Newcastle has joined a list of British cities where grooming gangs, made up of predominantly Pakistani Muslim men, systematically rape and abuse vulnerable, white girls.
A nationwide pattern emerged after the first prosecutions in Rotherham, and then Rochdale, where a “culture of silence” and political correctness led to inaction by authorities who feared being called “racist”.
Thousands of girls were raped and abused by Muslim grooming gangs since the late 1980s with cases largely going ignored until 2001.
One Rotherham rape survivor said that authorities did nothing and made her feel like she was a racist, being told specifically not to comment on the ethnicity of the perpetrators.
A former police detective who helped prosecute a Rochdale grooming gang claimed a conspiracy of cover-ups “goes right to the top of Government”, and said there were still paedophiles at large in the town.
On Wednesday, 17 mostly Muslim men (of Bangladeshi, Pakistani, Iranian, Iraqi, Kurdish, Turkish, Albanian, and Eastern European heritage) and one white woman were convicted of nearly 100 offences against girls and women in Newcastle, in the largest case of its kind since Rotherham and Rochdale.
It was also revealed that police had paid a convicted child rapist nearly £10,000 to work as an informant on the case.
Speaking at a press conference, the head of Newcastle Council stressed the scandal was “not unique” to the city, adding: “Indeed, there has been evidence of similar [grooming gangs] offending in many other towns and cities.”
So far, that list has included:
– Rotherham –
The Rotherham child grooming gang scandal, described as “the biggest child protection scandal in UK history”, was exposed in 2010 after five Pakistani Muslim men were jailed for sexual offences against underage girls following Operation Central. Subsequent operations and trials led to a further 20 convictions.
In total, there were more than 1,400 victims in Rotherham between 1997 and 2013.
The 2015 Casey report found that Rotherham Council had a “bullying” culture of “covering up uncomfortable truths, silencing whistle-blowers and paying off staff rather than dealing with difficult issues”.
In August 2015, Breitbart London reported that more than 160 police officers were under investigation over allegations they systematically ignored complaints of widespread child sexual exploitation.
– Rochdale –
Nine men, again, of Pakistani Muslim origin, were convicted in 2012 of rape and sex trafficking with 47 girls being identified as victims of the Greater Manchester grooming gang.
By spring 2017, all but two rapists had been released and four were using taxpayers’ money to fight deportation to Pakistan.
The scandal returned to public prominence when the BBC aired the drama Three Girls based on the experiences of some of the victims.
– Oxford –
In 2013, seven men (five Pakistani and two African) were convicted with five receiving “life” sentences and two sentenced to seven years’ imprisonment.
Some 370 white girls from deprived backgrounds or abusive homes, generally aged 12 to 15 years old, were systematically raped, drugged, and threatened. The gang operated in Oxford, the city of dreaming spires, over a span of 15 years.
One victim told Breitbart London that girls in the city are still being targetted because police refuse to act. Some of her own attackers still work as taxi drivers, businessmen, and are even on the local council, she said.
– Bristol –
In 2016, a Somali rape gang was jailed for “chilling”, “degrading”, and sometimes “violent” sexual abuse and sex trafficking of teenage girls as young as 13 years old in Bristol.
In a description similar to other rape gang cases across the country, the court heard how the abuse became “routine” and the men regarded their victims as “cheap and easy”.
– Aylesbury –
In the picturesque Buckinghamshire village, six Pakistani men were convicted for grooming and raping two vulnerable girls aged 12 and 13 between 2006 and 2012.
Again, a children’s charity claimed to have warned authorities about the rape gang, but police allegedly took “insufficient action”.
One Conservative Muslim town councillor admitted that some in the Muslim community “take the view that the victim is partly to blame. They believe it takes two to tango.”
– Keighley –
In 2017, police in Keighley began investigating almost 200 cases of child sex abuse, with 167 suspects, prompting fears of a ‘new Rochdale’ grooming gang in the small Yorkshire town.
Local Conservative MP Kris Hopkins warned that the town is “top of the list” for ‘Asian’ grooming gangs targeting white children to be sexually abused.
– Huddersfield –
In April 2017, 29 individuals appeared in court on over 170 charges of rape, child abduction, trafficking, drug dealing, and other crimes following a child sex abuse inquiry.
The alleged offences are said to have been carried out in Huddersfield by 27 mostly Muslim men and two women between 2004 and 2011. Their victims were girls aged between 11 and 17.
– Derby –
In late 2010, nine men were convicted in three separate trials for cruising the streets of Derby, targeting and raping young girls.
Many of the victims said they were given alcohol or drugs before being forced to have sex in cars, houses, or hotels across the Midlands. Twenty-seven girls came forward, the oldest 18 and the youngest 12.
– Peterborough –
A gang of men and boys befriended and then raped vulnerable girls, subjecting them to intimidation, violence, and “appalling” abuse in places such as children’s playgrounds.
Two men, Zdeno Mirga, 18, and Hassan Abdulla, 33, and five boys were convicted in 2014 of sexually abusing five teenage girls aged 13 and 14.
– Telford –
Police in Telford were accused of ignoring child sex abuse after it emerged volunteers had been passing evidence of grooming to them for three years.
Trained church volunteers began to pass information to police following Operation Chalice, an investigation into a child prostitution ring in Telford. The police probe saw seven Pakistani men jailed on charges of rape, trafficking, and prostitution of girls as young as 13.
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