80% of men in sex grooming cases are Asian, says think-tank

MORE than four out of five men convicted of grooming girls for sex are Asian, according to a report.

Seven in ten of the Asian men responsible are of Pakistani Muslim background, it found.

The study by the Quilliam think-tank, which focuses on countering Islamic extremism, was based on court evidence given by Asian men during trials of abuser gangs.

The report, which will be made public this week, said that ‘girls from the Asian community are seen as commodities to be protected, whereas girls from outside of the community are seen as fair game’.

Findings were gathered by British-Pakistani authors, who say they hope it will encourage Asian communities to ‘take responsibility’.

The authors said: ‘In attempts to protect the sentiments of the British Pakistani community, we have failed vulnerable young girls who have suffered years of irreversible damage.’ They added that there was a disproportionate representation of males with Asian heritage convicted in such cases ‘with the Asian male perpetrator/white female victim dynamic serving as the prominent feature of these grooming gangs. Most of these men are of Pakistani (Muslim) origin, and the victims that have come forward so far are almost exclusively young white girls.’

A series of high-profile cases have resulted in the conviction of abuse gangs in cities including Rochdale and Oxford.

The Rochdale case led to widespread allegations that police and local authorities were ignoring sex offences by gangs because of a fear of being labelled racist.

Researchers examined 58 sex gang cases from 2005 to 2017. Of the 264 offenders, 84 per cent were Asian, mostly Pakistani, 8 per cent were black and 7 per cent were white.

Quilliam’s Haras Rafiq told the Sunday Times: ‘There has been a lot of coverage of grooming gangs … from the politically correct, who don’t want to talk about it, and the bigots who want to use it for hate.

‘Not talking about it doesn’t make the problem go away, and letting bigots hijack the debate creates further division in society. We as a society need to tackle this head on.’

‘Failed vulnerable young girls’