Labour has come under fire after refusing to hold a public inquiry into historic sexual abuse by grooming gangs in Oldham.

TerriBull

Weaty

Where are all the parents of these young girls? No mention of their
responsibility. Do they not talk to their
children or wonder where they are?

Some of the girls were in care. Not all though. Parents were often living in fear having also been threatened by these gangs. In one such case, a fourteen year old girl gave birth to her abuser's child and was murdered, he also set fire to the family home where that girl's mother and sister died trapped upstairs by the fire.

Weary - your comment is exactly the kind of victim blaming that is being criticised. These were usually girls from vulnerable families with parents who struggled to meet their names or keep them safe. This isn’t true of all parents, some did their best to protect their children.
My experience of residential care staff, like foster carers, was they tried to keep children away from the taxi drivers who were abusing them.
Many police/social workers tried and failed to intervene - they needed support and resources fro senior managers that wasn’t forthcoming.
All if this is reported in the many inquiries.

Starmer realised the victims were being let down, the rapists were getting away with it. His work at the CPS changed that with many successful prosecutions

love0c

The words that have come out of the mouth of Labour today is astounding! The saying 'give someone enough rope and they will hang themselves. '

Nothing near as shocking as what Liz Truss said. Absolutely appalling.

Casdon 'Appalling'? This is why this sickening behaviour has gone on. Maggie Oliver has stated it is still going on! It is this attitude which gives this behaviour license.

It has been happening for decades. I was 15 when a man got hold of me in Valentine park. Wanted me to see his sisters baby next week. Never went and would have been abused if I had

Have you seen what Liz Truss said? Worse than Musk.

loveOc you seem to be under the mis illusion that Maggie Oliver is the only person who knows or wants this changed

People seem to forget entirely there was another DPP after 2013 - when matters were very much ongoing.

Starmer raised the focus and the number of prosecutions on abuse very substantially, clearly not ideally enough, but why aren't people pulling the next DPP apart too? It's quite obviously political.

Weaty

Where are all the parents of these young girls? No mention of their
responsibility. Do they not talk to their
children or wonder where they are?

I’ll keep this short otherwise I might do damage because I’m f-%#@£g angry at your comment😡
Do yourself a favour and watch Three Girls then you’ll know how those parents suffered.
Not that you’ll care.

I dont think a further enquiry is needed. From the previous one completed there is plenty of evidence of what needs to be done. The money is better spent on implementing those changes rather than more endless interviews and talking.

Petra 🙈👍🏻

All the arguments on here explain why Oldham has called for an enquiry to establish the facts, not more promises to improve the situation.
So many things I have seen and heard today, spoken by identified victims, their parents and participants such as Maggie Oliver, full face to the camera, are immediately denied or discredited by others who were not there.

Starmer and Jess Phillips are terrified of the full truth of the denials coming out and the reasons behind them.

eazybee

All the arguments on here explain why Oldham has called for an enquiry to establish the facts, not more promises to improve the situation.
So many things I have seen and heard today, spoken by identified victims, their parents and participants such as Maggie Oliver, full face to the camera, are immediately denied or discredited by others who were not there.

Starmer and Jess Phillips are terrified of the full truth of the denials coming out and the reasons behind them.

Is that why the previous government made the same decision eazybee, in your opinion?

It's clear from reading some of the posts on this thread that many just don't understand the role of the CPS in the UK. The CPS advises and guides the police AFTER they have gained evidence and are at the point of charging. The police forces involved in these dreadful cases did not collect evidence or bring charges, that is the real issue here. Starmer has apologised for one instance when the CPS said there was inadequate evidence to bring a charge of rape when a force did investigate a case but there are 14 different CPS areas, they handle 130K cases annually, I don't think there's any evidence that that Starmer would have been aware of it but as Director of the CPS, he accepted blame for a bad decision made by the CPS. He was DPP from 2008-2013, there was a comprehensive in depth review which published in 2022, none of the recommendations were put in place by the previous government. This is a witch hunt.

GrannyGravy13

⬇️

That looks like the rubbish that is found on far from reliable sources. Seen idiotic examples on Facebook and probably other social media.

Weaty Look at the facts about the parents of many of the girls before you judge! Watch the programme Three Hirls ...an accurate depiction

foxie48

It's clear from reading some of the posts on this thread that many just don't understand the role of the CPS in the UK. The CPS advises and guides the police AFTER they have gained evidence and are at the point of charging. The police forces involved in these dreadful cases did not collect evidence or bring charges, that is the real issue here. Starmer has apologised for one instance when the CPS said there was inadequate evidence to bring a charge of rape when a force did investigate a case but there are 14 different CPS areas, they handle 130K cases annually, I don't think there's any evidence that that Starmer would have been aware of it but as Director of the CPS, he accepted blame for a bad decision made by the CPS. He was DPP from 2008-2013, there was a comprehensive in depth review which published in 2022, none of the recommendations were put in place by the previous government. This is a witch hunt.

Thanks foxie. Very well analysed.
I agree, this is a witch hunt. It’s becoming impossible on gransnet to have an informed debate on complex issues. Outrage at anything Starmer does or says follows far too easily.

Inquiries have confirmed mistakes were made. The victims were seen as complicit in the horrific abuse they suffered. Police did investigate, the CPS reviewed the evidence and often concluded there was little/no hope of successful prosecution. One issue they have to consider is the ability of the child victim to withstand aggressive questioning from defence lawyers, several of them in there are multiple alleged perpetrators.

Starmer saw this and oversaw the first prosecution involving Rochdale. Nazir Afzal continued the change in focus and successful prosecutions followed.

This level of organised children sexual abuse and exploitation was something most police/health/education/social work etc had little previous experience of. It’s horrific but do we really need another inquiry rather than implementing the ones we have

Casdon

eazybee

All the arguments on here explain why Oldham has called for an enquiry to establish the facts, not more promises to improve the situation.
So many things I have seen and heard today, spoken by identified victims, their parents and participants such as Maggie Oliver, full face to the camera, are immediately denied or discredited by others who were not there.

Starmer and Jess Phillips are terrified of the full truth of the denials coming out and the reasons behind them.

Is that why the previous government made the same decision eazybee, in your opinion?

2020, an inquiry, under the Conservatives.
Never a full inquiry, countryside, into on street grooming gangs, won't be under this awful Gov.
For Starmer , stood in front of the caring profession, to label all those concerned about this horror, including those stood around him, as far right, is the most disgusting phrase to come out of his mealy mouth. Worse than Brown awful comments.
Calling politicians the same,. He can't diffuse this, giving harsher sentence announced shortly after by Cooper, won't cut the mustard. An asylum seeker who raped a 12 year old, twice, been let off with a suspended sentence, because of what he suffered, unbelievable. Where is the justice for that child.
So I'm far right, and by his words anyone who is against this horror is also. So fancy all you left wing grans are now far right, what do you know!!!
He is supposed to represent all British people, his disdain for us was shown yesterday.

Ah, a nuanced and thoughtful response to a complex and troubling issue.

*Freya the problem with posting about cases is it's important to get the facts correct. The asylum seeker was sentenced according to the law, he was 12 at the time he raped the girl. The judge made it clear he would have received 10 years if he'd been older. His sentence was not more lenient because he was an asylum seeker, which is implied in your post. Disgusting case but not as you posted.

Catch the BBC Verify online article just now about this issue. There was another article online earlier, but it has gone from the main news, and it was about a law being introduced by Yvette Cooper. The jist was that it will become an offence not to report suspicions of abuse. Sounded like a response to the recently publicised Church abuses.
Didn't have time for a full read through, as I thought I would be able to see it later. Will watch out for it coming up again.

It's in the Guardian online just now. Going for a read.

Reading about this matter it seems to me that the long investigation threw up failings by various bodies/ institutions and all that’s needed is for the recommendations to be acted on and done in a transparent manner so all can see what is being done.

"We have been unable to find any direct criticism of Starmer personally in any of the reports on the scandal, nor can we identify any suggestions that he himself made any decisions not to prosecute. " BBC verify

Former chair of child abuse inquiry, Prof Alexis Jay, says another one would only delay action. Don't think anyone on here wants that to happen.

Here are the details of the measures that Yvette Cooper announced: they are carrying forward some of the 20 recommendations:

Professionals who work with children will face criminal sanctions if they fail to report claims of child sexual abuse under a law to be introduced this year

The home secretary has promised to implement a key demand from Prof Alexis Jay’s child sexual abuse inquiry after Keir Starmer turned down demands from Elon Musk and Kemi Badenoch for a new investigation into paedophile gangs

The introduction of mandatory reporting in England would be included in the crime and policing bill expected to be introduced to parliament in the spring, Cooper told parliament.

The bill will also Introduce a victims and survivors panel to oversee reforms as follows

Make grooming an aggravating factor in child sexual offences

Introduce a victims and survivors panel to oversee reforms

Establish a core dataset for child abuse and protection

Note: Similar plans for a mandatory reporting obligation on professionals were supposed to be introduced last year as part of Rishi Sunak’s criminal justice bill, but campaigners and lawyers heavily criticised them for being “watered down” - they did not include criminal sanctions for professionals who fail to report claims of child sexual abuse.

More details in:

www.theguardian.com/uk-news/2025/jan/06/yvette-cooper-says-she-will-force-professionals-to-report-child-sexual-abuse-claims