Petition asking for Public Inquiry into Grooming Gangs

The petition is currently at over 6,000 signatures, at 10,000 the government will give a written response.

Will do!

Done it! Come on Grans. This is a tiny thing we can do to register our disgust at what happened to those poor girls.

Signed

Thanks for starting this thread.

I’ve signed it too. We live four miles from where much of the abuse was carried out. What was going on was local knowledge for years but people were afraid to speak out because they feared being accused of racism. The girls involved were scared of speaking out because of threats to them and their family. One girl had a child with one of the offenders and when she tried to break up with him he burned her house down, she didn’t survive. The girl was 16 years old at the time and pregnant again with her second child, the other child was 16 months old and the offender removed her from the house, put her in the garden then returned to start the fire.

Done

Signed

Yes, signed and shared. Thanks so much for the opportunity to help get some justice for these poor girls.

Currently at 6330. Wouldn't it be fantastic if we get could get it 100 000 and have it debated in parliament? Come on Grans, sign and share

The reason why some gangs in Rochdale were never pursued was because the police feared that they'd be seen as racists, which is what Nazir Afzal the Crown Prosecutor had said. This is a man who I admire greatly-----he tried !
He got nowhere with the " Cummings/Durham " case as police closed ranks.

Therefore I want no part in this much as my heart goes out to these girls and if it was one of mine I'd have to kill the perpetrator-----but I can't see anything ever being done to halt this heinous crime. Sorry. Like Nazir, I feel as though I'd be wasting my time signing to anything. Nobody listens !!

Signed

Done

Signed

signed, although I fear it will not make much difference to this selectively deaf administration. I too greatly admire Nazir Afzal, a man of principle which is becoming a rare thing in public life. I bet he won't end up with a seat in The Lords.

EllanVannin- mony a mickle makes a muckle. The least we can do is try. Surely just signing this petition wouldn't be too much trouble. What's that saying? 'In order for prevail it only needs good men to do nothing.'
For 'men' read 'Grans'!

For 'evil to prevail '. Am so keen to get this message over I'm typing too quickly!

I don't understand the 'racism' claim.
Criminals are criminals, regardless of race or anything else.

EllanVannin it's a certainty that nothing will be done if no-one even tries.

This is one of those situations about which I feel very conflicted. I feel strongly that the girls (and others like them) need to be protected, and all the stops should be pulled out to ensure that this does not happen again, but I am also very aware that the likes of Tommy Robinson have made capital of the fact that the perpetrators were Muslim, and worry that there are those wanting to divert enquiries so that they get sucked into that vortex.

It is something that needs to be discussed frankly and without letting awkwardness get in the way, but there are vested interests at play, and this is likely to be almost impossible, I feel.

I think the starting point should be the vulnerability of the girls, and how it was that they fell victim to predatory men at all. In some cases there were failings on the part of care homes, and it appears that across the board the adults speaking for the girls were ignored, whether because the racial implications were too difficult to deal with, or because the girls' lifestyles meant that they were seen as complicit in their own abuse.

Unless 'the authorities' can grasp these nettles, I don't think that all the petitions in the world will help. Personally, I would start by putting far more robust systems in place to protect vulnerable children, and to build their self-esteem.

Rolling back a decade of Austerity, and undoing the damage that that has caused will be a massive task, but IMO it is a very important one, regardless of financial cost.

Surely the fact "the perpetrators were Muslim" is irrelevant!

What needs to be investigated is why groups of men were seemingly allowed to abuse young girls. The protection of children needs to take priority - no matter what their skin colour or religion or that of their abusers. If something is wrong, it is wrong!

That the perpetrators in this case were Muslim is irrelevant. All abuse is abuse.

However it is extremely relevant that the authorities failed to act because the abusers were Muslim. They were afraid of being accused of racism.

I agree that it is irrelevant. Tell that to Tommy Robinson, though.

I've signed the petition, hope others do too.

Signed

Would you believe that Keir Starmer didn't take this child abuse seriously ? I can never forgive that man for going against Nazir Afzal during the Rochdale gang grooming.

It was Nazir who first initiated the prosecutions of these insidious gangs. Very sadly this man stood down from his very important and high-ranking position since the Manchester bombing where he had argued that people weren't looking for signs of radicalisation----meaning the police.

I was so sad to see him step down as he was/is one of few law-givers whose words rang out. He'll never be replaced.

He would have joined this if he'd thought that the " powers that be " would have listened----but obviously not since Rochdale when Nazir was responsible for prosecuting and jailing some of the perps.