA0-2.78709117.jpg)
Samantha Walker-Roberts, who has bravely waived her right to anonymity, was gang raped in a house in Chadderton, northwest England, in 2006. Shakil Chowdhury was jailed for six years for the brutal attack but released on licence after three. Her other attackers were never caught.
![[Minister with responsibility for safeguarding and VAWG Jess Phillips]](https://static.independent.co.uk/2025/01/09/16/3a59ceb8759494c78bf4f5c154500f5bY29udGVudHNlYXJjaGFwaSwxNzM2NTI0MTY2-2.78321683.jpg)
Last week the government, in particular Keir Starmer and safeguarding minister Jess Phillips, came under furious attack from right-wing figures, led by X owner Elon Musk, after it decided not to hold a national inquiry into the scandal. Ms Walker-Roberts has been campaigning for a government probe into crimes in Oldham, fearing a local inquiry led by Oldham Council will not see professionals held accountable for their failings in handling the abuse.
![[Shadow home secretary Chris Philp called the government’s plans ‘wholly inadequate’]](https://static.independent.co.uk/2025/01/16/16/PA-78618774.jpg)
Despite a partial climbdown on Thursday as the government announced “rapid national audit” into grooming, the survivor said she was “disgusted” after Yvette Cooper’s plans to tackle the crisis were unveiled. The “no holds barred” rapid review into the scale and nature of grooming gangs across the country, which will report within three months, will be led by crossbench peer Louise Casey and will “look at the cultural and societal drivers for this type of offending”, Ms Cooper said.
