A statutory inquiry into child sexual exploitation by grooming gangs will begin by examining Bradford, Oldham and London while also reviewing whether reforms followed earlier investigations in Oxford and Rotherham.
By yourNEWS Media Newsroom
A government-established statutory inquiry into child sexual exploitation by grooming gangs will begin with investigations in Bradford, Oldham and London, placing three major areas under scrutiny as officials examine how authorities identified, handled and responded to abuse cases.
The inquiry was launched last year after a report by Baroness Louise Casey found “clear evidence” that Pakistani Muslim men were significantly overrepresented in grooming gang sexual abuse involving many young, white, working-class girls. The report also repeated allegations that officials in local government, social services, health care, policing and schools failed to act on victims’ reports because of concerns about being accused of racism or worsening ethnic tensions.
Prime Minister Sir Keir Starmer had initially criticized calls for an independent inquiry as serving the interests of the so-called “far-right.” Public pressure and the Casey report later forced the Labour government to support a formal process.
Unlike previous reviews, including a recent investigation by Restore Britain leader Rupert Lowe, the new inquiry has statutory powers. That means it can compel witnesses to give evidence and require the production of documents.
The inquiry will be led by Baroness Anne Longfield CBE, a former Children’s Commissioner for England. It announced Wednesday that its first investigations will focus on Bradford, Oldham and London. The inquiry will also examine whether changes recommended in previous reviews were carried out in areas including Oxford and Rotherham, the BBC reported.
The inclusion of London could bring renewed attention to Mayor Sadiq Khan’s administration. Khan has repeatedly maintained that the capital does not have a grooming gang problem. Metropolitan Police Commissioner Sir Mark Rowley also initially said Scotland Yard had “not seen” such groups in London, before later acknowledging that was unlikely to be the case.
An investigation by the Express last year said it found at least six criminal cases in London with elements consistent with grooming gang activity. One case involved a 15-year-old girl who was given drugs and alcohol before being raped by several men at a London hotel.
The inquiry said London has one of Britain’s highest rates of child sexual exploitation. Investigators also said the capital presents a major challenge because of its national connections, overlapping public agencies and large metropolitan structure, which includes many smaller towns within Greater London.
“A London investigation will help the inquiry understand how grooming gangs were identified and responded to across multiple organisations and overlapping local, regional, and national systems and where children were not protected,” investigators said, according to the Times of London.
Bradford and Oldham have long been linked to grooming gang concerns. Fiona Goddard, a survivor of a Pakistani Muslim grooming gang in Bradford, quit the inquiry’s victims panel last year over concerns that police and social workers were being elevated into leadership roles.
“It’s been a long road, but we are here finally,” Goddard said Wednesday.
Robbie Moore, the MP for Keighley and Ilkley in Bradford, said the announcement followed years of resistance from local officials.
For “many years” local politicians and police officers in Bradford had “repeatedly rejected our calls for an inquiry,” Moore said.
“It was my firm view that these refusals mirrored the same patterns of denial seen in towns like Rotherham and Telford. There, decades of abuse were hidden in plain sight until independent inquires finally forced the truth into the open.
“It was deeply frustrating, but nevertheless welcome that it was only once a national inquiry was recommended by Baroness Casey in June 2025, supported by the Home Secretary, that these same local leaders changed their position, and supported our calls.
“Whilst no inquiry can undo the pain and suffering they have endured, it can help ensure the truth is uncovered and that those who were failed finally receive the answers they have spent years fighting for.”
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