I asked Amber what gave her the strength to give evidence to the police, after what she had gone through. 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. He said the investigation was looking at cases in Rochdale dating back to 2003. 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. [7] Actress Lesley Sharp played the police detective Margaret Oliver in the series. "The Sun", "Sun", "Sun Online" are registered trademarks or trade names of News Group Newspapers Limited. Molly Windsor, Liv Hill and Ria Zmitrowicz feature as a trio of girls drawn into the frightening world of sexual exploitation. Despite one victim going to the police in 2008 to report the child grooming, the Crown Prosecution Service (CPS) decided not to prosecute two men, invoking the witness's lack of credibility. A chance to stop the gang was missed in 2008 and both the police and the CPS were forced to apologise for their failings. [2], The victims, vulnerable teenagers from deprived, dysfunctional backgrounds, were targeted in "honeypot locations" where young people congregated, such as takeaway food shops. An independent report commissioned by Rochdale council said three employees had spoken of victims making life choices rather than being rape victims. [34], A report by The Times on 5 January 2011, related to convictions for child sex grooming in the North and Midlands. Brand new in box. To keep up with Rochdale news sign up to the MyRochdale newsletter here. However, it is not possible to conclude that this is representative of all group-based CSE offending. He continued: "GMP could and should have done much more to protect you and we let you down.". [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". Abdul Rauf was sentenced to six years for trafficking for sexual exploitation and conspiracy to engage in sexual activity with children. They were "[2][11] Shabir Ahmed's threatening behaviour and calling Judge Gerald Clifton a "racist bastard" resulted in him being banned from the court for the sentencing hearing. Lancashire 1996-11-05. Mohammed Amin, 45, of Falinge, was convicted of sexual assault and received a five-year jail term. A SURVIVOR of a Rotherham grooming gang says she knew all along a teenager was posing as a "fake" victim of sexual abuse. I hoped that I would be able to persuade the elders to go knocking on doors and say 'this behaviour is un-Islamic and I want it to stop because I'm going to tell the whole community about you and what youre doing if you dont'. He was a married father-of-five and religious studies teacher at a local mosque. By then police were investigating allegations from another girl about on-street grooming in Heywood. It was like a casual, Oh, bring your friends. She was a vulnerable child, being sexually abused, controlled and in fear. Some of you acted as you did to satiate your lust, some of you to make money, all of you treated them as though they were worthless and beyond respect.. After the court case, social services started to pursue Amber, with the aim of having her children removed. A significant proportion of cases were labelled as no further action needed and the leadership team were not interested in childrens social care. [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. Khan told the hearing: "I have a question for the Home Secretary, whether Mr Aziz was an angel and I am a devil?". Amber still sees those whom she says raped, beat and tortured her, out and about in Rochdale. This kind of institutional neglect of a whole sector of society must never happen again and we need programmes like Three Girls to remind us.. 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. There was a string of different inquiries into what went wrong. 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. The report makes recommendations for each of the agencies involved: CAFCASS; Rochdale MBC Children's Services (Targeted services, Safeguarding Children Unit, and Schools); Connexions Rochdale; Early Break (Young People's Drug and Alcohol Service) ; Greater Manchester Police; Pennine Acute NHS Trust; Pennine Care NHS Foundation Trust; RMBC In December 2013 a further five men were jailed after an investigation into the sexual abuse of a girl was reopened following the exposure of police failings. Police seized the foetus as evidence, but she was not notified, nor was her mother or any responsible adult. Later, Rochdale sexual health worker Sara Rowbotham told an inquiry that all the girls had been treated appallingly by protective services. rochdale grooming case details. 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. "[32], The former head of Barnardo's, Martin Narey, said on BBC Radio 4's Today programme: "For this particular type of crime, the street grooming of teenage girls in northern towns there is very troubling evidence that Asians are overwhelmingly represented in the prosecutions for such offences. Research has found that group-based child sexual exploitation offenders are most commonly white. 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. Three trials were conducted where jurors were told of how these men preyed specifically on young girls under the age of 16 from vulnerable backgrounds. The force settled the claim before the matter got to court. She said that seven officers had been served with misconduct notices, but no further disciplinary action would be taken against them. But wheres the evidence? ", "Police 'sorry' over Rochdale child sex abuse failures", "This is what happened to Three Girls whistleblower Sara Rowbotham", "Nine men found guilty of sexually abusing vulnerable girls in Rochdale", "Senior judge slams lawyers for obstructing Rochdale child sex grooming gang deportation case", "Members of paedophile gang treated victims as 'worthless', "Gang To Be Sentenced Over Child Sex Crimes", "Profiles of Child Sex Abuse Gang Members", "Rochdale Grooming Scandal Whistleblower Defends Sarah Champion And Slams Austerity", "Rochdale child sex grooming case originally dropped", "Nazir Afzal: 'We tackled grooming gangs. As a result of police failures to respond to evidence, the men who had groomed the three children were able to continue . The testimony of one of the five victims of the Rochdale grooming ring revealed the depth of the exploitation she suffered. She told me: So it didnt happen to anybody else. 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, Saving Private Ryan actor Tom Sizemore dies at 61, Nelson's 97th-minute stunner gives Arsenal victory. What's the least exercise we can get away with? Then, shortly after the ID parade, Oliver was told that they were no longer going to use Ambers evidence. I shouldve been helped, not punished.. And then, in July 2009, an experienced CPS lawyer ruled the victim was not credible and decided that the two men who raped her should be released without charge. When we met in a hotel in Rochdale last month, Amber was accompanied by Maggie Oliver, a former police detective who walked out of the job in protest at the way Amber had been treated. 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. Writing for HuffPost UK, chief executive Javed Khan of childrens charity Barnardos described Three Girls as absolutely vital viewing.. Following a trial at Liverpool Crown Court, nine men were convicted in May 2012. 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. You are also agreeing to our Terms of Service and Privacy Policy. Two members of a Rochdale grooming gang are to be deported to Pakistan after losing a seven-year legal fight to remain in Britain. Greater Manchester Police have arrested a number of suspects involved in historical grooming gang crimes committed against women between 2002 and 2006 in Rochdale, England, one of the country's most notorious grooming gang epicentres. Actress Maxine Peake starred in the series as Sara Rowbotham, the sexual health aid worker who first uncovered the patterns of severe abuse in the area, but struggled to bring it to the attention of authorities. Critics say the delays meant more girls were left to be abused while the criminal justice system slowly changed its course. [16], The trial concluded in May 2012 with the nine convictions. Attempts by Rochdale Crisis Intervention Team co-ordinator for the NHS, Sara Rowbotham, to alert police and authorities to "patterns of sexual abuse" were ignored. The vile group exploited girls as young as 13 and were initially given sentences ranging from four to 19 years. Details. In October 2010 the M.E.N. Of the 56 offenders convicted since 1997 for crimes relating to on-street grooming of girls aged 11 to 16, three were white, 53 were Asian of which 50 were Muslim, and most were from the British Pakistani community. I agreed to help the police to stop it happening to others, Amber wrote to Oliver in the midst of her campaign for justice. Read about our approach to external linking. You have only got my kind here. I think it was because they were afraid of being called racist. It was only when she met Oliver in early 2012 that things started to change. anyone coming from abroad was required to quarantine for 14 days. 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. The harrowing real-life drama followed the stories of three teenaged girls who were abused at the hands of a Rochdale grooming gang It looked into the alleged grooming of children in council. "He asked me to come upstairs and I didn't really think anything of it," she explained. [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. Cockbain and Brayley expressed concern that "findings were being overextended from a small, geographically concentrated sample to characterise an entire crime type". She was being raped. 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. [17] Abdul Aziz, a married father of three, took over from Shabir Ahmed as the main trafficker and was paid by various men to supply underage girls for sex. One victim was forced to have sex with at least 20 men in one night; another was forced to drink vodka, and was vomiting over the side of the bed while being raped by countless men. [32] The inquiry issued its final report in November 2013. My name has been dragged through the mud. Eleanor Williams, now 22, constructed a web of lies that saw in Police said the victims were from chaotic, council estate backgrounds and as many as 50 girls could have been victims of the gang. Maggie spent six months speaking to the victims from Rochdale and persuaded them to give evidence. In subsequent cases, the racial and religious background of perpetrators have been exploited by some - but there have also been accusations that authorities were slow to act on concerns for fear of being dubbed racist. [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. We also may change the frequency you receive our emails from us in order to keep you up to date and give you the best relevant information possible. Why not follow BBC North West on Facebook, Twitter and Instagram? The grooming scandals in Rochdale and similar ones in other cities which involved Asian men, including Oxford and Rotherham, have fuelled fight-wing groups opposing multiculturalism and immigration. Running though them is repeated mentions of the fact that many in authority believed that the girls had brought the abuse on themselves. 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. 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. independent.co.uk. [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. The BBC drama Three Girls was based on the Rochdale child sexual abuse scandal. Amber was also threatened at gunpoint by a man whom she subsequently identified to the police. She gave the police a list, at an early stage of Operation Span, with nicknames, telephone numbers and other details relating to offenders. The tribunal had heard how all three were liable to be deprived of UK citizenship and deported as they also held Pakistani nationality, and then-home secretary Theresa May ruled it would be "conducive to the public good". Rochdale grooming gang members lose appeal against deportation to Pakistan Two men who were part of the notorious Rochdale grooming gang have lost an appeal against deportation back to. The skinny 15-year-old girl was arrested and taken to the police station but then spent six hours pouring her heart out about precisely why she had acted in such an antisocial manner. But the situation changed and she was raped by one of the men. Rochdale grooming scandal Nine men who abused girls as young as 13 were convicted over a child sex grooming ring, guilty of 21 counts of sexual abuse over a two-year period. Her evidence helped put abusers behind bars, yet Amber was vilified by the authorities and says her torment will never end. The networks of men come from different backgrounds: in the North and Midlands many have been British Asians; in Devon it was white men; in Bath and Bristol, Afro-Caribbeans; in London, all ethnic mixes, whites, Iraqis, Kurds, Afghans, Somalis". which was prompted by high profile cases of sexual grooming in towns including Rochdale and Rotherham. By Posted jordan schnitzer house In strengths and weaknesses of a volleyball player Vulnerable children some as young as 11 were targeted by child abusers in the town of Telford, Shropshire, over 40 years. Find Jobs. Were told 84% of grooming gangs are Asian. "[39], Nazir Afzal, who as the newly appointed chief crown prosecutor decided to bring the case to trial, said that sex, not race, was the key issue: "There is no community where women and girls are not vulnerable to sexual attack and that's a fact. 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. 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'. 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 patchy training of frontline staff was to blame for the way childrens social care responded to the victims, the Rochdale Borough Safeguarding Children Board (RBSCB) said in its review into child sexual exploitation after the trial. [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. That nightmare should have ended with the arrest and trial of the perpetrators, but instead the police, Crown Prosecution Service (CPS) and even social services treated her not as a victim but as a perpetrator. It was said Khan, who is married with one child, fathered the child of a 13-year-old victim. [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.
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