Sex Gangs May Have Abused Hundreds Of Girls

[frigidmagi]

sky news

Nearly 400 girls may have been sexually exploited in Oxfordshire over a 16-year period, according to a report that has criticised authorities for failing to protect victims.

The Serious Case Review said a paedophile ring was able to rape and abuse six victims for five years because the girls' complaints were not taken seriously.

They were reported missing 500 times between 2005 and 2010, the review said.

One victim described how she turned up at a police station covered in blood in the early hours, but was ignored.

The review found multiple failings and said authorities could have stopped the abuse in 2005, rather than 2010 when it was finally uncovered.

However, it found no evidence of "wilful professional neglect" by police and social workers.

The report reveals 373 girls have been identified as possible victims of sexual exploitation within the last 16 years in the county.

The horrific accounts of six victims are documented within the review, along with their contact with authorities.

One girl said: "I turned up at the police station at 2/3am, blood all over me, soaked through my trousers to the crotch. They dismissed it as me being naughty, a nuisance."

Another told the authorities: "The Asian men felt they ran Oxford. That was exciting. People were afraid of them. I felt protected. People respected them."

Thames Valley's police chief said she deeply regretted her force's failings.

Oxford child sex ring
Five of the seven men who were convicted of abuse in May 2013

"We are ashamed of the shortcomings identified in this report and we are determined to do all we can to ensure nothing like this ever happens again," said Chief Constable Sara Thornton.

Between 2005-10 the six vulnerable girls were reported missing 500 times - half of those when they were in council care - but it did not raise alarm bells with authorities.

Play video "Lessons Must Be Learnt"

Video: Lessons Must Be Learnt
Chair of the Oxfordshire Safeguarding Children Board Maggie Blyth said: "The Serious Case Review has seen no evidence of wilful professional neglect or misconduct by organisations, but there was at times a worrying lack of curiosity and follow through, and much work should have been considerably different and better."

In May 2013, seven men were convicted of 43 offences including trafficking and rape.

Their trial detailed how they "actively targeted" girls from the ages of 11 and 12, the majority of whom had been sent to live in care homes.

The girls were plied with alcohol, introduced to drugs, then sold for sex in guest houses, private houses and hotels, and abused by multiple men, some of whom had travelled to Oxford from "far afield".

The humiliation and degradation involved knives, meat cleavers and baseball bats. The girls' ordeals sometimes lasted days.

Like similar cases in Rotherham, Rochdale and Derby, the report states the victims were white girls and the perpetrators mainly men of Asian heritage and Muslim culture, but says "no one was aware of evidence of any holding back due to ethnicity".

Play video "Oxford Abuse: Many Mistakes Made"

Video: Oxford Abuse: Many Mistakes Made
However, it recommends more research needs to be done at a national level, saying "it cannot be parked as too potentially sensitive or inflammatory to pursue openly at that level".

The report found the abuse could have been identified as early as 2005, when police had "considerable concern" about some girls.

But it said too often the girls, who were seen as "precocious" and "difficult", were not believed, and their accounts were thought to be "exaggerated" by authorities.

They were seen as young adults and it was assumed that they had control over their actions.

The report also highlighted the ordeal of one parent who "went hunting the streets of SE England night after night" looking for her daughter who now "suffers nightmares, flashbacks and is depressed".

It said some parents felt authorities had "no empathy" when they reported abuse and they "felt patronised".

Play video "May 2013: Oxford Sex Ring 999 Call"

Video: May 2013: Oxford Sex Ring 999 Call
Social workers, teachers and councillors guilty of failing to protect children could in future face up to five years in jail.

The Prime Minister said children had suffered sexual abuse on an "industrial scale" with too many people and organisations "walking on by".

Mr Cameron - talking about the plans at No 10 - said: "I think it's very important we take a step back and just recognise the horrific nature of what has happened in our country.

"Young girls - and they are young girls - being abused over and over again on an industrial scale, being raped, being passed from one bunch of perpetrators to another bunch of perpetrators.

"And all the while this has happened with too many organisations and too many people walking on by.

"And we have got to really resolve that this stops here, it doesn't happen again and we recognise abuse for what it is."

Play video "IPCC To Review Police Conduct"

Video: IPCC To Review Police Conduct
Since the trial, Thames Valley Police says approximately 700 children in Oxfordshire, Berkshire and Buckinghamshire have been referred where there is a suspicion they might be being sexually exploited.

"Like the whole community we are horrified at what happened in Oxford," said Jim Leivers, Oxfordshire County Council's head of Children, Education and Families.

"We fully accept that we made many mistakes and missed opportunities to stop the abuse."

I don't even know where to start here.

[Lys]

Bit of an old story there, I remember reading about this when they were launching investigations into the negligence of the various police and social services... which I guess is now concluded and has found no wilful neglect despite what looks to me like pretty clear evidence of wilful fucking neglect. Pity, I would have liked to have seen some heads roll in the local authorities as an example to the rest not to fucking trivialize matters such as this.

[frigidmagi]

This is actually a different town with a similar situation.

[Lys]

Pretty sure it was Oxfordshire that I was remembering. What's the name of the other town?

[frigidmagi]

The town was Rotherham, where there was a very similar problem (Pakistan men abusing lower class white girls) where the officials covered it up claiming they couldn't do anything because they feared being tarred and feathered over racism claims.

Frankly I don't really buy their excuse, I can dig up plenty of cases in other British cities where people of sorts of colors were arrested and taken to jail for this with no backblast of note.

[Lys]

So this has happened in more than one town? Fuck man if that's what they're doing in Britain, how bad must it be in Pakistan? Anyway, I still call bullshit on a government report on the subject finding no negligence on the part of the local authorities, which the article says it did. I don't think that turning away a blood covered girl at a police station claiming sexual assault can be anything but negligence. The article itself says that they could have stopped this years earlier if they'd been more diligent.