The Met Police Commissioner told the Greater London Assembly it would take “many many many millions of pounds” to reinvestigate a “very significant” number of historic grooming gang cases in London
Met Police investigating ‘several current’ London grooming gangs
London’s top cop performed a “180-degree turn-around” and said the Met Police have a “very significant” number of historic grooming gang cases that will need to be reinvestigated, 24-hours after the deadline to a joint investigation by MyLondon and the Express.
Campaigners told MyLondon they were “relieved” to hear the force “acknowledge what so many of us have been saying for years” and claimed it showed the Met realises there was “no point lying anymore.” Speaking to the London Assembly on Thursday (October 16), Met Police Commissioner Sir Mark Rowley said the force has a “steady flow” of live multi-offender child sexual exploitation probes, in addition to a number of historic cases that would cost “many many many millions of pounds” to reinvestigate.
Just a day earlier, we pressed the Met and the Mayor on how their previous statements tallied up with assessments by two leading experts – police whistleblower Maggie Oliver and care author Chris Wild – who both read our dossier and concluded the official position on grooming gangs in London was “unbelievable” and “deluded”.
Answering a question from Labour Assembly Member Len Duvall, Sir Mark said: “I hesitate to use the word gang, but [when it comes to] multiple offender cases we have a steady flow of those. We’ve got… several live current investigations.
“What we see at the moment is there’s a focus on some towns, and a focus on Pakistani heritage groups being involved. What we [see] in London, with our current case load, is gangs of different heritages that are more varied and more reflective of the variety of heritage we see across London.
“So we don’t see it being as sort of as one-dimensional as is presented for some other locations in the country, but [it] is a threat we’re dealing with.”
In his answer, the Commissioner also addressed the ongoing Government review which has identified more than a thousand cases since Baroness Casey’s grooming gang audit was published in June. In July, the Mayor told the Greater London Assembly (GLA) he had “no indication” of these cases being in London.
Updating the GLA last Thursday, Sir Mark said: “The number of cases is going to be very significant. If we were to sort of do a full investigative review and reinvestigations of them all, that is going to be many, many, many millions of pounds to be able to do that. Millions of pounds a year for several years.
“I’m not arguing against the principle, but I will be loath to take child protection specialists, who are dealing with today’s caseload, off to look back in history. Baroness Casey recommended it needed new additional funding.”
Last week, the Home Office told MyLondon the national caseload has risen to 1,200, but would not reveal how many cases are in London. The Child Sexual Exploitation Taskforce (part of the National Police Chiefs Council) said it did not have the data “readily to hand” and “there would be a risk of identifying individual investigations”.
MyLondon asked the Met directly, but it also refused to say exactly how many cases are being looked at.
What changed?
Until now, the Met has denied the capital has a problem with grooming gangs. As recently as February, the Commissioner told Lord Bailey of Paddington AM: “I cannot guarantee there is something out there that we have not seen” after the former mayoral candidate asked if London has a “significant problem around child sexual exploitation gangs”.
Baroness Casey’s audit referred to “live operations” involving the Met, but the official position only changed after the force was presented with findings of an Express/MyLondon investigation that showed the Mayor of London had read and responded to Met Police inspection reports with victim case studies that experts ruled had “typical” and “textbook” grooming gang patterns.
Responding to the Met’s new line, Rochdale whistleblower detective Maggie Oliver said: “After decades of denying the existence of the ‘grooming gang’ type of child abuse in London this exposé by MyLondon and the Express is finally forcing at least a spark of honesty from those who would prefer to cover it up.
“This 180-degree ‘turn around’ replicates what I have seen in my 13 years of exposing similar failures and cover ups in Rochdale, Manchester, Barrow and many other areas throughout the country.
“It is just the latest example of how facing personal threats yet still speaking out and focusing on those complicit in this corruption and cover-ups in high places is gradually breaking down the walls of our public institutions.
“People power is forcing the Met to finally tell the truth, even though they fight and lie right up to the point where they know the truth is out, so there’s no point in lying anymore.
“And this thorough exposé in MyLondon and the Express is the latest example of how these lies are being exposed – but tragically it is far too late for all those victims who have been blamed, abandoned and discredited by our protective agencies as they prefer to protect their organisation rather than tackle the monsters in these gangs who are destroying so many innocent lives.”
Chris Wild, who has warned for years that the capital has grooming gangs, said this was a belated acceptance of what had been obvious on-the-ground all along.
Mr Wild said: “As someone who has spent over a decade on the frontline and written two books exposing the failings within children’s social care, I’m relieved to finally hear the Metropolitan Police acknowledge what so many of us have been saying for years — that grooming gangs are a serious and ongoing problem in London.
“It should never have taken countless journalists and years of ignored warnings for this truth to be accepted. The Metropolitan Police’s recognition is long overdue. Now words must turn into action. Frontline workers, victims, and communities deserve more than apologies — they deserve justice, accountability, and lasting change.”
‘There is still much work to be done’
A spokesperson for the Met Police said: “We understand the very real concern the public have around so-called grooming gangs and treat all allegations of sexual offences and exploitation extremely seriously.
“Our data shows the group-based child sexual abuse and exploitation picture in London is more varied than in other parts of the country and does not neatly align with patterns of methodology, ethnicity or nationality seen elsewhere and reported on extensively.
“We are utterly committed to protecting vulnerable children and bringing those responsible to justice. There is still much work to be done, including encouraging reporting of offences so we have the fullest possible picture, but we have made significant improvements in the past decade to enable us to do that effectively.
Responding to our investigation last week, a spokesperson for the Mayor of London said: “The Mayor has always been clear that the safety of Londoners is his top priority and nowhere is this truer than in safeguarding children.
“Sadiq is committed to doing all he can to protect children in London from organised criminal and sexual exploitation and bring perpetrators to justice. This includes his £15.6million Violence and Exploitation Support Service which provides specialist support to young Londoners who are vulnerable, caught up in or being exploited by criminal gangs in the capital as well as supporting the Met to deliver a new child first approach to safeguarding and enforcement action to tackle county lines.
“We remain vigilant to emerging and changing threats and will continue to do everything we can to protect children in the capital from abuse, violence and exploitation in all its forms.”
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