A Report on England
A Nation in Fear
The Rochdale Report
On 15th January, 2024, the six-year Investigation and Report into 'Operation Span' was finally published.
This was an Investigation into the Greater Manchester Police handling of shocking serial child abuse in Rochdale by Asian 'grooming' gangs.
The Report was a damning 173-page Report, which showed how girls were left "at the mercy" of paedophile 'grooming' gangs for years because of an "inadequate" response by police and council bosses.
The Report also identified a further 96 men still deemed a potential risk to children still living in the same area.
This Report was commissioned by Manchester Mayor Andy Burnham, and reviewed the police files during the period of 'Operation Span'.
Manchester Mayor Andy Burnham speaks at the press conference on the publication of the report
The Report detailed multiple failed investigations by police and an indifference among local authorities to the plight of hundreds of youngsters, mainly white girls from poor backgrounds, all identified as victims of abuse by South Asian men, which started from 2004 onwards.
In 2007, a crisis team alerted Greater Manchester Police (GMP) and Rochdale Council to the activities of a paedophile crime group.
The GMP identified the ringleaders of the gang but did not investigate further because they claimed the children were too frightened to assist.
This was a "serious failure" to protect the children, because it ignored the control the paedophiles had over their victims.
Paedophiles often control their victims with threats and blackmail
In January 2010, a specialist team in Rochdale was launched, finding information of wide-scale abuse of children by up to 60 men.
A detective inspector asked for more staff to investigate, but police bosses at GMP completely denied the request.
"Once more, children were left at the mercy of their abusers because of an inadequate response by GMP and children's social care to the serious exploitation of vulnerable children," the Report said.
It wasn't until December 2010 - more than two years after first being told of abuse centred in two takeaway restaurants that GMP finally acted, launching 'Operation Span'.
Time is of the essence when investigating paedophile gangs - if they are not caught quickly more children are abused.
The Operation led to the conviction in May 2012 of nine men in a high-profile court case, which heard girls as young as 12 were plied with alcohol and drugs and gang raped in rooms above takeaway shops.
While police and council bosses presented the court convictions as having "resolved" 'grooming' in the town, the reality was that it had "only scraped the surface".
"We regard this as a lamentable strategic failure by senior leaders in GMP and Rochdale Council," the report concluded.
The Rochdale Report follows similar reviews by the same investigators on 'grooming' in Manchester and Oldham, which found authorities had again failed children, leaving them in the clutches of paedophile gangs.
The first 9 paedophile rapists convicted from Operation Span.
Steven Watson, chief constable of Greater Manchester Police, who took up the role in May 2021, described the findings of the report as "shocking, stark and shameful".
"One of the primary responsibilities of the police is to protect the vulnerable from the cruel and predatory, and in this regard, we failed you," he added.
Steven Watson, Chief Constable of GMP
He claimed the "lessons from our past had been well and truly learned" and were "solidly baked" into systems used by police and partner agencies involved in child safeguarding today.
CAMACA Conclusion
CAMACA applauds the Manchester Mayor Andy Burnham for ordering and commissioning this report which took six-years - without him this would never have come to light. He is a brave and decent man.
CAMACA also applauds the investigators who authored the report - and especially the whistle-blowers who gave so much vital information - both Sara Rowbotham and Maggie Oliver, a former GMP detective who since resigned in disgust at what happened.
The GMP has since launched further investigations, which have so far resulted in the conviction of 42 men involved in the abuse of 13 children.
But what lessons have really been learned? We hear the same rhetoric time and time again whenever this happens and it's been happening all across England.
Just a partial example of the recent convicted paedophile rape gangs across England
Almost all of the 'grooming' gang offenders are of South Asian origin - over 84% – which is a remarkable figure, given that South Asians comprise only 7% of England's population.
Most of them are of Pakistani origin, living in urban areas.
'Grooming' only means manipulating a child to gain their trust, and to exert power over them, to possibly abuse them.
CAMACA says they are not 'grooming' gangs - they are RAPE gangs - and predatory paedophiles - and herein lies the crux of the problem.
The authorities in England are even afraid to call them what they are - and the media are the same - and this is the Elephant in the room.
It is the FEAR of being accused of discrimination that is preventing authorities in England from investigating certain communities properly and catching rapists & paedophiles among them and bringing them to justice.
A serving police officer told us, "We were advised not to police those communities and bother them, for fear of appearing to be discriminatory or racist."
Paedophile rape gangs should serve full sentences and not be allowed early release.
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