Has the UK learned its lesson?
THE grooming gangs scandal is one of the most shameful episodes in modern British history.
This is real rape culture in the West: gangs of predatory men preying upon vulnerable victims while authorities looked the other way.
Hundreds of girls, some as young as 11, have been repeatedly raped, beaten and trafficked by groups of men who saw them as nothing more than pieces of meat.
For years, the systematic abuse went unchecked because authorities were too frightened to act, given the offenders were from immigrant communities, mainly British Pakistani Muslims.
Crippled by political correctness, police and child-protection services allowed the abuse of poor, marginalised girls and women to occur under their noses.
The Rotherham scandal was exposed in 2014, after an inquiry found more than 1400 children were subjected to repeated sexual and physical abuse for more than a decade, including gang rapes, forced prostitution, and beatings.
It revealed not only the depths of the perversity of the offenders but the cowardice of authorities who all but ignored victims’ pleas for help.
Decency and the rule of law were sacrificed for “community cohesion” and “cultural sensitivity”.
Those in positions of power allowed fears about appearing racist or insensitive to cultural differences to trump the protection of at-risk girls, so much so that when a Rotherham council employee attempted to raise the alarm, she was disciplined and sent to an “ethnicity and diversity course” and told she must “never, ever” again refer to the ethnic background of the perpetrators.
We’ve since learnt that the grooming gangs were not limited to Rotherham.
The same phenomenon of mostly Pakistani men victimising mostly poor white girls has occurred in other parts of the country, including Oxford, Peterborough, Aylesbury, Bristol, Rochdale, Telford, Halifax, Keighley, Banbury, Newcastle and Derby.
In Newcastle, a case review identified more than 700 potential victims of grooming gangs, including a 12year-old girl who fell pregnant.
It’s feared the sexual exploitation extends to boys. Male victims are even less likely to report the abuse.
The latest lot to be convicted were 20 members of a grooming gang from Huddersfield who committed more than 100 offences, including raping girls as young as 11, in a campaign of “rape and abuse” that authorities believe involved many other perpetrators who have not yet been brought to justice.
Details of the three trials became public earlier this month after a judge partially lifted reporting restrictions, following a challenge from the media.
Judge Geoffrey Marson, QC, described the offending as at “the top of the scale” and noted that “none of you has expressed any remorse for what you did”.
It was reported that one girl aged just 12 was forcibly removed from her care home by one of the men, who brazenly told staff: “I want to f--- her”, while other under-age girls were picked up from school and then drugged and raped. The offenders had got away with it for so long that they no longer feared the West Yorkshire police or social workers.
Showing the same cowardice that crippled authorities for so long, the “chattering classes” would rather look the other way than examine how such wide-scale abuse was allowed to occur. Indeed, not only are many ignoring the grooming gang crisis, but they are lashing out at those who dare state uncomfortable truths.
After the verdict in the Huddersfield case, Home Secretary Sajid Javid tweeted: “These sick Asian paedophiles are finally facing justice.
“I want to commend the bravery of the victims. For too long, they were ignored. Not on my watch. There will be no no-go areas.”
For mentioning the ethnicity of the criminals, he has been lambasted by MPs and human rights campaigners.
Labour MP David Lammy accused Javis of bringing “a great office into disrepute” and pandering to the far Right by “singling out Asians”.
This, despite all of the men convicted in Huddersfield being of Asian heritage.
One fears Britain has not learned the lessons of this grim saga.
CRIPPLED BY POLITICAL CORRECTNESS, POLICE AND CHILD-PROTECTION SERVICES ALLOWED THE ABUSE OF POOR, MARGINALISED GIRLS AND WOMEN TO OCCUR UNDER THEIR NOSES