Even though she had been a victim, she was accused of being involved in the grooming. He took his victim to flats in Rochdale where she was plied with vodka and drugs and coerced into sex with gangs of men in return for payment to him. It was said he came to the UK on a lorry in 2008 and claimed asylum and would be deported to Afghanistan at the end of his sentence. Police said the victims were from chaotic, council estate backgrounds and as many as 50 girls could have been victims of the gang. 2023 BBC. 2023 BuzzFeed, Inc. All rights reserved. Can Nigeria's election result be overturned? VideoRussian minister laughed at for Ukraine war claims, The children left behind in Cuba's mass exodus, Xi Jinping's power grab - and why it matters, Snow, Fire and Lights: Photos of the Week. She said that seven officers had been served with misconduct notices, but no further disciplinary action would be taken against them. Three Girls tells the true, harrowing tale of young girls being groomed in Rochdale BBC The dramatisation tells the story of three children who were victims in the scandal and stars Maxine Peake. "They threaten you, and you're scared of them, and that's how they make you do it.". "[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. Leeds man Robert Glendinning was jailed at Bradford Crown Court yesterday after a judge heard details of his repeated abuse of the children in the late 1970s. She had a knack of speaking on a human level to estate kids and she was head-hunted by her bosses to persuade them to give evidence in the trial despite the woeful original investigation. The second woman was 14 when the abuse began. On one of those interviews a police officer can be heard yawning while repeatedly asking why she had put herself in such a vulnerable position. In Rochdale, which is home to approximately 20,000 people of Pakistani or Bangladeshi origin, far-right activists spied an opportunity. [1][2], The oldest person to be convicted, Shabir Ahmed,[16] was for a while the main trafficker of the victims. Mr Watson told the women it was "a matter of profound personal regret that your childhood was so cruelly impacted by the dreadful experiences which you endured". Most of you were many years older than they were. I didnt want other people to feel how I felt. Her courage and Olivers support resulted in a database of abusers whom she identified by names, car registrations, telephone numbers and addresses. Grooming victim: "What they did to me was evil. The book oers intimate details of the lives that they've never publicly revealed. The M.E.N's crime reporter John Scheerhout gives his insight into the BBC dramatisation of the Rochdale grooming case They talk about the choices they've made, their relationships, families, frustrations and hopes. [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. [19] We are a 3-branch practice, in the middle of the Sperrin Mountains, with only a 40-minute drive to our stunning North Coast and Glens, 40-minute drive to our airports and 40-minute drive from the hustle and bustle of Belfast or Derry city life. It was absolute disrespect that vulnerable young people did not have a voice. But in court, she was portrayed by the prosecution and defence as an assistant pimp. Nine men were convicted, of whom eight were of British Pakistani origin and one was an Afghan asylum-seeker. It emerged at the immigration tribunal hearing in London, Aziz had already been told he will not be stripped of his UK citizenship and deported. The abuse of minor female children that occurred in 2008 and 2009 centred around two takeaways in Heywood near Rochdale. Her act of pent-up frustration in the takeaway - followed by her bravery in speaking out - was the first step, a key moment that would lead to questions about the part which racial identity played in sexual grooming of children in the town and in other places up and down the country. Some studies suggest an overrepresentation of black and Asian offenders relative to the demographics of national populations. 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Research has found that group-based child sexual exploitation offenders are most commonly white. After a while, the girl was being driven to different houses or flats where there would be other men waiting. 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. They were No further action was taken against Amber, but it would be another two years before the CPS agreed that she should be treated as a victim and witness rather than a suspect. Her evidence helped put abusers behind bars, yet Amber was vilified by the authorities and says her torment will never end. 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She was later burnt repeatedly with a heated spoon when she refused to comply with the demands of a group of men, but was accused by police of inflicting the wounds on herself and arrested for disorderly behaviour. . Nine men of mainly Pakistani heritage were convicted in 2012 after a long, complex trial for offences that happened in and around Rochdale in 2008 and 2009. The abuse took place at two takeaway restaurants- now under new management - in the Heywood area of Rochdale by the men aged between 24 and 59. The organisation defined underage grooming as any situation where a child or young person received a gift in exchange for sexual favours. Vile groupwho ran a child sex abuse ring were jailed for a string of offences in 2012. [22] Suggestions emerged that police and social work departments failed to act when details of the gang emerged for fear of appearing racist, and vulnerable white teenagers being groomed by Pakistani men were ignored. Assistant Chief Constable Steve Heywood said that about 550 officers were working on Operation Doublet in May 2013. They had to be assured that, as victims of sex crimes, they would be guaranteed anonymity for life. 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. But she added: "They're just brainwashing you so you think you love them so you do what they say. The testimony of one of the five victims of the Rochdale grooming ring revealed the depth of the exploitation she suffered. In June 2017 it was revealed that the members of the Rochdale gang facing deportation will receive legal aid to fight attempts to send them back to Pakistan, prompting widespread public anger. Adil Khan, 51, and Qari Abdul Rauf, 53, were convicted in 2012. After the court case, social services started to pursue Amber, with the aim of having her children removed. I took it online and made 25k', Jasmine Shum turned to Instagram after she was banned from selling her creations in the playground. "It will always be there, but I know how to deal with it," she said. A much bigger case had been built but, importantly, he simply believed his star witness. Abdul Aziz received a similar sentence: nine years (concurrently) for trafficking for sexual exploitation and conspiracy to engage in sexual activity with children. The men, she said, were friendly at first, simply chatting with the girls now and again in a takeaway shop. In response to Ambers claim that it was wrong to name her on the indictment, it says it was both legally and tactically the correct course to take. [1] Forty-seven girls were identified as victims of child sexual exploitation during the police investigation. [33] After members of the Rochdale gang were sentenced, the UK's Department for Education announced new funding for a specialist foster care scheme to protect vulnerable children in residential care, where some victims had been. Something went wrong, please try again later. VideoRussian minister laughed at for Ukraine war claims, The children left behind in Cuba's mass exodus, Xi Jinping's power grab - and why it matters, Snow, Fire and Lights: Photos of the Week. I agreed to help the police to stop it happening to others, Amber wrote to Oliver in the midst of her campaign for justice. To see all content on The Sun, please use the Site Map. 08 April 2021 The Rochdale grooming scandal was one of the most horrific cases of child sexual abuse in recent times. 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. Those failings allowed seven youngsters, and potentially dozens more later identified by police, to be exposed to a catalogue of horrific sex abuse at the hands of manipulative predators. Two members of a Rochdale sex grooming gang have lost their long-running appeal against being deported to Pakistan. [2] One 13-year-old victim had an abortion after becoming pregnant. Adil Khan, then 42, and also of Rochdale was convicted of trafficking a child within the UK for sexual exploitation and received eight years. The Sun Online looks at the scandal [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. Just before the due date of her second baby, she was called to the family court, where an application was made to remove both children on the grounds that Amber was an abuser and a danger to children. Abdul Rauf, then 43, of Rochdale, was convicted of trafficking a child within the UK for sexual exploitation and received six years. Assistant Chief Constable Dawn Copley said that, at the time of the earlier investigation, "there was a strong target driven focus, predominantly on serious acquisitive crime. You have only got my kind here. [5], In March 2015, Greater Manchester Police apologised for its failure to investigate the child sexual exploitation allegations more thoroughly between 2008 and 2010. Two of the women's cases formed the basis of the BBC drama Three Girls. Liverpool Crown Court heard the group plied five victims with drink and drugs and "passed them around" for sex. It was not until summer 2011 that Nazir Afzal, the new regional head of the CPS, reversed the decision not to prosecute. Finally, officers did not challenge a Crown Prosecution Service decision not to prosecute. [14] The CPS's original decision was overturned in 2011 when a new chief prosecutor for the region, Nazir Afzal, a first generation British-Pakistani,[15] was appointed. The BBC drama Three Girls was based on the Rochdale child sexual abuse scandal. 2023 BBC. 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. Because she was not involved in the trial, and therefore did not give evidence, she had no opportunity to defend herself. [21], Following the break up of the first sex ring in May 2012, the police made arrests in relation to another child sexual exploitation ring in Rochdale. One 13-year-old victim became pregnant and had an abortion. The taxi driver was said in court to have taken over as the main trafficker of the girls. [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. Running though them is repeated mentions of the fact that many in authority believed that the girls had brought the abuse on themselves. The staggering detail of how the victims in the Rochdale grooming scandal were treated exposed a system that was failing some of the most vulnerable children in our society This video cannot be. [7] A former Detective Constable who was investigating the grooming gangs, Margaret Oliver, resigned in 2012 in disgust of the handling of the cases by the police force and spoke out as a whistleblower to inform the public. "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. Finally, she has been exonerated. A new investigation, dubbed Operation Span, was launched. [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. 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. We use your sign-up to provide content in the ways you've consented to and improve our understanding of you. Mohammed Amin received a five-year sentence for sexual assault and conspiracy to engage in sexual activity with children. 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". 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. 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. 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). The force settled the claim before the matter got to court. 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. "[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. "[3], Sayeeda Warsi, co-chairperson of the Conservative Party, in an interview with the Evening Standard, said "You can only start solving a problem if you acknowledge it first," and added, "This small minority who see women as second class citizens, and white women probably as third class citizens, are to be spoken out against." said in its review into child sexual exploitation after the trial. When police were called to a report of a 15-year-old girl smashing up the Balti House takeaway in Heywood, they had no idea that the crime they. "[29] Cryer had attempted to reach the Muslim community and persuade it to take action: "I went to a friend of mine, who was a local councillor and happened to be a Muslim and therefore able to represent me to the elders, because I thought it was a good move to try to get those elders involved. The ID parades were particularly gruelling for Amber, who did 12 in one day alone, correctly identifying 10 of her abusers. They were. [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." O-2246. She told me: Police werent arsed with us, really. Find Jobs. Hamid Safi, then 22 and of no fixed address, was convicted of trafficking girls for the purposes of sexual exploitation and sentenced to four years. I shouldve been helped, not punished.. 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. "Eventually I moved out of the area as I couldn't stay there anymore.". The hearing was adjourned with a decision on deportation expected later this year. 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. 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. The victims, many of whom were from difficult backgrounds and therefore particularly vulnerable, were plied with drugs, alcohol and fast food, and then taken to chill houses across the north of England to be abused. "I know they believed me, they said to me at the end that something should have been done.". Khan told the hearing: "I have a question for the Home Secretary, whether Mr Aziz was an angel and I am a devil?". "We would get free alcohol and cigarettes, food, free taxis," she said. [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. 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. Details. It was like a casual, Oh, bring your friends. She was a vulnerable child, being sexually abused, controlled and in fear. Stephen Watson, chief constable of Greater Manchester police, made a personal apology to three of the Rochdale victims. Rochdale victim: 'I was groomed at 14, then the courts came for my children' Her evidence helped put abusers behind bars, yet 'Amber' was vilified by the authorities and says her torment will. GitHub export from English Wikipedia. The Manchester Evening News reports how the former delivery driver and dad-of-four encouraged his victimsto call him daddy. Can Nigeria's election result be overturned? Two members of the Rochdale grooming gang are set to be deported to Pakistan after a seven-year legal battle following a ruling by immigration judges. What happened to the Rochdale grooming ring and how many men were found guilty in the child sex abuse scandal? Social services became involved when she started to arrive at school dirty and sometimes smelling of alcohol. Former Det Con Maggie Oliver, who resigned in 2012 to turn whistleblower over the force's failings, said she was pleased with the outcome. And Ive done nothing wrong I was a victim of these men at the age of 14. When a local teenager was caught smashing up a glass chiller at the Balti House takeaway in Heywood in August 2008, police dismissed it as a simple act of vandalism. 'No one told me it wasn't normal to be hospitalised for period pains. 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.. 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. He was a driver for Eagle Taxis for 14 years and was known as "Car Zero". "It made me feel like I was pretty. Following a trial at Liverpool Crown Court, nine men were convicted in May 2012. 679215 Registered office: 1 London Bridge Street, London, SE1 9GF. The BBC is not responsible for the content of external sites. Cockbain and Brayley expressed concern that "findings were being overextended from a small, geographically concentrated sample to characterise an entire crime type". By Posted jordan schnitzer house In strengths and weaknesses of a volleyball player But she changed her mind when Operation Span came knocking and she was given cast iron assurances the victims would be supported. [48][49], A further investigation was carried out by the British government in December 2020, when the Home Office published their findings, showing that the majority of child sexual exploitation gangs were, in fact, composed of white men and not British Pakistani men.[50][51]. Read about our approach to external linking. Mohammed Sajid was sentenced to 12 years for rape, sexual activity with a girl under 16, trafficking for sexual exploitation and conspiracy to engage in sexual activity with children. revealed by the telegraph were allegedly sent in 2020 after mr. farage shared a video of himself drinking at a pub a fortnight earlier. The testimony of one of the five victims of the Rochdale grooming ring revealed the depth of the exploitation she suffered. Were told 84% of grooming gangs are Asian. [34], A report by The Times on 5 January 2011, related to convictions for child sex grooming in the North and Midlands. Paul Wilson, 21, admitted 47 charges including rape and grooming and must serve at least 15 years of a life term. The investigation slowly built a compelling case, away from the public gaze. I didnt know what that meant. She was held in custody for hours before being released on bail. [2], The victims, vulnerable teenagers from deprived, dysfunctional backgrounds, were targeted in "honeypot locations" where young people congregated, such as takeaway food shops. 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. And more than that, she was among a band of white girls who were being specifically targeted by a gang of largely Pakistani-heritage men because, as the trial judge would later acknowledge, the mens victims were not of your community or religion. Two worked for the same taxi firm and another two worked at a takeaway restaurant; some came from the same village in Pakistan and another two men shared a flat. Tellingly, he added: I believe that one of the factors that led to that was that they were not of your community or religion. "[37][38] Mohammed Shafiq, chief executive of the Ramadhan Foundation, accused elders of the Pakistani community of "burying their heads in the sand" on the matter of sexual grooming. Search more than 3,000 jobs in the charity sector. Five years later she won an apology and compensation from social 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. She later gave police the names or nicknames of 45 males who abused her or other children.