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Yahoo
14 hours ago
- Politics
- Yahoo
Grooming gangs report author reveals how she found word 'Pakistani' tippexed out of file
Ignoring the ethnicity of grooming gang perpetrators gives racists "more ammunition", the author of a new report has said. Baroness Louise Casey told Sky News' there was a particular issue with some British Asian men that was "abundantly clear" in data analysed from three police forces; West Yorkshire, South Yorkshire and Greater Manchester; which showed a "disproportionately" in child sexual exploitation. Politics latest: But she added: "Just to give some sort of balance, in Greater Manchester I asked for data on child sexual exploitation that took me to Asian heritage. I asked for data on child abuse and that took me to the general population, which is largely white." Baroness Casey said "if we just establish the facts, then you can take the pain out of this". "I think you've got sort of do-gooders that don't really want this to be found because, you know, 'Oh, God, then all the racists are going to be more racist'," she added. "Well, actually, people that are racist are going to use this anyway. All you're doing with the hate mongers and the racists is giving them more ammunition." Asked if people were worried about being seen as racist, the cross-bench peer said she came across direct examples of this in Rotherham - one of the towns at the centre of the grooming gangs scandal. "I was following through on a children's file in archive and found the word 'Pakistani' tippexed out," Baroness Casey said. "I thought whoever did that inadvertently was giving ammunition to the English Defence League that were every week, in and out, campaigning and doing their stuff in that town. "I think the problem is that people are worried about being called racist.... if good people don't grasp difficult things, bad people will, and that's why we have to do it as a society." The government has announced there will be a , as recommended by Baroness Casey's report. The government has also accepted her recommendations to introduce compulsory collection of ethnicity and nationality data for all suspects in grooming cases, and for a review of police records to launch new criminal investigations into historic child sexual exploitation cases. Baroness Casey was asked to produce an audit of sexual abuse carried out by grooming gangs in England and Wales, looking specifically at the issue of ethnicity and the cultural and social drivers for this type of offending. This had never before been done despite multiple local reviews into child sexual exploitation and a known as the Jay Review, which concluded in 2022. The government had previously resisted calls for an inquiry into grooming gangs, after brought the issue back into the spotlight in January, saying it would implement the recommendations of the Jay Review that the Tories didn't. However it changed its position following Baroness Casey's findings. Read more: She found that flawed data has been used repeatedly to dismiss claims about "Asian grooming gangs". Having examined local data in three police force areas, she found "disproportionate numbers of men from Asian ethnic backgrounds" are among suspects for group-based child sexual exploitation, as well as a "significant number of perpetrators of Asian ethnicity" who have been identified in local reviews and child sexual exploitation prosecutions across the country. She said all of this warranted further examination, insisting to Sophy Ridge 👉 Listen to Sky News Daily on your podcast app 👈 Baroness Casey has also called for a tightening of the laws around the age of consent so that any penetrative sexual activity with a child under 16 is classified as rape, which the government has also accepted. She told Sophy Ridge that some perpetrators waited until their victims turned 13 as then it is "much harder to prosecute for rape". She said: "I think we have to be really clear in society that children are children and I don't see the difference between, you know, a four-year-old and a 14-year-old. If somebody is doing to them... what I talk about in my report, it's rape and we need to call it for what it is."
Yahoo
19-03-2025
- Entertainment
- Yahoo
Actor Brian Cox asks Government to act on poverty after living ‘brutal reality'
Actor Brian Cox has called on the UK Government to take action on childhood poverty after saying he lived through its 'brutal reality' during his own youth. The 78-year-old has written an open letter asking for the Government to work with devolved governments to help the 4.3 million children Action For Children says are living in poverty in the UK. Succession star Cox said: 'Today, I write not as an actor, but as someone who has lived through the brutal reality of poverty. 'As the youngest of five children, I had a blissful childhood until my father tragically died when I was eight. 'Overnight, our world changed, and we were plunged into poverty. I experienced first-hand how poverty doesn't just take away comforts, it also steals your childhood and hope for the future. 'I was one of the lucky ones to have managed to turn things around, but I know that today, the odds are stacked high against families who are trying to do the same. 'Right now, 4.3 million children in the UK are living in poverty – a staggering nine in every classroom of 30. These aren't just statistics; they are children whose futures are being dimmed by a system that is failing them. 'It's easy to believe that poverty happens elsewhere, yet it's happening on our doorsteps. It's the child on the bus, the child in the school playground, the child next door. 'You see it in small, heart-breaking moments – a child tugging at clothes that fit them too snugly because new ones aren't an option, children overhearing their parents worried about how to make ends meet. (1/4) In 2024, we published the Jay Review, an analysis into what's working to protect children from criminal exploitation and detail what more can be done. As we mark National Child Exploitation Awareness Day #CEADAY2025, despite progress, our recommendations still stand. — Action for Children (@actnforchildren) March 18, 2025 'These burdens weigh down on young shoulders that shouldn't have to carry them in the first place.' Cox urged people to sign Action For Children's open letter to the Government, calling for every child to have a safe and happy childhood, free from 'the stubborn grip of poverty'. The Paying The Price campaign letter calls for the Government to lift more than one million children out of poverty by 2030 and halve child poverty within 20 years, ahead of the publication of its new child poverty strategy. Cox added: 'The challenge isn't just a moral one, it's also an investment in our country's future.' During his acting career, Cox has made his name playing tyrannical characters including media mogul Logan Roy in Succession, Nazi leader Hermann Goering in 2000's historical drama Nuremberg, and corrupt CIA operative Ward Abbott in 2002's The Bourne Identity and 2004's The Bourne Supremacy.
