They ripped away all my dignity". Mr Watson said the force should have done more to protect them. I trusted police that I would be helped this time. Assistant Chief Constable Steve Heywood said that about 550 officers were working on Operation Doublet in May 2013. [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. While this is true, Amber believes that she was used as a scapegoat. I think it was because they were afraid of being called racist. "[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. After a troubled upbringing, Amber had been placed on the child protection register as being at risk of sexual and emotional abuse and neglect. Victor Farrant 73. [9] The men were aged between 24-59 and all knew each other. It was unfortunate that it was about attitudes towards teenagers. The taxi driver was said in court to have taken over as the main trafficker of the girls. The men, she said, were friendly at first, simply chatting with the girls now and again in a takeaway shop. In 2012 nine men were sentenced for the abuse and exploitation of young, mostly white girls in Rochdale, Greater Manchester. Jailing them, Judge Gerald Clifton said: You have all been convicted by the jury after a long trial of grave sexual offences which were committed between the spring of 2008 and 2010. As a responsible publication the M.E.Ns editors respected this request from senior detectives at GMP and eventually our story was published a few months later. Oliver had been headhunted to join the grooming gangs case as detective and victim liaison officer in 2010 because of her experience working with vulnerable victims. [28], Ann Cryer, Labour MP for Keighley, recalled in a BBC documentary filmed in 2012 that she had worked with the families of the victims involved, and had been "round at the police station virtually every week" and was "begging" both the police and social services to do something. Four members of the grooming gang including ringleader Shabir Ahmed face deportation to Pakistan. Behind the scenes, however, there was consternation. Indeed one witness, said in the course of the trial that he did not wish to be seen with young white girls in his community in Oldham.. Rochdale Grooming Scandal | Slater + Gordon [22] Operation Doublet was launched at the same time as an investigation into child grooming and sexual abuse in the region. After the court case, social services started to pursue Amber, with the aim of having her children removed. The BBC is not responsible for the content of external sites. [55], Last edited on 19 February 2023, at 10:03, UCL Jill Dando Institute of Security and Crime Science, Child Exploitation and Online Protection Centre, List of sexual abuses perpetrated by groups, Post-assault treatment of sexual assault victims, "Rochdale grooming trial: gang convicted for sex trafficking", "Rochdale child sex ring case: respected men who preyed on the vulnerable", "Rochdale grooming trial: Nine found guilty of child sex charges", "Rochdale grooming trial: how the case unfolded", "Rochdale child sex ring: did political correctness delay justice? I never thought that they would do what they did to me, because you don't think that would happen.". [35] "The citations are correct but they have been taken out of context," Cockbain told The Independent; "Nor do they acknowledge the small sample size of the original research, which focused on just two large cases." Another five-year sentence was given to Abdul Qayyum for conspiracy to engage in sexual activity with children, while Hamid Safi received four years for trafficking for sexual exploitation and conspiracy to engage in sexual activity with children. 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. The BBC reports Kabeer Hassan, then 25, of Oldham, was sentenced to nine years for rape and three years, concurrently, for the conspiracy conviction. How 'deluded' Putin thought Ukraine invasion would break up Nato & have West bowing down to Russia, leaked docs show, Man had sex with his wife on bollard after fuming neighbour placed it in cul-de-sac in protest during parking row, 'Bubbly' nightclub worker, 31, killed after her Audi crashed into a bridge on her way home from work, Independent Press Standards Organisation (IPSO). As a result of police failures to respond to evidence, the men who had groomed the three children were able to continue . 2023 BBC. He continued: "GMP could and should have done much more to protect you and we let you down.". The BBC is not responsible for the content of external sites. Members of the Conservative Growth Group formed by Liz Truss allies out of the ashes of her departure met Chancellor Jeremy Hunt in Downing Street on Tuesday to put forward their requests, Playbook has confirmed. Kabeer Hassan was sentenced to nine years for rape and conspiracy to engage in sexual activity with children. Molly Windsor, Liv Hill and Ria Zmitrowicz feature as a trio of girls drawn into the frightening world of sexual exploitation. The Sun Online looks at the scandal Amber was also threatened at gunpoint by a man whom she subsequently identified to the police. [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. Rauf and Khan only renounced their Pakistani citizenship in September of the same year after the Court of Appeal ruling. 2023 BuzzFeed, Inc. All rights reserved. For further details of our complaints policy and to make a complaint please click this link: thesun.co.uk/editorial-complaints/, Top row, left to right, Abdul Rauf, Hamid Safi, Mohammed Sajid and Abdul Aziz; bottom row, left to right, Abdul Qayyum, Adil Khan, Mohammed Amin and Kabeer Hassan, Shabir Ahmed, the ringleader of a gang of Asian men who groomed young white girls for sex. If such people know they have been 'rumbled', and they will sense it by the way people look at, behave and react to them, it will help disrupt their activities. [36], In a BBC documentary investigating grooming young girls for sex by some Pakistani men, Imam Irfan Chishti from the Rochdale Council of Mosques deplored the practice, saying it was "very shocking to see fellow British Muslims brought to court for this kind of horrific offence. Two members of a Rochdale sex grooming gang have lost their long-running appeal against being deported to Pakistan. Rochdale grooming gang members to be deported to Pakistan | Rochdale I felt sick, got upset nothing never no one from police came to me to explain why I was no longer going to court. After having been appointed head of the Crown Prosecution Service (CPS) in November 2008, Sir Keir's half decade in the position oversaw cases as large and polarising as the Rochdale grooming . Something went wrong, please try again later. 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 . have fuelled fight-wing groups opposing multiculturalism and immigration. "I've had a lot of problems in the past, suicide attempts and drinking, but now I know something is being done to prevent it happening again. Gents in Whitefield, Manchester | Stuff for Sale - Gumtree [5], In March 2015, Greater Manchester Police apologised for its failure to investigate the child sexual exploitation allegations more thoroughly between 2008 and 2010. 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. How close to the terrible truth was BBC's Three Girls? The review acknowledged that police officers might have discriminatory attitudes towards the victims, that the victims were interviewed by detectives without training in child exploitation and no strategy when victims returned to their abusers. It was absolute disrespect that vulnerable young people did not have a voice. Last Tuesday Amber, with two other victims of the Rochdale grooming gang, finally received an apology delivered personally by Stephen Watson, the chief constable of Greater Manchester police (GMP). Two members of a Rochdale grooming gang are to be deported to Pakistan after losing a seven-year legal fight to remain in Britain. . The overview report of the serious case review in respect of Young . Case studies 41. Since being released from jail, the men have fought a long legal battle against deportation, mounting multiple legal challenges and appeals, spanning several years. It formed a large part of the police investigation that became known as Operation Span. PDF Group-based Child Sexual Exploitation - GOV.UK But after a while it had been going on for so long and with so many different men, I didn't feel anything towards it anymore. Name already in use - Github The woman now wants her story to be told to help people spot the signs of grooming, which she describes as "a common thing that not enough people know about". Mohammed Amin, 45, of Falinge, was convicted of sexual assault and received a five-year jail term. Their trial heard how young girls were plied with alcohol and drugs and gang-raped in rooms above takeaway shops, and were ferried to different flats in taxis where further abuse took place, sometimes with cash changing hands. To keep up with Rochdale news sign up to the MyRochdale newsletter here. Shabir Ahmed received the longest sentence, 19 years for rape, aiding and abetting a rape, sexual assault, trafficking for sexual exploitation and conspiracy to engage in sexual activity with children. 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. Rochdale grooming gang members face deportation after losing appeal