Daily Mirror (Northern Ireland)
100 Rochdale paedos still walk the streets
As the hard-hitting BBC drama Three Girls shocks 5million viewers, the cop who helped nail the sex abusers fears...
AN ex-cop fears up to 100 perverts still roam free, years after the Rochdale child sex gang was jailed.
Maggie Oliver, who advised on drama Three Girls, claimed many rapists faced no action. She added: “It will still be happening.”
THE jailing of nine men involved in the horrific Rochdale paedophile ring was seen as a success in the fight against child abuse. But a former police officer on the case claimed children are still at risk as there are up to 100 perverts walking the streets, five years after the gang of monsters was locked up for grooming and raping young girls. Maggie Oliver said many of the alleged offenders named by victims were not officially recorded by detectives and sex attacks not logged as crimes. The ex-greater Manchester Police detective constable spoke out as harrowing new TV drama Three Girls, with Maxine Peake, is aired on BBC1 about the abuse and victims. Maggie said: “Abuse will still be happening because offenders walk the streets. Many of them were not even recorded on crime reports even though children named them. “Just three months ago, one of the young women I still speak to was stood at a cashpoint to find one of the offenders that she had told police about stood behind her in the queue. “A child abuser is always a child abuser. That man is still out there walking the streets of Rochdale. There were nine men convicted. But the girls told me of many more men.” And Maggie spoke of the enormous difficulty officers had collating information because witness statements were not put into a database that would have linked them to each other. She added: “So you have got potentially 47 victims, you have got maybe 100 offenders, 30 officers. You can’t keep all that info on your head, you need a database. “Basics like recording each allegation of rape weren’t done. “That’s your first duty as a police officer, to record an allegation of a crime whether you believe it or not. How can you spot a pattern developing if you don’t record crimes properly? “This has implications even today. There are still paedophiles who we identified who are out there right now in Rochdale. This is still happening. It’s heartbreaking.” Maggie persuaded
vulnerable and reluctant underage victims to give evidence against the perverts who had sexually abused them for years, helping to bring the nine to justice in 2012. But she fears the abuse may be more widespread as perverts passed on children to other areas. The mum-of-four first became aware of attacks in 2005 when she worked in Manchester on Operation Augusta. Stories emerged of youngsters being picked up from children’s homes by mainly British-pakistani men. Almost 50 girls, some of whom were just 12 when their ordeal started, were identified during a long-running enquiry. Maggie, who is played by Scott and Bailey star Lesley Sharp in the TV drama, added: “They were made to have sex with lots of different men. One girl took me to a house where she described sex parties.” But Maggie, who was a consultant on the TV show, had to take time off work as her husband was terminally ill. When she returned three months later after his death the case no longer existed. She said: “Nobody could give an explanation. “Nobody was charged with serious sexual offences. Nobody could explain to me why. These girls were 12, 13, 14.” Three years later, in Rochdale, police arrested a teenager for being abusive at a takeaway. She became known as Girl A and claimed she had been groomed and raped by one of the staff. Despite having DNA evidence and testimony from the victim the case was dropped as it was decided she would not make a credible witness. At the time there was still a grossly mistaken belief the young girls were prostitutes and complicit in the abuse. One, aged just 14, was accused of being a madam who was paid to find others for sex with men. But evidence was growing that many girls were being groomed, plied with alcohol and assaulted. In 2009, GMP launched Operation Span in a bid to smash the paedophile ring and given Maggie’s experience on Augusta they asked her to join the team. She set about winning over the girls. One told her she had been raped almost daily by around 30 or 40 different men. Shabir Ahmed, then 59, Mohammed Amin, 45, Abdul Qayyum, 44, Adil Khan, 42, Mohammed Sajid, 35, Abdul Rauf, 43, Abdul Aziz, 41, Kabeer Hassan, 25, and Hamid Safi, 22, were eventually convicted and jailed in May 2012 for variety of sexual offences. Maggie said she tried to explain her concerns about the treatment of the girls to senior officers but it fell on deaf ears and she had no choice but to resign. GMP would not comment on her claims. But Assistant Chief Constable Rob Potts said: “I want to reassure communities our priority is to protect children and young people, prosecute offenders and prevent further offences. “We have made huge progress in our fight against child sexual exploitation.” Rochdale Borough Council director of children’s services Gail Hopper added: “Our multi-agency team, Sunrise, along with others, have helped bring offenders from historic and current cases to justice, resulting in more than 200 years of jail sentences since 2012.” Three Girls is on BBC1 tonight.
There are still paedophiles out there who we identified. This is still happening MAGGIE OLIVER ON CLAIMS POLICE DID NOT RECORD CRIMES