Grooming victims ‘failed by police’
A WHISTLEBLOWER has claimed senior police “betrayed the public” and tried to “bury the truth” after a damning report revealed officers suspected young girls were being abused “in plain sight” by Asian grooming gangs but did nothing to help.
Former detective Maggie Oliver, who resigned from her job over the scandal, said the report “makes me want to sing from the rooftops” as Greater Manchester Police (GMP) issued a public apology, referred themselves to watchdog the Independent Office for Police Conduct (IOPC) and relaunched a criminal investigation with 38 potential victims identified so far.
Malcolm Newsam CBE, a renowned child care expert, and Gary Ridgeway, a former detective superintendent with Cambridgeshire Police – authors of the report, concluded: “The authorities knew that many were being subjected to the most profound abuse and exploitation but did not protect them from the perpetrators.
“This is a depressingly familiar picture and has been seen in many other towns and cities across the country.”
The report was ordered by Andy Burnham, Mayor of Greater Manchester, after a
BBC documentary, The Betrayed Girls, which aired in 2017. It featured Ms Oliver, who he said had been “fully vindicated”.
It centres on Operation Augusta, set up in 2004, which was prompted by the death of Victoria Agoglia, 15, a girl under the care of Manchester City Council, who reported being raped and injected with heroin by a 50-year-old Asian man.
She died of a drugs overdose two months later on September 29, 2003.
The police operation launched in response the year after identified at least 57 victims and 97 potential suspects, some involved with Ms Agoglia, and a “compelling picture of the systemic exploitation of looked after children in the care system” was established by detectives.
But senior officers at GMP chose to under-resource the investigation, the report said, and a decision was made to close it down in 2005.
The report cited “clear evidence” girls, aged 12-16, were being abused “generally perpetrated by a group of older Asian men” including the police having their names, where they lived or worked and the flats above takeaway shops where the abuse occurred.
It included plying girls with drugs and alcohol, physical abuse and rape and being forced to have sex with multiple men at “sex parties”.
Some suspects even visited council-run children’s homes, bringing alcohol and cannabis, with the apparent knowledge of council staff.
Ms Oliver said when she raised concerns, she was met with “misogyny” and the “old boys’ network”, described as an “emotional woman” and dismissed as “too involved” with victims.