Campaigners and MPs have demanded that the crimes of “Asian” grooming gangs who target white girls be treated as “racially aggravated”.
Britain’s Attorney General has been urged to review the sentences of a Newcastle gang convicted of the grooming, rape and sexual abuse of hundreds of girls as young as 14, after claims that the racist nature of the crimes was not reflected in their punishment.
Any member of the public can formally request the Attorney General’s Office to appeal for tougher sentences for serious criminals under the Unduly Lenient Sentence scheme.
During one of the trials, the court heard how one of the 18-strong gang had referred to white women as “white trash” who were “good for only one thing – for people like me to f*** and use as trash”.
Peter Saunders, of the National Association of People Abused in Childhood, told the Telegraph: “If the situation was different and this was white gang attacking Asian victims, quite rightly there would be an outcry, but because of the whole politically correct culture we have to bite our tongue and are afraid to address the reality.”
Detective Constable Maggie Oliver, who was involved in exposing the Rochdale sex abuse scandal, previously revealed that some of the victims of mostly Muslim grooming gangs have themselves “been arrested and charged with racially aggravated public order offences” for using racist language towards their abusers.
Noting that some of the Newcastle gang “freely admitted that their attitude to these girls was based on race,” former Policing and Justice Minister Mike Penning said the sentences must reflect the racial element.
“I cannot understand, in a case where the police have done brilliantly well, why the sentence doesn’t reflect the severity of the crime,” he said.
Robert Buckland, the Solicitor General, said racism cut “all ways” and should be “front and centre” when it is part of grooming and sexual abuse cases, adding that courts should apply a “sentencing uplift” where there is evidence of “racial hostility of motivation”.
“The law does not discriminate. When it talks about sentencing increases for racial aggravation it doesn’t cut one way, it cuts all ways,” he told the Telegraph.
Mr Buckland expressed concern that fears of being accused of racism might have deterred the authorities from adopting a tougher approach.
Buckland, who acts as one of the two Law Officers of the Crown in England and Wales, expressed concern that political correctness deterred the authorities from pursuing gangs of mostly Muslim sex abusers, stating: “There has been an institutional reticence when it comes to Asian gangs that groom and abuse white girls.
“Some people have been more concerned about being labelled racist than dealing with child safeguarding.”