Javid savages ‘sick Asian paedophiles’ who groomed girls
HOME Secretary Sajid Javid has launched an outspoken attack on the Huddersfield grooming gang – who targeted girls as young as 11 – by explicitly highlighting their racial heritage.
In comments that triggered a storm on social media, Mr Javid described the gang members as ‘sick Asian paedophiles’ – leading one Twitter user to accuse him of trying to appeal to ‘far-Right extremists’.
Twenty men were found guilty on Friday of being in a grooming gang that raped and abused young girls in Huddersfield, West Yorkshire.
The men were convicted of more than 120 offences against 15 girls. The victims were plied with drink and drugs during a seven-year campaign of rape and abuse between 2004 and 2011.
The men were all British Asians, with most of them – like Mr Javid – of Pakistani heritage. All but two of the victims were white. After the verdicts were announced, Mr Javid – who has adopted a high public profile in recent weeks ahead of an expected challenge for the Tory leadership if Prime Minister Theresa May steps down – tweeted: ‘These sick Asian paedophiles are finally facing justice.
‘I want to commend the bravery of the victims. For too long, they were ignored. Not on my watch. There will be no no-go areas.’
His remark was ‘liked’ and copied by more than 10,000 Twitter users the following day. It also attracted more than 4,000 comments, many objecting to his choice of words.
Labour’s Shadow Equalities Minister Dawn Butler tweeted: ‘No, Home Secretary, paedophiles are defined by their crimes and not their ethnicity. They are paedophiles. Condemn the crime, not the race.’
Many pointed out that Asian was an unhelpfully broad term, with one man replying: ‘Do not refer to these men as “Asian”. It’s misleading. There are no Chinese or Japanese men amongst them.
‘Their background is quite specific in most cases, smearing others with them is unacceptable.’
Another tweeted: ‘If they were white, would you say “these sick white paedophiles”? Probably not. But it should be possible to stop abusers without pandering to racist narratives in the process.’
A spokesman for Mr Javid declined to comment.