Senior Officers 'still Target Other Crimes Above Child Grooming'

Jeevan · November 11, 2013

http://www.independent.co.uk/news/uk/crime/senior-officers-still-target-other-crimes-above-child-grooming-8932247.html

Senior officers 'still target other crimes above child grooming'

Approach 'varied significantly' across the force's four districts - Sheffield, Barnsley, Doncaster and Rotherham

Jonathan Brown

Monday, 11 November 2013

Senior officers from the police force that was heavily criticised over its handling of child sexual exploitation cases continue to prioritise burglary and vehicle crime over grooming victims, a report by Her Majesty's Inspectorate of Constabulary (HMIC) found.

The watchdog expressed "serious concern" over the actions of South Yorkshire Police which it ordered to improve with inspectors describing an inconsistent approach to child protection at local levels of the force.

Chief constable David Crompton was told to "get a grip" on child sex offending in Rotherham by senior MPs last year following claims of widespread abuse of girls by Asian men in the town.

In 2010 five men were jailed for grooming teenagers for sex. It was the first in a series of high-profile cases over the last three years that have revealed harrowing evidence of exploitation across England including Rochdale, Derby and Oxford.

South Yorkshire Police has faced claims that it was reluctant to bring about prosecutions of alleged sex gangs because of racial sensitivities over the ethnicity of alleged perpetrators. In 2012 it bought no successful prosecutions, a senior officer told the Home Affairs Select Committee.

An investigation by The Times claimed police and child protection agencies in Rotherham had extensive knowledge of these activities for a decade, yet failed to act.

Today's report found: "Many of the staff interviewed for this inspection felt that the emphasis from senior and middle local managers was still more focused on dealing with offences such as burglary and vehicle crime, rather than child sexual exploitation (and both the notices displayed in police stations, and some of the documentation reviewed for this inspection support this perception)."

HMIC called for South Yorkshire Police, which is also at the centre of continuing controversy over its role in the Hillsborough disaster, to carry out an audit of its response to child sexual exploitation in in accordance a national policing action plan -something it was supposed to have carried out in the summer.

Inspectors said the force is unable to evaluate the quality of its protective work as in some cases there was no record in the case file of the level of support and intervention provided by police and partners to the victim.

The report was one of three inquiries commissioned South Yorkshire Police and Crime Commissioner Shaun Wright. It concluded that Mr Wright and the Chief Constable had made child sexual exploitation a top priority for the force. Between January and March 2013 South Yorkshire trained all of its 1,700 frontline staff in relation to child sexual exploitation.

It praised staff for being "conscientious, enthusiastic, and focused" on helping children. But it said whilst there were" pockets of good and effective practice" the approach varied significantly across the force's four districts - Sheffield, Barnsley, Doncaster and Rotherham.

"HMIC also found that many staff in public protection and children safeguarding specialist units were working in crowded offices, were poorly equipped, and found it difficult to manage their workloads. This situation is adversely disproportionate to the importance the PCC and chief constable have placed on this area of policing," the report said.

Sikhistan · November 12, 2013

Uk law sucks big time when it comes to protect minors.

Jeevan · November 13, 2013

Why haven't the Police, CPS, Social Services, Councils, Politicians, Churches etc. etc. been charged with criminal negligence?

The authorities turned a blind eye, they are not better than the paedophiles. Keir Starmer should be charged with criminal negligence now, he was in charge of the CPS when the decision was taken not to prosecute in the Girl A case in 2009, Greater Manchester Police should stand in the dock alongside Keir Starmer, Social Services, the local councils, etc. etc!

Jeevan · November 13, 2013

Sorry does not cut it, criminal charges now for the Police in their negligence! Every child has a WaheGuru given right to be protected from rapists! This will only stop when the authorities are in the dock, found guilty and serve long jail sentences for their negligence! Write to your local MP NOW!

http://www.manchestereveningnews.co.uk/news/greater-manchester-news/greater-manchester-police-apologise-victim-6287545

Greater Manchester Police apologise to victim of Rochdale sex grooming gang

8 Nov 2013 20:52

Many of her abusers plied the troubled 15-year-old with vodka and cannabis before committing their offences, which took place in 2008 and 2009

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(L-R) Abdul Huk, Chola Chansa, Freddie Kendakumana, Mohammed Rafiq Abubaker

Police have apologised to an underage sex abuse victim in Rochdale for failings in their initial probe into five men who exploited her "profound vulnerability".

Many of her abusers plied the troubled 15-year-old with vodka and cannabis before committing their offences, which took place in 2008 and 2009, Manchester Minshull Street Crown Court heard.

The majority of the defendants were only arrested last year after the grim portrayal of a largely Pakistani-heritage child sex ring preying on white girls in the town emerged into the public domain in a separate trial at Liverpool Crown Court which attracted huge publicity.

But one of the offenders, Congolese refugee Freddie Kendakumana, was first arrested and interviewed by Greater Manchester Police (GMP) in December 2008 after the girl - also white - complained to police he had raped her the month before.

The girl was told at the time by an interviewing male officer that it was important not to have any future dealings with Kendakumana while the investigation continued but she later confessed she had bumped into him at a flat. Soon after, she went on to have consensual sex with his friend when still aged 15, although that man knew she was underage.

In a later interview, she explained: "I spoke to the police about it. The police said don't go back there. If you go back up there, we don't have a case, so I said I won't.

"I went on to see Freddie in a flat. I didn't really speak to him, I had a drink and then came home."

The investigation against Kendakamuna, 27, was dropped before he was rearrested years later and finally charged, along with his co-defendants, in October 2012 - nearly four years after the girl made the initial complaint as several men went on to abuse her in the intervening period.

By that time the girl had undergone numerous video-recorded police interviews from the end of 2008 to October 2011, totalling more than 23 hours.

Last month Kendakumana was convicted of raping her.

Today after reporting restrictions were lifted on the case, Assistant Chief Constable Dawn Copley, of Greater Manchester Police, said: "We must acknowledge that there were some failings with the initial investigation carried out by Rochdale division into a complaint of rape by the victim in 2008.

"The suspect was arrested on suspicion of rape, but he was released without charge. The case was investigated and the officer who supervised the investigation took the decision to discontinue the case.

"In 2009 the victim in this case made a number of disclosures to the police about some of the defendants in this case.

"A decision was made to file the information gathered during this interview as intelligence and the decision was supported by the officer's line manager."

A review of the probe by GMP's sexual crime unit highlighted a number of failings, Ms Copley added.

The matter was referred to its Professional Standards Branch in March 2011 and "formal management action" was given to two officers.

The investigation has also been referred to the Independent Police Complaints Commission.

"We accept that there was more that could, and should, have been done to protect and support the victim," said Ms Copley. "We have apologised to her for the delay in dealing with her case and reiterate that apology publicly today. Once the criminal proceedings are at an end we will talk to her further about what went wrong.

"Lessons have been learnt. The education of all officers has now improved to such an extent that they now see CSE (child sexual exploitation) as part of a wider pattern of behaviour and offending. Therefore, reports of abuse are no longer taken in isolation and treated as stand-alone crimes. This new approach includes much earlier involvement with key partners such as Children's Services and the Crown Prosecution Service."

The victim was first prompted to go to the police in 2008 on the advice of a health support worker when she disclosed that Kendakumana was sexually forcing himself on her.

But social care and health professionals dealing with the youngster failed to pass on her other confessions in 2008 and 2009 that she was having consensual sexual contact with a string of older men whom she labelled "boyfriends".

In a statement, Lesley Mort, of Rochdale Council's independent safeguarding children board, said: "We are pleased with the verdict announced in this historic child sexual abuse case.

"This has been a challenging trial and we regret what the young person in this trial has had to endure but we are confident that all partner agencies are now more able to intervene earlier and more robustly when cases of concern are brought to their attention."

The victim, now aged 20, gave evidence against the defendants in two trials.

Reporting restrictions were lifted on both proceedings by Judge Jonathan Foster QC at today's conclusion of the second trial.

Last month in the first trial, Kendakumana, of Illminster, Rochdale, was convicted of rape and sexual activity with a child. He was cleared of a second count of rape.

Two other men, Mohammed Rafiq Abubaker, 25, of Freehold, Rochdale, and takeaway worker Roheez Khan, 27, of Ashfield Road, Rochdale, were found guilty of sexual activity with a child. Khan was also convicted of witness intimidation.

A fourth man, Chola Chansa, 33, of Illminster, Rochdale, pleaded guilty to sexual activity with a child just before the first trial started.

In the second trial, taxi driver Abdul Huk, 37, of Ouldfield Close, Rochdale, was found guilty yesterday of sexual activity with a child.

All five men will be sentenced on December 20.

They were all bailed but told to expect custodial sentences.

Today the jury failed to reach a verdict on Mohammed Ali, 28, of Rochdale, on an allegation of sexual activity with a child.

The jury in the first trial also failed to reach a verdict on the same allegation against Mr Ali and, as a consequence, the Crown decided not to proceed with a third trial and has asked for the matter to lie on file.

Asrar Haider, 39, of Rochdale, was cleared by the second jury of sexual activity and inciting sexual activity with a child, while another defendant, Anjam Masood, 31, from Rochdale, was cleared of sexual activity and inciting sexual activity with a child on the direction of the judge after the prosecution said it was no longer offering evidence against him.

Charges were also dropped before the first trial against a 34-year-old man who had been accused of engaging in sexual activity with the girl in a car when she was as young as 12 or 13.

In May last year, nine men were jailed for the systematic grooming and sexual abuse of five white girls - aged between 13 and 15 - in Heywood and Rochdale.

The trial at Liverpool Crown Court resulted in a national debate over the role of gangs of largely Pakistani-heritage men in grooming white girls.

A subsequent report from child safeguarding chiefs ruled that social workers, police and prosecutors had missed opportunities to stop the exploitation in Heywood and Rochdale.

Although the girl in the latest court proceedings, who is also white, was being abused at about the same time, she had no known links with any of the defendants who were jailed at Liverpool Crown Court.

The convicted defendants in the Manchester trials also came from a range of nationalities - Kendakumana and Chansa are from Congo, Abubaker is a Kurd, while Huk and Khan are believed to be of Pakistani heritage.

Several knew each other but it was not the prosecution case that they all acted in an organised manner.

Opening the case against all the defendants, prosecutor Neil Usher said: "It is the prosecution's case that leading the chaotic life that she had for some time by the age of 15, she was vulnerable to being groomed and exploited by those who correctly perceived she would be easy to flatter and impress with free and plentiful drink, cannabis and just as importantly, a level of attention and affection that she craved and felt she had lacked in her difficult early life.

"She repeatedly and regularly returned to a number of older men all of whom sexually exploited her and some of whom physically abused her, despite her being advised and supported by health care and social workers.

"The risk-taking and potentially harming positions she regularly put herself in was an indication of the extent of her profound vulnerablity and emotional immaturity."

Shaastar · November 14, 2013

While We are all for greater action crackdown on Paedophile gangs there is another dimension to the way Media is handling it in the UK.

Britain is racially divided up and down the Country. Whites, Carribeans, nigerians, Punjabis, Gujratis, paks, have their own patch. In Big cities theres more fusion. Anyone with brown skin is known as "Asian" on the insistence of the Establishment. Carribean, african, Cape Verde, are all lumped as "Black" in the Media. It seems more than pressure there is a deliberate Race Codeing thats gone on for decades, for a country that prides itself in Multiculturalism?

In parts of the Green belts, Mid counties, outside Cities, there are from 2 to 3 generations where Whites have no interaction with any EThnic Counterparts other than what they hear. Please be aware of the negative image and impact that is going affects us all. Yes on the positive theere are some lovely folk who acknowledge what and who Sikhs are. But there is a vast amount of ignorance out there, and how we are percieved for having "Asian" Skin.

The media by insisting on the word "Asian" is backstabbing us, and grooming generations of ignorant minds to see us associated with the worst crimes.

sukhi077 · November 14, 2013

Uk law sucks big time when it comes to protect minors.

lol...jado lokaan da hi raabb te zameer mar jaye fe vichaara law kya kare............

Jeevan · November 16, 2013

I have read Girl A: The truth about the Rochdale sex ring by the victim who stopped them by Anonymous (Girl A) (10 Oct 2013).

What comes through very clearly in the book is that the Police, CPS, Social Services etc. etc. did not undertake their legal duties & responsibilities to the victims of the paedophile gangs. The body of evidence was there from the outset when the victims first had contact with the various legal bodies and were providing statements & evidence of what was going on in their lives.

Criminal prosecutions need to be brought forward for individuals from the Police, CPS, Social Services etc. etc. for criminal negligence and a dereliction of duty. Sorry does not cut it and we the good people of Britain citizens DO NOT accept their apology & failings from the authorities.

Can we as a community now bring pressure to bear to see individuals from Police, CPS, Social Services stand in the dock and face criminal proceedings for negligence.

Are we going to carry on paying for individuals through our tax system for failing to protect the children from the paedophiles, are we content Police officers will be promoted in the future when he or she failed to take seriously a child evidence that they were a victim of paedophilia gangs, are you content a CPS lawyer will carry on working as a barrister/lawyer earning vast sums of money when their initial decision was not to pursue the allegations in court to bring these paedophiles to justice, are we content that Social Services labelled these children as prostitutes and they chose this lifestyle, criminal prosecutions NOW!

Jeevan · December 12, 2013

Now we know why the Police 'Still Target Other Crimes Above Child Grooming' they don't want to end up arresting their own colleagues\friends!!!

Police sergeant pleads guilty to abusing teenage girl

A BRITISH Transport Police sergeant has pleaded guilty to sexually assaulting a 13-year-old girl.

Mick Defries, 58, of Barnham, appeared at Lewes Crown Court today (December 12) for a preliminary hearing and pleaded guilty to two counts of sexual assault of a female child under 13.

He has been remanded in custody and will be sentenced on January 10.

A British Transport Police spokesman said: “BTP can confirm that Sergeant Defries, who has served with the force for ten years, has been suspended from duty following his arrest and charge by Sussex Police.

“BTP’s professional standard’s department is assisting Sussex Police with their investigation.”

http://www.chichester.co.uk/news/top-stories/latest/police-sergeant-pleads-guilty-to-abusing-teenage-girl-1-5746473

Jeevan · December 21, 2013

http://www.theguardi...ce-errors/print

Rochdale sex-grooming gangs able to flourish due to police errors says report

Greater Manchester police failed vulnerable girls in multiple ways, from lack of oversight to use of untrained CID staff

Rajeev Syal
The Guardian, Thursday 19 December 2013 20.37 GMT

A Rochdale shop displays a bulletin on the arrest of nine men on child sexual exploitation charges in 2011. Photograph: Christopher Furlong/Getty Images

A catalogue of police failures allowed sex-grooming gangs to flourish in Rochdale, according to a damning, leaked report that is published on Friday. Among the failings identified in the 300-page report, untrained detectives were used to investigate child exploitation and there was a lack of resources and oversight.

The serious case review was announced by Rochdale Council last year after nine Asian men were convicted of the systematic grooming and sexual abuse of white girls in Greater Manchester. The findings of the review have resulted in an acknowledgement by Greater Manchester police [GMP] that the force has let down a number of vulnerable girls who were groomed by gangs for sexual abuse.

An internal police investigation, highlighted in the serious case review, also found a failure to recognise abuse.

The internal police review found that:

• Officers failed to challenge a Crown Prosecution Service decision not to prosecute.

• There was a lack of resources and managerial support for the investigations, initially led by CID, despite formal requests.

• Detectives without training in child sexual exploitation were used to interview potential victims.

• There was a lack of managerial oversight for investigations in 2008 and 2009.

• There was a lack of strategies to respond to frequent "runaways", which allowed them to return to their abusers.

• There was a recognition that there may have been discriminatory attitudes among police officers towards the victims.

But despite the list of acknowledged problems, the police made just one recommendation – that the force's public protection division should ensure continued participation in Project Phoenix, which has been set up to direct a multi-agency approach to child sexual exploitation in the region.

The serious case review panel raised questions about the police response and made two further recommendations: that GMP should establish a system to monitor and review how it escalates safeguarding cases, and that it commits to maintaining a child sexual exploitation team and to working proactively with Rochdale council.

Police also admitted that of 40 meetings to discuss child protection for one of the victims, there is no record of police attendance or involvement at any of them. The report argues that "this represents a serious weakness for the police" and that concerns about police attendance were raised in 2009.

"As a result, the review has been left with an incomplete and unsatisfactory picture of the involvement of the police in the routine child protection processes," it concludes.

Simon Danczuk, the local Labour MP, said police need to show better leadership. "Senior police officers keep talking about deploying more resources, but they're sending out untrained officers who cannot win the trust of victims. We need better leadership on this issue," he said.

The serious case review was announced in September 2012, four months after the grooming gang was convicted. The men were jailed for between four and 19 years for the abuse of five girls, some as young as 13. It is believed there may be up to 50 victims in all.

The trial resulted in a national debate over the role of gangs of largely Pakistani men in grooming white girls. The police and local authority in Rochdale came in for heavy criticism when details emerged of what had been happening.

The men, aged between 24 and 59, plied victims, who hung around two takeaways in the area, with drink and drugs before the girls were "passed around" for sex.

One girl, aged 15 at the time and who was repeatedly raped, said in an interview with BBC Radio 4's Woman's Hour that after she became pregnant, local social services told her parents she was a "prostitute" and that she had simply made a "lifestyle choice".

The girl had also reported the abuse to a police officer – who simply yawned.

One police whistleblower welcomed the report but commented that it had only scratched the surface of problems in the force.

Margaret Oliver, a detective constable within GMP who worked on the Rochdale grooming cases but resigned last year over the way the police treated the victims, said the report went only part of the way to exposing the mistakes within the force.

She said: "I have spoken to victims in the last week who still come face to face with their abusers in Rochdale because the police have failed to pursue them.

"If GMP had done its job properly, they would not be walking the streets. It was my job to persuade some of these young girls to come to trust the police to being on their side.

"But one of those who came forward – who was subjected to multiple rapes and was brave enough to identify her abusers in an ID parade – was added to the indictment as an offender as a tactical 'option' by the force," she said.

Sir Peter Fahy, the chief constable for Greater Manchester, said: "I think we all know that [child sexual exploitation] is the most complex and challenging area of policing right now and we are near the very beginning of a long journey in our understanding of it. It is GMP's top priority, and the welfare of these victims should now be at the very forefront of everything we do.

"The failings detailed in this report are unacceptable, and we should never lose sight of the fact that we have let down some innocent victims."

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Jeevan · January 9, 2014

Could this be one of the reasons why paedophile gangs are allowed to flourish in the UK we have an issue of Police corruption?

http://www.independent.co.uk/news/uk/crime/exclusive-scotland-yards-rotten-core-police-failed-to-address-endemic-corruption-9050224.html#

Exclusive: Scotland Yard’s rotten core: Police failed to address ‘endemic corruption’

Organised crime infiltrated police ‘at will’, according to secret report. Top-level internal inquiry identified scores of corrupt individuals working for Met

Tom Harper

Thursday, 9 January 2014

Organised criminals were able to infiltrate Scotland Yard “at will” by bribing corrupt officers, according to an explosive report leaked to The Independent. The Metropolitan Police file, written in 2002, found Britain’s biggest force suffered “endemic corruption” at the time.

Operation Tiberius concluded that syndicates such as the notorious Adams family and the gang led by David Hunt had bribed scores of former and then-serving detectives to access confidential databases; obtain live intelligence on criminal investigations; provide specialist knowledge of surveillance, technical deployment and undercover techniques to help evade prosecution; and even take part in criminal acts such as mass drug importation and money laundering.

The strategic intelligence scoping exercise – “ratified by the most senior management” at Scotland Yard – found murder investigations had been infiltrated and sensitive intelligence regarding other organised crime investigations had been leaked, allowing the offenders to escape justice.

The author lamented the Met’s inability to root out the problem. More worryingly, he also appeared to question Scotland Yard’s commitment to tackle organised crime corruption in the ranks. “For whatever reason, the current approach is simply to wait for the corruption intelligence to surface and to then react to it,” Tiberius concluded.

Later, it added: “These syndicates are organised and all working towards the common goals of making profit, laundering their money, evading prosecution and preventing the forfeiture of their assets. The achievement of these goals is focused and determined; the law enforcement investigation should follow this lead.”

Tiberius identified 80 corrupt individuals with links to the police, including 42 then-serving officers and 19 former detectives.

It concluded: “Organised crime is currently able to infiltrate the MPS at will.”

Research conducted by The Independent suggests that only a tiny number of the officers named as corrupt have been convicted.

Keith Vaz, who chairs the Home Affairs Select Committee, said: “I am deeply concerned by the findings of this report. It is vital that the police have the utmost integrity. The public must be able to trust them to do their job and ensure justice prevails.

“The Met have made vast progress rooting out corruption in the force in the last 20 years but it would appear more may still need to be done.”

Mr Vaz added he would be writing to the current Met Commissioner, Sir Bernard Hogan-Howe, to “ensure that these allegations have been fully investigated and to confirm that he is satisfied that corruption no longer exists”.

The report, produced by a team led by the former Met assistant commissioner Andy Hayman, paints a shocking picture of security at the time inside Scotland Yard, which had responsibility for the UK’s counter-terror operations.

Working in secret, the Tiberius team drew on multiple sources of information including covert informants, intelligence from telephone intercepts, briefings from the security services and thousands of historic police files.

One senior investigating officer interviewed by the inquiry said at the time: “I feel that… I cannot carry out an ethical murder investigation without the fear of it being compromised.”

In one case, the report names an alleged corrupt officer who was inexplicably put in charge of a team investigating a gangland murder linked to organised crime.

Other officers Tiberius says were known to be corrupt were also identified as working on inquiries into organised crime, many of which resulted in compromised investigations and, in some cases, failed prosecutions.

Some relationships between Met officers and the criminal underworld were so close that in one case named police officers were identified as co-owning properties and even racehorses with a man suspected of being one of Britain’s most hardened gangsters.

In one shocking case, a police statement taken from a highly sensitive witness was found in the safe of a nightclub controlled by the Adams family – described by Operation Tiberius as the “major crime family in north London”.

The report stated the named witness was helping police try to solve the murder of Michael Olymbious, who the police believed had been killed after losing £1.5m of ecstasy pills owned by the syndicate.

Tiberius also found a secret informant – codenamed “Lee Paul” – providing intelligence on the Adams family and the corrupt police in its pay to his handler at the Met, who appears to have been a man of integrity.

However, Paul’s highly sensitive role was later uncovered by other officers and his activities became more widely known, causing uproar among the corrupt elements inside the Yard.

But far from seeing this as evidence that the police were finally on to them, one rogue detective inspector was so unperturbed that he felt confident enough to brazenly threaten one of Paul’s handlers with reprisals.

The ability of organised criminals to target highly sensitive police witnesses and informants was the subject last July of evidence given to Parliament by one of the Met’s most senior officers.

When questioned by the Home Affairs Committee over a separate case of corrupt police officers targeting protected witnesses, revealed in The Independent, Assistant Commissioner Cressida <banned word filter activated> said: “I am not aware of anything in the Metropolitan Police that has resulted in infiltration thereof, but it is a risk that we are constantly trying to prevent materialising, of course, because people’s lives are at risk.”

The Met’s inability to tackle the corruption of police officers by organised crime syndicates is laid bare in some of Tiberius’ recommendations.

Although the report suggests a range of strategies to combat corruption, including establishing a dedicated task force, it also recommends merely “removing alleged corrupt officers from specialist departments back to borough postings to disrupt networks” and putting troublemakers “together on one particular unit to enable a strong manager to keep an eye on them”.

A former senior officer, who recently retired from Scotland Yard, told The Independent: “Nothing has changed. The Met is still every bit as corrupt as it was back then.”

One of the few successful investigations reviewed by Tiberius was Operation Greyhound, a long-running inquiry that found that two detectives had helped a known criminal hunt a money-launderer over a £600,000 debt.

Martin Morgan and Declan Costello were paid £50,000 for helping Robert Kean, a builder with a string of previous convictions, find his former business associate, Andrew Smith.

During their trial in 2002, the Old Bailey heard that Kean and another criminal, Carl Wood, spoke of torturing Smith and putting his body in a car crusher if he could not pay his debt.

At the heart of the scandal was the friendship of Morgan and Kean, a suspected drugs dealer. When Kean wanted to find Smith, he turned to Morgan, who used intelligence databases available to Met detectives to try to track down and entrap him.

Kean said Morgan “was good at his job” and would be paid “50gs”– £50,000 – to act as his bounty hunter.

Morgan, Kean and Wood pleaded guilty to conspiring to unlawfully and injuriously imprison a man and to detain him against his will.

Costello plead guilty to conspiracy to assault, causing actual bodily harm.

Asked to comment on the Tiberius report, a spokesman for Scotland Yard said: “The Metropolitan Police Service will not tolerate any behaviour by our officers and staff which could damage the trust placed in police by the public.

“We are determined to pursue corruption in all its forms and with all possible vigour.

“The dedicated Anti-Corruption Command, part of the Met’s Directorate of Professional Standards, proactively investigates any allegations or intelligence relating to either corrupt police officers and staff [or] those that may seek to corrupt our officers’ staff.

“There is no complacency in the Met’s determination to succeed in this task.”

Botched jobs: Compromised murder investigations

Kenneth Beagle

Thought to have been killed by members of a named organised crime syndicate over a “failed drug importation”. Tiberius names a former Met police officer whom it says “has always been considered to be one of the most corrupt officers serving in the MPS”. The report claims this former officer contacted his “good friend”, a detective sergeant, on the investigating team whom Tiberius says “had previously been the subject of at least three corruption inquiries” yet was allowed to work on a gangland murder investigation. For reasons that are unclear, the Met formally “authorised” the meeting between the pair which “legitimised the access into the murder inquiry”. Tiberius notes that “shortly after the meeting” the alleged organised crime boss “knew that the investigation team considered him a suspect”.

Ricky Rayner

A suspected drug dealer who fled to Spain was one of the prime suspects for the murder of Ricky Rayner in 2001 and asked a man whom police suspected of leading a drug dealing syndicate to check whether he was still wanted in the UK. Within days, this man was able to find out the status of his associate following telephone contact with a police officer. The report stated a Police National Computer check was obtained from Bethnal Green police station.

The suspected gangster was able to give the suspect the “all clear”, apparently leading to his return to Britain. Tiberius also identified “regular contact” between another suspected corrupt detective and a senior member of the investigation into the murder.

Again, the investigating officer had previously been identified as possibly corrupt – yet had never been prosecuted and was put in charge of a sensitive investigation.

Jeevan · January 15, 2014

The Crown Prosecution Service said it was "one of worst cases of child sexual abuse we've seen". Is this because our Police, CPS, Social Services, Councils are incompetent, corrupt, frightened and or lacking IQ in tackling these heinous crimes head on?

http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/uk-england-cambridgeshire-25679982

BBC News Cambridge

15 January 2014 Last updated at 17:00 Peterborough sex attacks: Two men and three teens guilty

Two men and three teenage boys have been found guilty of a series of rapes and sexual assaults in Peterborough.

Zdeno Mirga, 18, Hassan Abdulla, 33, and three boys, who cannot be named for legal reasons, were convicted at the Old Bailey.

The group targeted five teenage girls and are due to be sentenced on 20 February.

Mirga's brother Dusan, 20, David Ziga, 19, and a fourth teenager were acquitted.

One of the group's victims, referred to in court as Victim A, was a 13-year-old girl with a severe learning disability.

The Crown Prosecution Service said it was "one of worst cases of child sexual abuse we've seen".

'Power over her'

The gang congregated at a fried chicken takeaway in Peterborough and carried out their attacks at locations including a children's playground, using what police described as "sophisticated" tactics to groom their victims.

After a trial lasting two-and-a-half months, the five were convicted of a total of 18 counts of rape, one of causing or inciting child prostitution, one of engaging in sexual activity with a child, three of causing or inciting a child to engage in sexual activity and three of sexual assault.

Judge John Bevan QC said: "Because some of the defendants do not speak good enough English, despite having lived here a long time, three interpreters have worked full time during this case, at a cost of over £30,000."

He told the jury: "You have sat diligently and paid the closest of attention for weeks on end.

"It has been transparently obvious that you have been working very hard."

He excused them from further jury service for the next 15 years.

Victim A described Zdeno Mirga, known as "Skinny", as the gang's boss, prosecutor Angela Rafferty said.

"He encouraged her, often very forcefully indeed, to give others... sex.

"He did this using the power he had over her at the time, or threatened her and sometimes he used violence against her.

"Skinny took her to parties where she was shared around sexually."

The girl told police that Mirga "shared" her because he wanted money to buy cannabis and vodka, the court heard.

'Horrific ordeals'

After the verdicts, Det Supt Gary Ridgway, who led the inquiry, said the convictions were part of an ongoing "victim-led" joint investigation between Cambridgeshire Police and Peterborough City Council.

Officers and social workers are working to identify young people they believe are at risk of harm before any allegations are even made.

Girls can then identify people who were exploiting them, he said.

Speaking about this case, Det Supt Gary Ridgway said: "These girls were targeted simply because they were vulnerable.

"They were seen as easy targets and exploited by this group of teenage boys and men who abused them for their own sexual gratification."

He said the girls were subjected to "horrific" ordeals.

"But they have shown incredible strength throughout this process, in particular by giving evidence at court in order to bring these people to justice," he said.

"We are committed to helping those girls pick up the pieces and move on with their lives."

'Preying on children'

Gillian Beasley, chief executive of Peterborough City Council, said: "Listening to the catalogue of crimes committed against these children has been absolutely devastating and we wish they could have been rescued sooner.

"But it was not until our social workers and the police gained the trust of the victims, so they felt able to tell us the full extent of what was happening, that the police were able to arrest the criminals who were responsible.

"We are pleased that we have seen justice done today. We would also like to pay tribute to the victims. Without their courage to stand up in court we could never have secured these convictions."

She said the council had also started a serious case review.

"We will be working closely with that review and we look forward to the findings," she said.

Jeevan · August 26, 2014

http://www.theguardian.com/society/2014/aug/26/rotherham-sexual-abuse-children

Rotherham: failures led to sexual abuse of 1,400 children

Report says failings in political and police leadership contributed to gang rape and trafficking in South Yorkshire

Helen Pidd, Northern editor
The Guardian, Tuesday 26 August 2014 23.07 BST

Rotherham, where 1,400 children were abused over a 16-year period. Photograph: Fabio De Paola

Blatant failures of political and police leadership contributed to the sexual exploitation of 1,400 children in Rotherham over a 16-year period, according to an uncompromising report published in the aftermath of allegations of gang rape and trafficking in the South Yorkshire town.

Written by Prof Alexis Jay, a former chief inspector of social work, the investigation concluded that the council knew as far back as 2005 of sexual exploitation being committed on a wide scale by mostly Asian men, yet failed to act.

This is the fourth report clearly identifying the problem of CSE in Rotherham. The first, commissioned by the Home Office back in 2002, contained "severe criticisms" of the police and local council for their indifference to what was happening under their noses. But instead of tackling the issue, senior police and council officers claimed the data in the report had been "fabricated or exaggerated", and subjected the report's author to "personal hostility," leading to "suspicions of collusion and cover up", said Jay.

Council and other officials sometimes thought youth workers were exaggerating the exploitation problem. Sometimes they were afraid of being accused of racism if they talked openly about the perpetrators in the town mostly being Pakistani taxi drivers.

Roger Stone, Rotherham's Labour council leader since 2003, said that he had stepped down with immediate effect following the publication of the Jay inquiry. "I believe it is only right that I, as leader, take responsibility on behalf of the council for the historic failings that are described so clearly in the report and it is my intention to do so," he said.

Jahangir Akhtar, the former deputy leader of the council, is accused in the report of naivety and potentially "ignoring a politically inconvenient truth" by insisting there was not a deep-rooted problem of Pakistani-heritage perpetrators targeting young white girls. Police told the inquiry that some influential Pakistani councillors in Rotherham acted as barriers to communication on grooming issues.

On a number of occasions, victims of sexual abuse were criminalised – arrested for being drunk – while their abusers continued to act with impunity. Vital evidence was ignored, Jay said, with police apparently trying to manipulate their figures for child sexual exploitation by removing from their monitoring process girls who were pregnant or had given birth, plus all looked after children in care.

Jay concluded that from 1997-2013, Rotherham's most vulnerable girls, some as young as 11, were raped by large numbers of men. Others were trafficked to other towns and cities in the north of England, abducted, beaten, and intimidated, with some children doused in petrol and threatened with being set alight if they told anyone what had happened.

No case involving Rotherham men came to court until November 2010 when five "sexual predators" were convicted of grooming three girls, two aged 13 and one 15, all under children's social care supervision, before using them for sex. In the past 12 months, 15 people have been prosecuted or charged with child sexual exploitation offences in Rotherham.

The victims were offered gifts, rides in cars, cigarettes, alcohol and cannabis. Sex took place in cars, bushes and the play areas of parks.

A mortgage adviser who drove a BMW and owned several properties promised to treat a 13-year old "like a princess". Another man pulled the hair of a 13-year old and called her a "white <banned word filter activated>" when she tried to reject his attempt to strip her.

Keith Vaz, chair of the home affairs select committee, which interviewed Rotherham council officials during its own inquiry, said: "When we took evidence, Rotherham council were in denial and Stone is right to step down. Others responsible should also be held to account.

"Yet everyone else involved will keep their jobs, according to council chief executive Martin Kimber. He said he did not have the evidence to discipline any individuals working for the council despite the report saying 'Over the first 12 years covered by this inquiry, the collective failures of political and officer leadership were blatant'."

In summer 2013 Vaz's select committee published its own report, which criticised the council and the police in Rotherham, particularly for the lack of prosecutions over a number of years. That report was prompted in part by an investigation by the Times reporter Andrew Norfolk, which alleged that Rotherham police and council had deliberately covered up CSE. Jay's report is particularly critical of the authorities' failure to engage properly with the 8,000-strong members of Rotherham's Pakistani-heritage community. Akhtar, deputy leader until he lost his seat in May, told Jay he had not understood the scale of the child exploitation problem in Rotherham until 2013. Jay writes: "He was one of the elected members who said they thought the criminal convictions in 2010 were 'a one-off, isolated case', and not an example of a more deep-rooted problem of Pakistani-heritage perpetrators targeting young white girls. This was at best naive, and at worst ignoring a politically inconvenient truth."

She found that attempts by senior people in the council and the police to downplay the ethnic dimensions of CSE in Rotherham were ill judged. There was also a failure to engage with women in the Pakistani community, she said, writing: "There was too much reliance by agencies on traditional community leaders such as elected members and imams as being the primary conduit of communication with the Pakistani-heritage community."

Other than two meetings in 2011, there had been no direct engagement with either men or woman from the Pakistani community about CSE over the past 15 years, she added.

The issue of race, regardless of ethnic group, should be tackled as an absolute priority if it is known to be a significant factor in the criminal activity of organised abuse in any local community, wrote Jay. She suggested councillors can play an effective role in this, "especially those representing the communities in question, but only if they act as facilitators of communication rather than barriers to it. One senior officer suggested that some influential Pakistani-heritage councillors in Rotherham had acted as barriers."

Following the publication of Jay's report on Tuesday calls also came for the head of Shaun Wright, who became the police and crime commissioner for South Yorkshire two years ago following a five-year spell in charge of children and youth services on Rotherham borough council.

Though he is not criticised by name in the report, he was responsible for child protection during a period in which Jay said police and council were well aware that there was a serious problem with child exploitation in Rotherham and yet failed to act.

Caven Vines, a Ukip councillor in Rotherham and a member of the police and crime panel in South Yorkshire, which scrutinises the PCC's activities, said he would be demanding Wright's resignation: "I think he should resign immediately and at the next meeting of the panel I will be standing up to say exactly that – I should hope the rest of the panel will join me. You can't defend the indefensible."

Colin Ross, the leader of the Lib Dem group on Sheffield City council, said: "Shaun Wright was the councillor in charge of children's services at Rotherham Council and also sat on the authority of South Yorkshire police when both organisations knew about the level of child sexual exploitation, but chose not do anything about it. It's difficult to see how local people can have confidence in him to continue as our police and crime commissioner."

Wright declined to be interviewed. His spokeswoman issued a statement: "The commissioner has previously apologised for the failure of Rotherham council while he was in its cabinet from 2005 to 2010. He repeats that apology today and he fully accepts that there was more that everyone at Rotherham council should have done to tackle this terrible crime.

"Since becoming police and crime commissioner he has repeatedly publicly made tackling child sexual exploitation his number one priority."

No 10 said: "The failings of local agencies exposed by this inquiry are appalling. We are determined that the lessons of past failures must be learned and that those who have exploited these children are brought to justice."

lsingh · August 28, 2014

The Sikhs who were imprisoned for the Leicester restaurant incident should appeal against their sentences.The Police failed to take action like in Rotherham, this led to people taking action.

Jeevan · September 9, 2014

http://www.theguardian.com/uk-news/2014/sep/09/researcher-rotherham-abuse-feared-for-life-police-visit

Researcher who uncovered Rotherham abuse 'feared for life' after police visit

Commons committee hears researcher's office was broken into after contact with South Yorkshire police and files went missing

Alan Travis, home affairs editor
theguardian.com, Tuesday 9 September 2014 18.04 BST

A report last month found that at least 1,400 young people in Rotherham had been subjected to sexual abuse over a 16-year period. Photograph: Christopher Furlong/Getty Images

A Home Office researcher who uncovered the scale of child sex abuse in Rotherham more than 10 years ago was left in fear of her life after being visited by two South Yorkshire police officers, MPs have been told while taking evidence in private.

The Commons home affairs select committee, meeting in a secret session on Tuesday to protect the identity of the researcher, heard that an office break-in followed the contact from the South Yorkshire officers and her files went missing.

When the MPs put the allegation to the former South Yorkshire chief constable, Meredydd John Hughes, who was deputy head of the force at the time, he said he knew nothing of the Home Office research report and told the committee that he had had "no idea of the scale and scope" of child sexual exploitation in Rotherham.

The committee took the highly unusual step of taking the evidence from witnesses on oath under the 1871 Perjury Act.

A devastating official inquiry report last month found that at least 1,400 young people in Rotherham had been subjected to sexual abuse over a period of 16 years.

Hughes, who was first deputy chief constable and then chief constable of South Yorkshire police for nine years until October 2011, told MPs he felt he had "singularly failed the victims" in Rotherham.

"I am not an idle man… Some of the reports… I frankly felt sick last night when I read them. I am not immune to the ideas that this is a hideous crime and I am deeply embarrassed. But I can say with honesty that at the time that I was both deputy and chief constable, I had no idea of the scale and scope of this type of organised crime."

He later told committee chairman, Keith Vaz: "I take no pleasure from this. I have had a 32-year police career, and yet on this issue I have signalled failed the victims of these criminals and it hurts. It is something that I loathe."

He strenuously denied suggestions from MPs on the committee that he had been grossly incompetent or had been involved in a dereliction of duty, but added: "I do have questions to ask myself. I look on with a sense of horror … I wish I had done more."

But Vaz bluntly told Hughes that he found his evidence "totally unconvincing" and said while his contrition was welcome it needed to go further and his evidence would be referred to the Woolf inquiry into child sexual exploitation.

The Conservative MP, Nicola Blackwood, said the committee had heard evidence in private from the Home Office researcher that her 2002 report had been greeted with hostility by the South Yorkshire police. She said they had heard evidence that the researcher had been contacted by two officers who threatened to pass her name on to the groomers in Rotherham and she had been left in fear of her life.

The Liberal Democrat MP Julian Huppert suggested to the current South Yorkshire chief constable, David Crompton, that there had been an active conspiracy involving police officers and questioned how the public could now trust South Yorkshire police.

Crompton said: "I'm absolutely committed to getting to the bottom of it. If there are any disciplinary matters, and some of these are being raised with me for the first time today, you have my absolute commitment we'll get to the bottom of it."

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Researcher who uncovered Rotherham abuse 'feared for life' after police visit

Commons committee hears researcher's office was broken into after contact with South Yorkshire police and files went missing

Alan Travis, home affairs editor
theguardian.com, Tuesday 9 September 2014 18.04 BST