‘I don’t think I should resign over grooming scandal’ – council chief
ACOUNCIL leader has said he doesn’t think he should resign over a grooming scandal which came to light following the death of 15-year-old Rochdale girl Victoria Agoglia.
A bombshell report told last week how up to 100 members of an Asian paedophile gang were able to operate in the city under the noses of police and council workers sixteen years ago.
But Leader of Manchester Council Sir Richard Leese said it should not cause his resignation.
The review, commissioned by Greater Manchester Mayor Andy Burnham in 2017 and written by experts Malcolm Newsam and Gary Ridgway, looked at the way authorities have dealt with child sexual exploitation.
It found police and social workers were aware of a gang that preyed on young girls in the south Manchester area, usually those living in local authority care homes.
At the heart of the case was the death of 15-yearold Victoria Agoglia, who died two months after she was forcibly injected with heroin in 2003.
In response, Greater Manchester Police launched Operation Augusta and identified at least 57 potential young victims and up to 97 suspects.
But the probe was abruptly shut down in 2005 ‘for resource reasons’, the report said.
At a meeting on Wednesday, Mr Leese said he did not know about Operation Augusta and the grooming scandal, despite being leader of the council at the time.
However, he admitted it was ‘abundantly clear’ that a ‘very significant number of young people were let down by us and by the police at that time’.
Mr Leese described the closing down of Operation Augusta as ‘the wrong decision’ but insisted the council would have continued to support it if police hadn’t shut it down.
He appeared on BBC North West and was asked why he didn’t know about Operation Augusta.
“You’re asking me why I didn’t know what I didn’t know, it’s an almost impossible question to answer,” he said.
“It was, looking in retrospect, a very different time in social care, in social services, we were going through a change, an important change, where we were talking about Child Sexual Exploitation (CSE) rather than child prostitution, we were understanding that these young people were victims not simply badly behaved young people.
“But it was at a time the world was changing, the world was changing for the better.
“And certainly those changes have continued and this is something that could not happen in Manchester today.”
Mr Leese was asked whether the public could trust that he would know about a grooming scandal now.
“I have got assurance that this would not happen now,” he replied.
“And in terms of whether I would know, I have quarterly meetings with the directors of children’s services and also the chief executive.
“The other relevant politicians are meeting regularly with the chair of our safeguarding board, so there are very, very clear processes in place, to make sure that I am kept informed.
“A lot has changed since 2004, 2005.
“... Leaders of councils didn’t have statutory responsibility for safeguarding, and now have a statutory responsibility. But not withstanding that, given what I know now, clearly I should have been informed about what was going on.”
Asked whether he should resign, Mr Leese said: “I don’t think I should resign over this, I think, as I said, what I need to demonstrate that now we know what’s happened that we’re dealing with it, and that’s what we’re doing.”