EXCLUSIVE: Two of the country’s leading experts on child grooming gave their verdict on public record evidence pulled together by MyLondon and the Express in a joint investigation into child sexual exploitation
‘The Met is the last bastion of grooming gang cover up’
It is “unbelievable” and “deluded” to deny grooming gangs exist in London, according to experts who assessed public record evidence of child sexual exploitation networks compiled in a joint investigation by MyLondon and the Express.
The Mayor of London Sir Sadiq Khan and the Metropolitan Police have consistently claimed to have “no reports” of Rochdale or Rotherham-style rape gangs in the capital, with Khan suggesting there was “no indication” of them.
But in the pages of four different His Majesty’s Inspectorate of Constabulary and Fire & Rescue Services (HMIC) reports from 2016-2025, which the Mayor of London responded to, we found details of six potential victims.
When these case studies were assessed by Rochdale whistleblower detective Maggie Oliver and care professional and author Chris Wild, they determined all had “red flags” or “indications” of grooming gang abuse. For three of the victims, Oliver told us she was certain it could be described as a report of a grooming gang.
Days after MyLondon and the Express contacted the Metropolitan Police for comment, the Commissioner appeared before the London Assembly and reversed the force’s longstanding stance it had “not seen” grooming gang cases in London.Answering an off-topic question from a Labour Assembly Member, Sir Mark Rowley revealed the force has a “steady flow” of live multi-offender child sexual exploitation investigations, and a “very significant” number of cases that would need to be reinvestigated as a result of the Home Office’s grooming gangs review, requiring a cash injection from the Government.
‘For me, that is unbelievable’
Responding to our dossier of evidence, Oliver told MyLondon: ”This is the same pattern [of denial] that I’ve seen [with Greater Manchester Police and Rochdale]… For Sadiq Khan, reading these, and I’m sure there are many more, and to insist that they don’t have a problem in London. For me, that is unbelievable.”
Based on assessments of the Met’s handling of sexual exploitation cases from the start of Khan’s tenure to this year, the Inspectorate reports explain, often in horrific detail, how police were slow to react to evidence that girls as young as 13 were exploited by gangs of predatory men.
Case studies describe children being plied with drugs and alcohol, raped in hotels by groups, and having their lives threatened. Khan has publicly responded to these highly-critical reports – in newspaper articles, social media, or statements to City Hall.
Oliver said she was not surprised that examples of grooming gangs were hiding in plain sight, having faced a lengthy battle to get justice for the victims of similar groups in Rochdale.
”I came to realise that everybody at the top 100 per cent knew and wanted to cover it up,” she said.
“I think the Met is the last bastion of being able to cover up, because I have no doubt from the work we do [at the Maggie Oliver Foundation charity supporting survivors and] from what I’ve read [in the investigation’s findings] that there is a similar pattern of abuse in [London]. I don’t know how they’ve managed to cover it up for so long, but it doesn’t surprise me.”
Chris Wild, a care professional who has worked with some of London’s most vulnerable children for more than 15 years, claimed the victims mentioned in the reports were just the tip of the iceberg.
Responding to a case study about a 16-year-old girl who reported being raped over a three year period by a group of men who would threaten to hurt her if she spoke out, Wild said: “That’s ubiquitous. It’s happening all over London [and] so much so much more than anywhere else in the country.
“I’m on the front line and workers like me all have stories of girls like this. I’m constantly vocal about this in London. [So] to hear reports [from] the Mayor’s office say[ing] ‘But this is not a problem here’. The guy’s deluded. You’ve got to ask yourself the question: Who are they protecting? What are they protecting?”
‘They should be ashamed’
Click the boxes above to read the victim’s full story and what the Mayor said.
A London grooming gang victim, who spoke on the condition of anonymity, was outraged by the Mayor and Met’s public comments in the face of clear evidence.
“Khan and the Met Commissioner’s continued denials of the trauma suffered by grooming gang survivors is gaslighting the survivors of some of the most unimaginably awful crimes by two of London’s most powerful men. They should be ashamed,” she said, “It’s shocking that all of this evidence is on public record and that there is recognition that the issue of grooming gangs exist in London.
“For a Mayor who positions himself as an ambassador for violence against women and girls justice, why would he so blatantly block the voices of these women survivors from speaking?”
London Assembly Member Susan Hall said: “What a disgrace Sadiq Khan is. When I questioned him about grooming gangs months ago he pretended not to know what I was talking about. He clearly doesn’t read his own HMIC reports, or pay attention to the plight of the most vulnerable Londoners.”
The public record evidence of London’s grooming gangs is not confined to the regular inspection reports of the Met Police, however. Express and MyLondon reporters also found victim case studies from Tower Hamlets in the evidence presented to the Independent Inquiry into Child Sexual Abuse (IICSA).
It is a matter of public record that IICSA identified five different children who suffered abuse at the hands of a sexual exploitation networks. During the hearings, witness statements described “groups of older men” sexually exploiting girls in hotel rooms in the late 2010s.
But a detail unreported at the time was that both the local council and Metropolitan Police, who denied the existence of sex abuse gangs in the area, were using a “different” definition to the inquiry – one based on the Serious Crime Act 2015 description of an “organised crime network” which requires three or more people who agree to act together for criminal purposes.
Oliver and Wild’s comments come a month after MyLondon revealed a three-year police investigation into an alleged London grooming gang, after obtaining information from Hounslow Council through FOI laws. This week we also published allegations from a former children’s home worker who alleged kids in care were taken to hotels in Hounslow to have sex with ‘rich older men’.
Click the boxes above to read the victim’s full story.
‘The picture in London is more varied’
When approached for comment, a spokesperson for the Mayor of London provided a single overarching statement that 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.”
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.”
A Home Office spokesperson said: “The sexual abuse of children by grooming gangs is among the most horrific crimes imaginable, and every allegation must be investigated thoroughly, wherever it leads.
“That is why we have initiated a new policing operation, Operation Beaconport, overseen by the National Crime Agency, which has already flagged more than 1,200 closed cases of group-based child sexual exploitation for review.”
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