Victim-blaming culture left gangs free to abuse at least 700 girls

Officials in Newcastle simply sent youngsters home if they were found with older men, report says

GROOMING gangs that preyed on 700 vulnerable girls and women in and around Newcastle upon Tyne, developed an “arrogant persistence” because the authorities often blamed the victims rather than the offenders, a Serious Case Review has found.

Operation Sanctuary, which was launched in 2014, resulted in 112 offenders being jailed for a total of almost 500 years for abuse carried out against more than 270 victims.

But a report has revealed that the actual number of those targeted was at least 700, as gangs of men from a range of ethnic minorities plied victims with drugs before raping and abusing them, and forcing them into prostitution.

According to the review, the abusers were mainly “not white but came from a diverse range of backgrounds including Pakistani, Bangladeshi, Indian, Iranian, Iraqi, Kurdish, Turkish, Albanian and eastern European”.

In some cases it was the victims of the gangs who were placed in secure accommodation because of what was seen as their “poor behaviour”, while the offenders were seen to be innocent and went unpunished.

The review did not find evidence of political correctness hampering investigations – a factor in previous abuse scandals elsewhere, such as Rochdale and Rotherham.

But it did find a reluctance to take complaints by the victims seriously, allowing the perpetrators to become emboldened in their actions.

The report stated: “Some victims were placed in secure accommodation.

“This sent an unhelpful message to perpetrators – they were unlikely to be prosecuted or prevented from continuing to abuse – encouraging an arrogant persistence.

“It also had a significant impact on victims who learnt that nothing would be done against perpetrators.”

During one of the trials, it emerged that Northumbria Police had paid £1,000 to a convicted rapist to be an informant. But the review did not address the issue, stating that the payment to the man, known only as “XY”, was not within its scope.

The report, authored by David Spicer, a retired barrister and former chairman of the British Association for the Study and Prevention of Child Abuse and Neglect, said officials often failed to take action even when the evidence was right before them.

It stated: “It was felt there was a lack of professional curiosity, thinking beyond the presenting issue, and insight into the actual harm victims were experiencing.

“There were no effective inquiries about relationships, why girls were with older men to whom they were not related; explanations were accepted, even when a young girl was found in the bedroom of an older man.”

The report also said that distressed youngsters were returned home when found in the company of older men with no action was taken.

It states: “If they came across young people drunk or in distress in the company of older men, they acted to take them home to their parents or their placements.”

Darren Best, acting Deputy Chief Constable of Northumbria Police, admitted the force had made mistakes.

He said: “From the Northumbria Police perspective, we have been through a huge amount.

“Behaviour that might once have been viewed as a difficult teenager are now seen as something quite different. We are not complacent on the back of this report, we need to be consistent and make sure that we continue to get it right.”

Operation Sanctuary was launched in January 2014, a month after a young woman with learning difficulties told her social worker she had been sexually abused.

The authorities stepped up their response when they realised the problem was far worse than previously imagined.

‘There was a lack of curiosity and insight into the actual harm victims were experiencing’