Grooming gangs will be tracked down & jailed as Keir Starmer warned of civil unrest if inquiry fails to get justice
GROOMING gang predators will be tracked down and jailed by elite cops — with Sir Keir Starmer warned of civil unrest if his new inquiry fails to get justice.
The National Crime Agency will hunt abusers whose cases have been overlooked or closed by regional police.
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PM Sir Keir finally announced a national inquiry on Saturday, after previously allowing only five local ones.
It will have the power to force investigations into historic cases of grooming gang cover-ups.
Reform UK leader Nigel Farage said: 'Keir Starmer should apologise to the victims for the cynical way that he tried to avoid a proper inquiry and for his insults to those that have tried ensure the perpetrators are held to account.
'If this turns out to be a whitewash, the fury of the country will be hard to control.'
Tory Shadow Home Secretary Chris Philp added: 'The NCA announcement is a desperate smokescreen. Labour spent six months blocking a statutory inquiry. That is six months of delayed justice.'
More than 800 cases have been reopened by police.
The NCA will help cops improve investigations and end a culture of denial about the extent of the scandal.
Home Secretary Yvette Cooper said: 'The vulnerable girls who suffered unimaginable abuse at the hands of groups of adult men have now grown into brave women who are rightly demanding justice for what they went through.
'Not enough people listened to them then. That was unforgivable. We are changing that.'
Baroness Casey's long-awaited report is today expected to say white girls targeted were 'institutionally ignored for fear of racism'.
It will also link illegal migration with the abuse.
Kemi Badenoch's bid for a national inquiry into child rape gangs was tonight blocked by Labour MPs
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TRUTH WILL BE EXPOSED AT LAST
By Julie Bindel, Feminist campaigner
IT is time we knew the truth about the cover-ups, and held those responsible to account.
I will never forget meeting a woman called Irene Ivison in 1996.
Her daughter Fiona was murdered, aged 17, three years after being targeted by a grooming gang.
Irene had desperately tried to get police and social services to intervene in the 'relationship' that began when her daughter was only 14.
Fiona was forced into prostitution and killed by a punter.
Since then I have met countless other victims.
I wrote the first piece in the national press about the scandal, in 2007.
I tried to get the liberal media to notice.
But, because the abusers were predominantly Pakistani Muslim, they did not want to be seen as racist.
This inquiry should expose the truth once and for all.
And when it does, heads should roll.
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