Rochdale grooming timeline: How dozens of vulnerable girls were left ‘at the mercy’ of criminal gangs

Girls were “left at the mercy” of paedophile grooming gangs for years in Rochdale because of failings by senior police and council bosses, with countless warnings ignored and dismissed, a report found this week.

The review, published on Monday, covers 2004 to 2013 and found that Greater Manchester Police failed to properly investigate a widespread criminal gang who were trafficking and sexually exploiting vulnerable young children.

Despite a healthcare worker alerting the police and local authorities to “patterns of sexual abuse” in 2007, children’s unwillingness to make a formal complaint was repeatedly used as an excuse for not investigating.

While the ring-leaders, a group of Asian men, were described as “prolific criminals” by the police, they were allowed to continue their abuse, causing one whistleblower detective to resign in disgust.

Another police investigation into two takeaway shops in Rochdale, involving 30 adult male suspects, was also aborted prematurely because police bosses failed to resource it and the Crown Prosecution Service (CPS) deemed the main child victim an unreliable witness.

In the damning 173-page review, Malcolm Newsam CBE, co-author of the report, said: “Successive police operations were launched over this period, but these were insufficiently resourced to match the scale of the widespread organised exploitation within the area.

“Consequently, children were left at risk and many of their abusers to this day have not been apprehended.”

Here is a timeline outlining how the Rochdale grooming scandal broke headlines across the UK, and why its repercussions are still being felt a decade later:

2004

Child sexual exploitation and grooming are recognised to have begun in the Rochdale area, with mainly white girls from poor backgrounds targeted.

Girls as young as 12 were plied with alcohol and drugs and gang raped in rooms above takeaway shops and ferried to different flats in taxis where cash was paid to use the girls.

2007

Health worker Sara Rowbotham and her team alerted GMP and Rochdale Council about a gang of men of Pakistani and Afghan heritage engaged in child sexual exploitation.

The police and local authorities “chose not to progress any investigation into these men”, according to the review. Between 2003 and 2014, Ms Rowbatham made 180 attempts to alert police and social services.

2008

A girl who was arrested on suspicion of damaging a takeaway reported that she had been raped by its staff, with an investigation identifying widespread child sexual exploitation by at least 30 adults. The CPS decided against prosecuting two men, and the investigation was halted.

December 2009

A second victim made complaints of a similar nature at the same two takeaways, but insufficient efforts were made to investigate, the report said.

Spring 2010

Xural.com