The grooming gang report

It seems like everyone has their head completely in the sand over this issue, hoping and praying it just goes away.

There doesn’t seem to be a week that goes by without another truly horrific event happening that could and should have been prevented.

In the last few weeks, we have seen and read about the awful murder of Sebastian Kalinowski, a fifteen year old boy from Huddersfield whose parents are on trial for his torture and murder. His is the latest in what appears to be a wave of child murders facilitated, in part, by the appalling decision to close schools during the national lockdowns of 2020-2021 – with the authorities missing vital signs of abuse due to the lockdown measures.

Two weeks ago, we found that the Metropolitan Police Force would be put into special measures in response to the dreadful revelations that came to light that the police are virtually absent from fighting or preventing crime, and are completely hopeless at investigating it or finding perpetrators.

But this week, the report into child rape and sexual exploitation in Telford is perhaps the worst of them all. When I was told about it by a close friend, who then sent me the report and press releases to read, his words to me were to “sit down and calm down” when I sat down to read it, and then to try and relax and forget about it after.

Impossible. In fact, it made my blood boil. It makes for difficult reading. Children were raped and exploited on a mass scale, with the report finding that there were more than a thousand victims over many decades, starting from the 1980s. Many of the cases were simply ignored, with the most serious and damning aspect of the report coming from the Chair of the Inquiry, Tom Crowther QC, explaining that men were not approached for investigation by the authorities because of political correctness and a clamour not to encroach on racial sensitivities. Police would not pursue claims made by the children because they didn’t wish to be accused of racism. In perhaps the worst element of the report Mr Crowther stated that the absence of police action “emboldened” offenders, concluding that had West Mercia Police done their jobs to even a basic standard “…that there was a real chance that unnecessary suffering and even deaths of children may have been avoided.” This is lamentable.

As I have stated many times before, the standard of policing in this country is a national disgrace. It is now completely obvious to me that the entire make up of the police needs root and branch reform, starting with the replacement of senior managers who have completely failed in their job to protect the public. If this was an isolated case, then it could be forgiven as a scandal of epic proportions. But it is not just Telford: Rotherham, Newcastle, Rochdale, Bradford, Oldham, Leeds, Oxford, Halifax, Keighley, Derby, Bristol, Peterborough, Nottingham, Yeovil, Hull…….the list goes on and on. But the tale is the same – young girls, raped and groomed by predominately Asian men, police forces up and down the country paralysed with fear. The victims of this horrible event deserve better.

But the public also needs to know that those who we pay to prevent this from happening have the capability to actually *stop* these crimes. So far, I can see no evidence that young children are getting the protection they need and deserve. The timing of the report was unfortunate, given the current Tory leadership contest. I am sure, if we had a stable and effective government, this would have been front and centre as a news story. I would plead any Tory candidate for Number 10 to look into this seriously and accept that the mass systemic grooming of young girls up and down the country, and the lamentable failure of the police to do anything about it, is a national stain upon our conscience.

Its only when the authorities admit to gross failings can we even think about putting it right. But it seems like everyone has their head completely in the sand over this issue, hoping and praying it just goes away.

Ask yourself why.