The Casey report: the authorities had a culture of denial
Disproportionate numbers of Asian men have been responsible for child sex grooming gangs, but successive governments covered up the fact for fear of racism or raising tensions, a report has found.
The national audit of grooming gangs, by Baroness Casey of Blackstock, found that flawed data had been used repeatedly to dismiss claims about Asian grooming gangs as sensationalised, biased or untrue, while an institutional view persisted that there was an overwhelming problem with white perpetrators when, in fact, that could not be proved.
Casey pointed to a culture of denial that meant governments, police and local authorities had avoided the issue of ethnicity 'for fear of appearing racist, raising community tensions or causing community cohesion problems'.
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