Fears over race relations played part in police action (Image: -)
A grooming gang report has been branded “a whitewash” after Labour council leaders caused “significant delays” to police attempts to investigate over 1,000 suspected child abusers. Investigations into historical child grooming cases across Greater Manchester were significantly delayed because a city council heavily redacted pages of evidence, a report has found.
Buried in the depths of His Majesty’s Inspectorate of Constabulary and Fire & Rescue Services (HMICFRS) was the revelation that material provided by Manchester City Council contained pages with only a few words visible on them. The watchdog said this “made it impossible to assess the evidential value of the information”, however a new process had since been agreed to share evidence. The Labour-run authority insisted “complex” rules about sharing personal data meant prosecutions could have been jeopardised had some information been included. Labour controls nine of the 10 Greater Manchester boroughs of Bolton, Bury, Manchester, Oldham, Rochdale, Salford, Tameside, Trafford and Wigan with Stockport run by the Lib Dems.
Former police officer Maggie Oliver (Image: Julian Hamilton)
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But former GMP detective turned victim campaigner Maggie Oliver slammed the findings.
She said: “This review is meant to look at what is going on now. How can they assess what is going on now if they have blocked the voices of every single victim who is engaging with these new investigations? It’s a whitewash I’m afraid.”
The delays came to light as part of an inspection into the historical handling of child sexual exploitation cases by Greater Manchester Police (GMP) which stated that confidence in the force among some victims is so low it is deemed to be beyond repair.
Ms Oliver, who resigned from GMP over its handling of the Rochdale grooming cases, added: “They have been through the most horrific childhoods that you could imagine.
“They’ve got no reason to trust anybody but when they do put their trust in the system, it’s unforgivable that they are failed again and again and again.”
Rochdale (Image: Getty Images)
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Chantelle (right) with Maggie Oliver and fellow survivor Jade (Image: ITV)
Manchester survivor Chantelle, who was labelled “a prostitute” after abusers began drugging and raping her from the age of 11, said: “Police contacted me and told me they wanted to put what was wrong right and I put my all into it. I told them everything and now we are four years later and no one has been charged, no one is on bail for it. It is really, really disappointing, I feel like I’m begging for justice.”
The review, published today, found the force had made significant improvements after a series of damning reports into its handling of allegations.
The watchdog revealed that at the time of the inspection, GMP had live investigations into “multi-victim, multi-offender” child sexual exploitation inquiries, involving 714 victims and survivors, and 1,099 suspects.
It was commissioned in 2024 by Greater Manchester mayor Andy Burnham to look at the “current and ongoing provision”. It noted that Greater Manchester’s 10 local authorities all had their own agreement about what information would be shared with police.
Street scenes of Oldham (Image: Andy Stenning/Daily Express)
It said: “Some are willing to share all available information and do so promptly and without redactions.
“Others will only do so in accordance with strict rules on what can be included. This has led to significant delays in investigations and in the preparation of evidence for court.”
It noted how Operations Green Jacket and Bernese had been “particularly affected by these delays”.
Only one person has been convicted as part of Operation Green Jacket, which was launched six years ago to investigate child sexual exploitation in south Manchester in the early 2000s.
Operation Bernese was set up to investigate child sexual abuse following the death of 15-year-old Victoria Agoglia in 2003.
Victoria, who was in care, died of a drugs overdose two months after reporting she had been raped and injected with heroin by an older man.
“Material provided by Manchester City Council took many months to arrive and was so heavily redacted that some pages contained only a few words,” the report found.
“This made it impossible to assess the evidential value of the information.”
In a statement Manchester City Council insisted it had been “committed from the outset” to bringing offenders to justice.
A spokesman added: “The sharing of personal data is a complex legal area. Failure to follow the relevant guidelines correctly would risk such information being ruled inadmissible in court, serving to jeopardise prosecutions rather than to advance them.
“As this work has progressed, we’ve been able to develop information-sharing protocols with the police which have enhanced processes and been so successful that they have been adopted elsewhere.”
HMICFRS said GMP, the council and Crown Prosecution Service (CPS) had since agreed a new way of working together.
“Investigators can view and assess unredacted documents remotely,” HMICFRS said.
It said while this was “far more efficient and effective”, it had required the process to be restarted.
The watchdog added that the force now had a “strong multi-agency approach to investigating child sexual exploitation” and had committed “significant resources committed to support these investigations”.
It now has a specialist Child Sexual Exploitation Major Investigation Team with 98 dedicated staff and a ring-fenced budget.
GMP Chief Constable Steve Watson. (Image: Kenny Brown | Manchester Evening News)
But there were “various training gaps” and previous failings had resulted in an “irrecoverable loss of trust”.
Michelle Skeer, His Majesty’s Inspector of Constabulary, said: “We found that since 2019, when GMP started to review its non-recent child sexual exploitation investigations, the force has improved its understanding and approach to investigating allegations of child criminal and sexual exploitation.
“It is clear that the force has for many years been trying to provide a better service to those who have or may have experienced sexual exploitation.
“But for some, trust and confidence in the police had been lost, and the force would not be able to rectify their experiences.”
GMP’s Chief Constable Sir Stephen Watson said he wanted to reiterate his “apologies to those whom we have failed in the past”.
He added: “I am sorry that when you needed us, we were not there for you.”
Sir Stephen said he was pleased the report had recognised significant improvements within the force but added there was no room for complacency.
Andy Burnham, Mayor of Greater Manchester. (Image: PA)
“To those who are responsible for these repugnant crimes – as is now very apparent – we will pursue you relentlessly,” he added.
Greater Manchester’s Mayor Andy Burnham said the report showed that “today’s approach” was “fit for purpose” and said he was “confident” Greater Manchester’s system was “in a demonstrably different and far stronger place today than it was when the failings happened”.
He said: “The effect of the assurance review I commissioned has been to usher in widespread culture change across all [of the region’s] bodies.
“Never again will any child here be labelled or dismissed when they come forward to report concerns.”