Foreign nationals convicted of a quarter of sex assaults on women
Britain's grooming gangs scandal has dominated the news this week, after the publication of Baroness Casey's review on Monday. Now data from the Ministry of Justice has emerged showing that over a quarter of sex assaults on women – that have been successfully prosecuted in the UK – were committed by foreign nationals. It's quite the stat…
The data, which came to light through Freedom of Information requests, revealed that of the 1,453 sex assault convictions on women in 2024, 26 per cent were foreign nationals. There are suggestions that the real total could be higher, given that those 8 per cent recorded as having perpetrators of 'unknown' nationalities could also include foreign nationals.
Casey's review revealed, as Home Secretary Yvette Cooper told the Commons on Monday afternoon, that disproportionate numbers of Asian and Pakistani men were responsible for grooming gang abuse – while consecutive governments and authorities failed to act due to concerns about racism. More than that, the audit found that both foreign nationals and asylum seekers were involved in a 'significant proportion' of 12 active and ongoing police investigations into grooming gangs. The Centre for Migration Control think tank got hold of the data on sex crimes – which also found that foreign nationals for over 20 per cent of all rape convictions last year. Good heavens…
Baroness Casey did say, however, that while the report found an overrepresentation of Pakistani men in cases of child sexual exploitation, white men were more commonly suspects in cases of child abuse. The crossbench peer has also taken aim this week at the authorities who failed victims, the police and their ability to only 'half-collect' race data, and at politicians for the 'politicisation' of the issue. On that note, Prime Minister Keir Starmer has taken a pop at Tory leader Kemi Badenoch – claiming when her party was in power she did not raise the issue of grooming gangs 'not once', while he was 'calling even then for mandatory reporting' – while the Conservatives have claimed the issue is one of 'borders, beyond criminal justice'. The Labour lot certainly has their work cut out…
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Times
34 minutes ago
- Times
Grooming gangs ‘still at large, and the victims aren't believed'
Teenage girls are still being sexually abused by gangs of men across the country, according to a whistleblower who helped to expose the grooming scandal, and the crime is becoming harder to spot. Maggie Oliver, who quit the police to expose the Rochdale grooming scandal, said that her warnings about the systemic abuse of young girls had been consistently ignored for 15 years by police, councils and other authorities. 'This isn't historical failing. It's still going on today. They still don't get believed,' Oliver said after a report by Baroness Casey of Blackstock concluded that disproportionate numbers of Asian men had been engaged in grooming but that successive governments and the authorities had turned a blind eye. It came 14 years after The Times revealed how predominantly Pakistani men were responsible for an organised campaign of abuse. Casey said on Tuesday it was 'clear' that children were still being exploited. She said the crime was becoming harder to detect because children were being groomed on social media and exploited through drug 'county lines'. Casey also said that the lack of complete ethnicity data for the perpetrators of grooming was a 'bloody disaster' and blamed officials at local authorities for 'a different level of irresponsibility' in their failure to record accurate information. The Times can reveal that the number of child sex abusers whose ethnicity is not being recorded has risen fourfold despite warnings that the failure will fuel another grooming gang scandal. The political fallout from Casey's devastating review escalated as Sir Keir Starmer accused Kemi Badenoch, the Conservative leader, of destroying the cross-party consensus on tackling child sex abuse. STEFAN ROUSSEAU/PA The prime minister revived his claims that his political opponents were jumping on a 'far-right bandwagon' and cited his own record in tackling grooming gangs. Badenoch had renewed her attacks on Starmer for changing his mind about the need for a national inquiry. She also accused him of having politicised the issue earlier this year when he said that those calling for an inquiry were 'jumping on a far-right bandwagon'. In a furious response, Starmer accused Badenoch of having said 'not one word' about the issue while she was women and equalities minister in the Tory government. He added that Chris Philp, formerly the policing minister and now shadow home secretary, also failed to raise the issue as a minister. He said voters should 'compare and contrast' the two leaders' records, pointing out he brought the first grooming prosecutions as director of public prosecutions 15 years ago. At the G7 summit in Canada, Starmer said: 'I know there's some discussion of this far-right bandwagon. I was actually calling out politicians — nobody else, politicians — who in power had said and done nothing, who are now making the claims that they make.' In other developments yesterday: • The national grooming gangs inquiry is expected to oversee local inquiries into failings by local leaders and police in Rochdale, Bradford and Greater Manchester; • The Conservatives warned that the record numbers of migrants arriving in small boats has heightened the grooming scandal to a border security issue; • Sarah Champion, the Rotherham MP, said perpetrators had been operating with impunity since the 1960s and it was a 'national shame' that children had been blamed instead . Casey thanked Oliver in her report for the support she had offered survivors, often at great personal cost. Oliver, who was then a detective constable, resigned from Greater Manchester police in 2012 to expose the Rochdale grooming scandal. She said Casey had been the first person who properly listened to her and to victims of grooming and 'reported the truth in an official document'. However, she said she had since lost faith in the system and said that children were still groomed and ignored. Oliver cited a recent case in which officers had been diverted from grooming cases to deal with other crimes. 'I still think there's been a determination to avoid investigating these cases wherever possible,' she said. She created the Maggie Oliver Foundation, which supports victims of child sexual abuse and exploitation. Casey told the Commons home affairs select committee that although sexual grooming was 'thankfully still rare', it was still happening and becoming harder to detect. 'I am fairly sure that it is still happening today,' she said. 'I think people don't necessarily look hard enough to find these children in particular. I think that the world of crime is quite complicated. 'To quote colleagues in the police, they are awash with online harm and online exploitation. We've had the growth in the visibility of county lines and child criminal exploitation — at the same time, I do not think child abuse or, indeed, child sexual exploitation has gone away. Casey told the Commons home affairs select committee that the government should implement her 12 recommendations within six months HOUSE OF COMMONS/UK PARLIAMENT/PA 'Certainly, from the evidence that we saw during the audit and the visits we undertook to some police forces, it is clear that it is still happening.' She called on ministers to act within six months on all 12 recommendations in her report, including the mandatory recording of ethnicity for the perpetrators of child sexual abuse. Analysis of Ministry of Justice figures carried out by The Times has revealed that more than 1,000 offenders who were sentenced for child sex offences did not have their ethnicities recorded, This was a fourfold increase on the 248 recorded in 2017, the earliest figures available, and the increase happened despite warnings that a failing to record the data would fuel more grooming scandals. Casey also told MPs that children were being put at risk because police data-sharing systems were outdated and different agencies were failing to share information sufficiently quickly. She has called for mandatory sharing of children's services records between all statutory safeguarding partners in cases of child sex abuse and exploitation. This was particularly important to ensure the safety of children in care who go missing but do not have parents to check about their whereabouts as this cohort had been particularly preyed upon by grooming gangs, she added. Casey said she had not realised the 'paucity of technology' available to support police investigations of missing children. Casey said her recommendation for mandatory rape charges for all adults who have sex with 13-15 year-olds would be a 'clear, historic law change' and prevent the offence being downgraded to less serious crimes, which are often pursued by police and prosecutors to maximise their chances of a conviction.
South Wales Argus
39 minutes ago
- South Wales Argus
No 10 says abortion law change must be ‘safe and workable'
The Commons voted by a majority of 242 to back Labour MP Tonia Antoniazzi's amendment to the Crime and Policing Bill. The issue was treated as a matter of conscience, with MPs given a free vote and the Government remaining neutral. But Downing Street said that now MPs had made that decision, the Government had a responsibility to ensure that if it makes it to the statute book it is in an effective form. Labour MP Tonia Antoniazzi, who led the amendment to change the law on abortion (Chris McAndrew/UK Parliament) The Bill still has further stages to go through in Parliament and changes could be made to the measures in the House of Lords. A No 10 spokesman said: 'We'll look at this in detail, considering whether any changes are necessary to make it workable and safe. 'But, of course, this would not change the intent of the amendment passed.' The spokesman added: 'As with all laws, the Government has a responsibility to ensure it is safe and workable.' Gower MP Ms Antoniazzi said the change will remove the threat of 'investigation, arrest, prosecution or imprisonment' of any woman who acts in relation to her own pregnancy. She pushed for the change in the law after cases of women being investigated by police over suspected illegal abortions. Medics or others who facilitate an abortion after the 24-week time limit could still face prosecution if the change becomes law. Though the Government took a neutral stance on the vote, several Cabinet ministers were among the MPs who backed the amendment. They included Energy Secretary Ed Miliband, Chancellor of the Duchy of Lancaster Pat McFadden, Work and Pensions Secretary Liz Kendall, Defence Secretary John Healey, Transport Secretary Heidi Alexander, Environment Secretary Steve Reed, Northern Ireland Secretary Hilary Benn, Scotland Secretary Ian Murray, Wales Secretary Jo Stevens and Commons Leader Lucy Powell. Kemi Badenoch and many members of the Conservative frontbench voted against it, but shadow education secretary Laura Trott voted in favour. Abortion in England and Wales currently remains a criminal offence unless with an authorised provider up to 24 weeks into a pregnancy, with very limited circumstances allowing one after this time, such as when the mother's life is at risk or the child would be born with a severe disability. It is also legal to take prescribed medication at home if a woman is less than 10 weeks pregnant. Efforts to change the law to protect women from prosecution follow repeated calls to repeal sections of the 19th century law the 1861 Offences Against the Person Act, after abortion was decriminalised in Northern Ireland in 2019. Kate Ellis, joint head of litigation at the Centre for Women's Justice, said: 'It is high time that these outdated, Victorian laws were removed from the statute books. 'This proposed change in the law will only impact a relatively small number of women each year who find themselves – in already desperate circumstances – threatened with imprisonment for a criminal offence they probably didn't know existed.' The changes do not cover Scotland, where a group is currently undertaking work to review the law as it stands there.
Leader Live
39 minutes ago
- Leader Live
Minister says she will ‘sort out' HS2 and confirms opening will be delayed
Transport Secretary Heidi Alexander told the Commons there is 'no route' to meet the target date of having HS2 services running by 2033. The project has suffered repeated delays and soaring costs despite being scaled back. Ms Alexander said: 'It's an appalling mess, but it's one we will sort out. 'We need to set targets which we can confidently deliver, that the public can trust, and that will take time. 'But rest assured, where there are inefficiencies, we will root them out.' The Cabinet minister said an interim report by Mark Wild, the chief executive of HS2 Ltd, who was appointed late last year, 'lays bare the shocking mismanagement of the project under previous governments'. She added: 'He stated, in no uncertain terms, the overall project with respect of cost, schedule and scope is unsustainable. 'Based on his advice, I see no route by which trains can be running by 2033 as planned. 'He reveals costs will continue to increase if not taken in hand, further outstripping the budget set by the previous government. 'And he cannot be certain that all cost pressures have yet been identified.' Ms Alexander said she is 'drawing a line in the sand, calling time on years of mismanagement, flawed reporting and ineffective oversight'. The Transport Secretary claimed the word 'affordable' was 'clearly not part of the HS2 lexicon'. She went on: 'This Government will get the job done between Birmingham and London. 'We won't reinstate cancelled sections we can't afford, but we will do the hard but necessary work to rebuild public trust.' HS2 was originally due to run between London and Birmingham, then on to Manchester and Leeds, but the project was severely curtailed by the Conservatives in power because of spiralling costs. The first phase was initially planned to open by the end of 2026, but this was pushed back to between 2029 and 2033. In 2013, HS2 was estimated to cost £37.5 billion (at 2009 prices) for the entire planned network, including the now-scrapped extensions from Birmingham. In June last year, HS2 Ltd assessed the cost for the line between London and Birmingham would be up to £66 billion. Ms Alexander said the Government has accepted all the recommendations of a review into the governance and accountability of HS2 Ltd, led by senior infrastructure delivery adviser James Stewart. She told the Commons: 'Quite simply, there have been too many dark corners for failure to hide in. 'The ministerial taskforce set up to provide oversight of HS2 had inconsistent attendance from key ministers, including the then-transport secretary and the then-chief secretary to the Treasury. 'The Government has re-established the taskforce with full senior attendance, as per the review's recommendations – and new performance programme and shareholder boards will offer much-needed oversight and accountability.' Ms Alexander also confirmed the appointment of Mike Brown as chairman of HS2 Ltd. Mr Brown is a former commissioner for Transport for London, who helped to oversee the delivery of Crossrail, the transport project which became London's Elizabeth line.
