"We are horrified. The report lays bare the failings of the authorities in London to tackle the grooming gangs we have seen operating all over the country. Five survivors of gang-based violence spoke about being abused by a range of offenders from different ethnic backgrounds, including white men, operating widely in the capital."
"The Metropolitan Police told the Standard it has always recognised the serious harm caused by group-based child sexual and criminal exploitation and remains resolute in protecting vulnerable girls and women. The Met is re-examining 9,000 cases of child exploitation in London over the past 15 years."
"Last year, the force said many of them did not fit the common understanding of grooming gang offending and include cases within families, peer-on-peer abuse and exploitation within institutional settings."
MPs including shadow home secretary Chris Philp and former Tory leader Sir Iain Duncan Smith have called for London to be included in the government's inquiry into grooming gangs. BBC News previously reported that girls as young as 14 are being forced into sex by gangs in London, with evidence of vulnerable women raped by multiple men as payment for drug debts. The Metropolitan Police is re-examining 9,000 child exploitation cases from the past 15 years. Baroness Anne Longfield leads the national inquiry with a £65 million budget over three years. Five survivors spoke about abuse from offenders of different ethnic backgrounds, and a Standard investigation uncovered cases where police action was inadequate.
#grooming-gangs #child-sexual-exploitation #london-investigation #police-accountability #vulnerable-children
Read at www.standard.co.uk
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