A charity supporting victims of Muslim child rape grooming gangs has revealed that family members of predators have attempted to infiltrate their ranks to threaten women and girls seeking help.
While much of the focus of the grooming gang scandal has focused on the failures of local authorities and the gangs of mostly Pakistani Muslim men, which were given free rein to sexually exploit often young working-class white girls, a victims’ charity has claimed that there is a broader familial, tribal support network operating in the shadows behind the criminal operations.
Managing director of the Next Stage Youth Development charity, Paul O’Rourke told The Times of London that it is “really common” for family members of grooming gangs to worm their way into the charity to “threaten and intimidate” victims.
“Once the gang in Rochdale found out where those young people were, they tried to infiltrate — to get access to them, to interfere with them as witnesses, to threaten them,” he said. “They also tried to recruit them back into the grooming gang because they were still very vulnerable.”
O’Rourke explained that safeguarding charities such as his are provided with lists of known predators in order to prevent them from coming in contact with their victims. However, knowing this, he said, the grooming gangs have therefore sought the help of relatives who are not known to authorities to do their bidding for them.
Recounting a recent experience, O’Rourke said that in August of last year, a grooming gang relative had attempted to apply for a job with Next Stage and that no red flags were raised because the name did not appear on any of the charity’s lists.
“It was only because one of our vigilant colleagues recognised that member of the family because they were on one of the grooming documentaries on TV,” he said. “We had to go to the authorities and raise that intelligence. And it turned out that they did know him, but his name wasn’t on the list we have.”
A Rochdale grooming gang survivor, who was targeted for sexual exploitation at the age of 13 after her mother left her home, said that she has personally experienced the relatives of her abusers attempting to intimidate her.
“People linked to them have tried to intimidate me online or spread rumours about me. It’s been really difficult because it brings back a lot of the fear and anxiety. I’ve worked so hard to move on and rebuild my life, so these instances make that difficult, but I make sure to report anything that happens and focus on keeping myself and my child safe,” she said.
“I don’t think that kind of fear ever completely goes away, especially when after being controlled for so long … But I am stronger now because of the support I’ve received, and I know how to reach out for help when I need it.”
In addition to facing threats from familial networks, other survivors have also spoken out about intimidation by members of police forces tied to the grooming gangs. Earlier this year, alleged victims accused officers from the South Yorkshire Police, including former Police Constable Hassan Ali, of using their status as grooming gang victims to sexually blackmail the girls. One of the victims said that Ali would threaten to call members of a local grooming gang if she refused his demands for sex.
Victims were often dismissed outright by authorities, such as the police and social services, who would often characterise the mostly underage girls as being “prostitutes” despite not being at the age of consent.
There were also widespread failures to confront the paedophile networks over fear of appearing racist, and supposed concerns about stoking community tensions, should it be broadly revealed that there were gangs of mostly Pakistani Muslim men preying on young white girls.
Earlier this month, several victims advising the belated grooming gang inquiry resigned in protest after it was revealed that the government planned to install people tied to the police or social services sector as chairs of the investigation, arguing that they could not be impartial given their ties to the very same institutions which failed so many victims in the first place.
