MPs call for study into gangs who groom children

THE GOVERNMENT must urgently study the common model used by grooming gangs up and down the country, a cross-party group of MPs has warned.

MPs from Rotherham, Rochdale and other areas hit by a succession of child sex abuse scandals are calling on Home Secretary Sajid Javid to commission research into the cross-border “criminal networks” to enable police forces to confront them.

The group of 20 MPs, including six from Yorkshire, came together having each encountered gangrelated child sexual exploitation (CSE) in their own constituencies, saying they were alarmed by the similarities in cases across the country and by the implications that this raised.

The letter to Mr Javid says: “Cases of gang-related child sexual exploitation, such as those in Rotherham, Telford and in Newcastle, conform to a precise model of recruitment, manipulation and exploitation.

“Despite these commonalities, we are not aware of any research being undertaken to understand the drivers for this kind of crime.”

In 2014, the Jay Report provoked a national outcry when it revealed more than 1,400 children had been raped, groomed and trafficked in the South Yorkshire town of Rotherham and that the large-scale exploitation by gangs of largely Pakistani-heritage men had been effectively ignored by the authorities.

Its MP, Sarah Champion, who spearheaded the letter, said: “Gang-related child sexual exploitation is an abhorrent crime.

“It has a devastating and lifelong impact upon victims. It is absolutely vital that, as elected representatives, we do everything we can to confront and prevent gangrelated CSE. This issue is above politics, it is about doing what is right to protect the most vulnerable in our society.”

The letter also urges Mr Javid to ensure that fears about data protection do not stand in the way of keeping children safe from harm, by issuing guidance to professionals that the sharing of data “is not just permitted but encouraged” where exploitation is suspected.

Other Yorkshire signatories include Labour’s Bradford West MP Naz Shah and the Tory MP for Shipley, Philip Davies.