Tributes paid to the of grooming gang’s

THE bravery of the victims in coming forward to ensure their rapists were convicted has been held up by the authorities.

Leading representatives of Kirklees Council, the Crown Prosecution Service and West Yorkshire Police have paid tribute to the bravery of the girls whose actions secured the prosecution of the vile paedophile gang.

Yesterday, after reporting restrictions were lifted on the naming of the 20 men who groomed, trafficked, raped and abused the vulnerable girls, Barry Sheerman MP; Det Chief Insp Ian Mottershaw, who led the investigation; Steve Walker, Kirklees Council’s director of children’s services and Michael Quinn, the Crown Prosecution Service’s head of the complex case unit, released lengthy statements.

Huddersfield MP Barry Sheerman has called for a wideranging inquiry into grooming gangs to get to the bottom of how and why they operate.

The Labour MP said he wanted to emphasise that the grooming and sexual abuse weren’t just a “West Yorkshire problem”.

Mr Sheerman, who claimed the authorities failed to take him seriously about child grooming in Huddersfield 10 years ago, believes lessons are still not fully being learned because not enough is known about how and why it was happening over and again.

He praised West Yorkshire Police for bringing the latest case to court but said a proper inquiry was needed to come to terms with the issues.

“This has happened so many times and in so many cities. No-one has taken this by the scruff of the neck. What happened and why did this happen?

“What are the roots of this, in so many towns? No-one has really done this.”

Asked about the racial and religious element to the crimes, he said: “People will make mischief of it. We know who we are talking about.”

He said “intelligent citizens” would welcome a sensible debate and would draw their own conclusions which would help rebuild community relations. Mr Sheerman later told the BBC that the authorities hadn’t “woken up” to grooming gangs “fast enough or positively enough, early enough.”

He added: “We have got to look back at this very carefully indeed. We did know it was happening and many of these girls were left to be exploited in the cruellest way for a long time.

“We, all of use, should look at our ourselves to see why we took so long to give those girls the rescue and support and justice they deserved.”

Mr Sheerman is now calling the grooming and abuse of vulnerable girls to be investigated by the Home Affairs select committee.

Steve Walker, director of Kirklees Council’s Children’s Services, says lessons have been learned – and there are now no hiding places for abusers.

He said: “Firstly, I want to thank the survivors in these cases. This has been a long and arduous process for them. Their courage in coming forward and giving evidence has brought these offenders to justice. I hope that the outcome today will give them some closure.

“I would also like to acknowledge the professional work of West Yorkshire Police and staff within Kirklees Council Children’s Services who have worked together to achieve this outcome. “These are non-recent cases. It is important to reassure members of the public that these crimes took place a number of years ago at a time when as we know from cases in other towns and cities - the issue of CSE was not well understood.

“Since then, lessons have been learned. In Kirklees now, agencies, particularly Children’s Services and West Yorkshire Police, work closely together to ensure that victims and potential victims are protected and those who seek to exploit and abuse children and young people are brought to justice.

“The robust arrangements that we have in place including sharing intelligence and information across all agencies, mean that there is no hiding place in Kirklees for perpetrators of abuse. However, we would also like to reassure the public that we are in no way complacent on this issue. The safety of our children and young people is our highest priority and we are always seeking to improve our response to benefit them.

This has happened so many times and in so many cities ... why did this happen?