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Changes for page Grooming Gangs

Last modified by Ryan C on 2025/08/28 09:54
From version 21.1
edited by Ryan C
on 2025/08/28 06:33
Change comment: There is no comment for this version
To version 22.1
edited by Ryan C
on 2025/08/28 06:35
Change comment: There is no comment for this version

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25 25  * **Huddersfield (Operation Tendersea, 2017–2018):** In West Yorkshire, a massive investigation into grooming in Huddersfield led to 20 men (mostly of Pakistani and Bangladeshi origin) being convicted in 2018 for raping and abusing a group of teenage girls. The trials had to be split into three because of the number of defendants. In total, the Huddersfield gang received over 220 years in prison sentences. The case stood out for its scale (one of the largest single grooming gang prosecutions in the UK) and again showed similar patterns – vulnerable young girls, often from broken homes, were lured by older men, given alcohol or drugs, and then repeatedly assaulted, sometimes by several men in one night. An added controversy was the temporary {{tooltip label="reporting restriction" event="click" style="width: 320px; text-align: left;"}}Courts may restrict contemporaneous reporting to avoid prejudicing a trial; breaches risk contempt of court under the Contempt of Court Act 1981. [[Judiciary guidance>>https://www.judiciary.uk/guidance-and-resources/media-guidance/]].{{/tooltip}} on the case, which, when broken by an activist, led to a high-profile {{tooltip label="contempt of court" event="click" style="width: 320px; text-align: left;"}}Publishing information that risks serious prejudice to active proceedings can be contempt; penalties include fines or imprisonment. [[UK Courts: Media Guidance>>https://www.judiciary.uk/guidance-and-resources/media-guidance/]].{{/tooltip}} incident. Huddersfield’s case fed into the narrative that these crimes were occurring in many northern towns beyond just the notorious examples. {{footnote}} https://www.bbc.com/news/uk-england-leeds-65276358{{/footnote}} [[image:1750218979305-658.png]]
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27 27  * **Newcastle (Operation Sanctuary, 2014–2017):** In contrast to some other towns, **Newcastle’s grooming gang** investigation revealed a more ethnically mixed group of offenders. In 2017, as part of {{tooltip label="Operation Sanctuary" event="click" style="width: 320px; text-align: left;"}}Northumbria Police’s umbrella operation tackling sexual exploitation and related offences; included covert tactics and safeguarding partnerships. [[BBC coverage>>https://www.bbc.com/news/uk-england-40879427]].{{/tooltip}}, Newcastle authorities convicted 17 men and one woman for grooming and abusing at least 22 girls and young women. The perpetrators in that network included people of Pakistani, Indian, Iraqi-Kurdish, Bangladeshi, and Eastern European background as well as white British individuals. This diversity underscored that grooming gangs were //not exclusive to one ethnicity//, even if certain areas saw particular groups predominating. Newcastle’s approach was cited as proactive: they ran a {{tooltip label="covert operation" event="click" style="width: 320px; text-align: left;"}}Use of undercover policing/surveillance and controlled test purchases; often supported by an independent victim witness. See College of Policing overview on covert tactics [[here>>https://www.app.college.police.uk/app-content/investigations/covert-policing/]].{{/tooltip}} with a victim who acted as an informant, resulting in a wave of arrests. Nonetheless, a serious case review after Operation Sanctuary still found that earlier warnings had been missed and victims had been dismissed as “child prostitutes” by some officials – echoing themes seen elsewhere. Newcastle’s police and council responded with one of the country’s first {{tooltip label="Complex Abuse units" event="click" style="width: 320px; text-align: left;"}}Teams set up for abuse involving multiple victims/offenders across agencies/locations. NSPCC Learning: Complex abuse."}}
28 -[[Complex Abuse units>>https://learning.nspcc.org.uk/safeguarding-child-protection/complex-abuse]]{{/tooltip}} dedicated to such cases and made efforts to share lessons learned nationally. {{footnote}} https://www.bbc.com/news/uk-england-40879427{{/footnote}} [[image:_97268047_sanctuary_18_comp.jpg.webp||alt="Northumbria Police Operation Shelter defendants who were convicted/pleaded guilty of offences including conspiracy to incite prostitution, rape and drugs"]]
28 +[[Complex Abuse units>>https://learning.nspcc.org.uk/child-abuse-and-neglect/child-sexual-exploitation/child-sexual-exploitation-by-organised-networks]]{{/tooltip}} dedicated to such cases and made efforts to share lessons learned nationally. {{footnote}} https://www.bbc.com/news/uk-england-40879427{{/footnote}} [[image:_97268047_sanctuary_18_comp.jpg.webp||alt="Northumbria Police Operation Shelter defendants who were convicted/pleaded guilty of offences including conspiracy to incite prostitution, rape and drugs"]]
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30 30  **Other Towns:** Group-based child sexual exploitation has come to light in numerous other locales across England and Wales. Cases in **Derby**, **Bristol**,{{footnote}} https://www.bbc.com/news/uk-england-30078503{{/footnote}} **Aylesbury**,{{footnote}} https://www.theguardian.com/uk-news/2015/sep/07/aylesbury-child-abuse-ring-six-men-handed-long-jail-terms{{/footnote}} **Peterborough**,{{footnote}} https://www.theguardian.com/uk-news/2014/feb/20/peterborough-child-sex-gang-sentenced{{/footnote}} **Halifax**,{{footnote}} https://www.bbc.com/news/uk-england-leeds-47475311{{/footnote}} **Oxford**,{{footnote}} https://www.theguardian.com/uk/2013/may/14/oxford-gang-guilty-grooming-girls{{/footnote}} **Blackburn**,{{footnote}} https://www.lancashiretelegraph.co.uk/news/national/16995621.20-men-guilty-sex-abuse-major-grooming-gang/{{/footnote}} **Keighley**,{{footnote}} https://www.bbc.com/news/articles/cx2kv2nvj1eo{{/footnote}} **Banbury,{{footnote}} https://www.theguardian.com/society/2025/jun/17/public-must-keep-calm-over-ethnicity-of-grooming-gang-offenders-says-louise-casey{{/footnote}}** and more have led to convictions of grooming networks since 2010. For example, in Aylesbury, six men (of South Asian ethnicity) were convicted in 2015 of abusing girls as young as 12; in Bristol, a 2014 case involved 13 Somali-background men exploiting teenagers; in Peterborough, a gang of mainly Czech Roma men was convicted in 2015 ({{tooltip}}Operation Erle was Cambridgeshire Constabulary’s probe into organised CSE in Peterborough.{{/tooltip}}). Each case exposed remarkably similar failings: victims were often known to social services, flagged as at-risk, or repeatedly reported missing from care, yet their abuse continued due to poor communication and disbelief. Collectively, these cases demonstrate that grooming gang crimes were not isolated incidents but part of a broader pattern of organized child sexual exploitation that many authorities struggled to comprehend or were reluctant to openly address. In all cases the perpetrators were overwhelmingly nonwhite.
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