Police fear ‘right-wing driven’ reaction to grooming gangs will harm victims
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Senior officers say fraction of child abuse cases relate to gangs and resources could be diverted from current cases. Police chiefs fear that government pressure to reinvestigate closed historic gang grooming cases could make it harder to catch those targeting children today.
The government on Thursday announced more reviews of past cases and also that victims whose cases did not end in prosecutions will be given a new right of appeal to have their investigations reopened. It came with police figures showing that just a fraction of child sex abuse allegations, some 0.6%, relate to grooming and abuse by male groups or gangs.
Multiple senior police sources told the Guardian of concern that teams combating sexual violence against children and females may be diverted from their work. One described it as “knee jerking”, another said the government was reacting to a “right-wing driven, political cause”. Another said while the government had pledged more money, it was only a fraction of what was needed.
The announcement by home secretary Yvette Cooper followed pressure from figures such as social media baron Elon Musk, which was echoed by right-wing British figures. Police and councils have been criticised over their handling of previous cases involving group grooming of children in a series of cases. Those cases that gained significant attention involved attackers from a Pakistani background.
