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Desk report: David Lammy has said detaining the “one in, one out” migrant who was caught trying to slip back into Britain shows “progress”.
The Deputy Prime Minister said the fact that the unnamed Iranian had been identified via his biometric data and could now be deported again showed that improvements had been made in the migrant return system. The migrant, who arrived on a dinghy on Aug 6 and was deported to France on Sept 19, absconded from a migrant shelter in Paris and gained passage on another boat to the UK. He arrived in Britain on Saturday where he was detained by border officers.
Mr Lammy said: “Today’s news actually reveals that the individual, who spent thousands of pounds trying to get into this country, can be sent back as a result of his biometric data and that is progress.”
Under the one in, one out deal, Britain can deport Channel migrants back to France in return for the same
Catching migrant shows ‘one in, one out’ is working: Lammy
number of legitimate asylum seekers coming from France to the UK.
“We have always maintained that this is a pilot,” Mr Lammy said. “This is the beginning. It’s an important step, but there are many, many more steps to take, both with France but also with other European partners.” Sir Keir Starmer said the man would
be “fast-tracked back out of the country”.
“We know he hasn’t got a claim to make, therefore we’ll remove him very, very swiftly. So his return journey back to the UK is completely pointless, and it’s really important I make that absolutely clear,” said the Prime Minister. It also emerged on Thursday
morning that new French tactics to intercept dinghies at sea are on hold because of fears they could result in more deaths.
Emmanuel Macron promised Sir Keir Starmer at a summit in London in July that border officers and police would intervene to stop boats leaving French waters.
Met officer sacked after BBC Panorama investigation
However, attempts to introduce the policy have been delayed after warnings from France’s border and police officers that they could put lives at risk and so expose them to legal action.
Mr Lammy said: “There was a lot of discussion about the use of those tactics and I think it is important that French partners are able to intercept in the right way.”
Martin Hewitt, the UK’s border security commander, told MPs on the home affairs committee earlier this month that it was “frustrating” that the French authorities had not been able to stop boats in shallow waters. Now it has emerged that France might be backing away from the strategy, according to multiple French sources quoted by the BBC. The sources blamed not only the safety concerns but also France’s political turmoil and the departure of Bruno Retailleau as interior minister. Mr Retailleau was widely credited with driving a more aggressive approach in the Channel.
Desk report:
A Metropolitan Police officer has been sacked for gross misconduct after appearing in an undercover report by BBC Panorama.
Three allegations were upheld against PC Philip Neilson, including making "highly racist and discriminatory remarks" about different ethnic groups. He was dismissed with immediate effect.
Mr Neilson was recorded by the BBC referring to an "invasion" of "scum" from the Middle East, and made offensive comments about people from Algeria and Somalia.
He is the first of 10 current or former officers to face a hearing as part of the Met's accelerated misconduct proceedings over footage recorded during the Panorama investigation. In it, he was also observed saying a detainee who had overstayed his visa should have a "bullet through his head".
The other allegations against Mr Neilson related
to "glorifying what he was describing as inappropriate use of force on a restrained detainee" and for suggesting unlawful violence against migrants who broke the law. Chair of the panel, Cmdr Jason Prins, found all the allegations proven.
The hearing, in south-west London on Thursday, was
told that he did not dispute the words he said but argued they only amounted to just misconduct.
Giving evidence, Mr Neilson said he had been a police officer for four years and denied he was a racist.
He said he believed the undercover reporter "breached his humans
rights" and it was the reporter who "kept bringing up these conversations" and "egging me on".
Mr Neilson said he had eight or nine pints of Guinness while at the pub when he made some of the comments and said he was not a "drinker".
He said he did not
discriminate against anyone and footage from his body worn camera would show "no matter the ethnicity I did everything with the utmost respect".
Cmdr Prins ruled that Mr Neilson's comments caused "significant harm" to the reputation of Metropolitan Police and wider public confidence in the police and amounted to gross misconduct, describing the conduct of the officer as an "utter disgrace".
"He alone was responsible for the comments and it was or must have been obvious to him his comments were abhorrent," Cmdr Prins added.
The Met had previously said he had "displayed extreme racial, violent and discriminatory views", as well as a lack of "respect, courtesy and professionalism".
Eight serving police officers, a former Met constable, and a police constable who moved from London to serve with Gloucestershire Police will undergo accelerated hearings, the Met previously confirmed.
PM backs minister as fifth grooming gang survivor urges her to quit
Desk report: Sir Keir Starmer has backed safeguarding minister Jess Phillips, as a fifth abuse survivor calls on her to quit to restore trust in the grooming gangs inquiry.
Carly, not her real name, joins a group of four abuse survivors who have accused Phillips of "betrayal" over a letter where she described reports the scope of the inquiry could be expanded as "untrue".
Carly told the BBC she wanted to remain part of the inquiry, in contrast to the four survivors who said they would only re-join it if Phillips stood down as a minister - but she said she agreed with their criticisms.
The PM said the inquiry would have the power to compel witnesses to be questioned and would be guided by a panel of survivors, which the BBC understands had at least 20 members at the start.
There has been turmoil over the past week, with Fiona Goddard and Ellie Reynolds quitting the survivors panel in the inquiry on Monday, and two more known as "Elizabeth" and "Jess" following them on Tuesday and Wednesday this week.
They all wrote open letters citing similar concerns, around the inquiry being widened beyond grooming gangs, tight controls on what they could say and who they could speak
The prime minister said he still had faith in Phillips to be in charge of setting up the inquiry. The national inquiry into the sexual exploitation of children by grooming gangs in England and Wales was announced by Prime Minister Sir Keir Starmer in June.
to, and potential inquiry chairs having links to policing and social work - two professions facing questions about trust.
An email was sent to members of the survivors panel by NWG, the charity tasked with organising it on behalf of the government, asking if
they wanted to keep the the inquiry focused on grooming gangs or if they would like it to be widened out and there is disagreement among survivors on this.
Phillips published a letter on Tuesday warning there was "misinformation" swirling around the inquiry and seeking to "set the record straight", saying that taking four months to appoint a chair was not unusual for large public inquiries and was not evidence of a "cover up".
However, she also wrote that reports the government is seeking to dilute the focus of the inquiry were "untrue" and she insisted that it would be "laserfocused" on grooming gangs.
This appears have sparked anger among the four survivors, who write in their letter to the home secretary that they had "raised legitimate concerns around the inquiry's direction" but "in response, your safeguarding minister, Jess Phillips called our accounts untrue".
They wrote: "Being publicly contradicted and dismissed by a government minister when you are a survivor telling the truth takes you right back to that feeling of not being believed all over again.
"It is a betrayal that destroyed what little
girls for many, many years."
Before becoming an MP, Phillips worked for Women's Aid, developing services for victims of domestic abuse, sexual violence, human trafficking and exploitation.
MacAlister said this showed she was a "lifelong advocate and champion for young girls who've been abused," adding that she has "already shown that she's properly engaging with the survivor community".
trust remained."
Now Carly, from Huddersfield, has told the BBC the latest letter is "bang on" and she also believes Phillips should go, because "she can't lie about what we all know" around the question of whether to widen the inquiry's scope.
"I think maybe the best thing for Jess to do is resign," she said, adding: "Maybe the prime minister needs to come and meet us survivors ourselves, because you can't really sit there and preach when you have not actually come and met us.
"I think the decent thing to do would be to stop arguing in Parliament and come and meet us and let's all work together."
Carly also said survivors have been forced to sign a confidentiality agreement, which feels like a gagging process to silence them.
Asked earlier by BBC South East if Phillips can continue in her position, Sir Keir said: "The most important thing in relation to the grooming gangs is that we have the national inquiry and that absolutely gets to the truth and to justice."
Asked if he has faith in the minister, the PM added: "Yes, of course, I do. Jess has been working on issues involving violence against women and
There has also been support for the way the inquiry has been proceeding from survivors who are staying on the panel.
Samantha WalkerRoberts, from Oldham, wants the scope of the inquiry to include victims of other types of sexual abuse, so they are not "silenced".
She was the victim of a grooming gang when she was 12 - but she was also raped and abused by a man who groomed her online, and as a younger child she was raped and abused by older men who she met through friends. On Wednesday, former Northern Irish police chief Jim Gamble ruled himself out of chairing the inquiry, saying victims and survivors needed a chair they could all trust and, while the "majority" of those on the panel supported him, it was "clear that a lack of confidence due to my previous occupation exists among some".
Mr Gamble, a child abuse expert who headed up the Child Exploitation and Online Protection (CEOP) police command, said he had "hoped that my track record of fierce independence" would have "enabled me to proceed and hold the organisations and individuals who failed these young people to account".
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Desk Report:
An Iranian migrant who was removed to France under the one in, one out deal has returned to Britain on a small boat as the number of migrants crossing this year surpassed the total number that arrived in 2024.
The unnamed man was among 369 migrants who arrived in seven boats last Thursday having been removed to France on September 19. He was only the third migrant to have been removed to France under the scheme. Before him, an Indian and an Eritrean were deported.
The Iranian first came to the UK via a small boat on August 6, the day the UKFrance treaty came into effect. Shabana Mahmood, the home secretary, was said to be furious when told of his return and has ordered officials to expedite his removal back to France.
The Home Office said that it would “not accept any abuse of our borders” and would rapidly remove anyone who re-enters the country. However, the department was unable to say what it would do to stop repeat attempts to get back into the UK after deportation under the scheme, given that deportees are not detained
Migrant deported under one in, one out scheme returns on small boat
by the French authorities.
The Conservatives said the Iranian’s arrival exposed the scheme as a “farce”.
In total, 42 migrants have been removed to France since the one in, one out deal came into effect, and 23 asylum seekers have been transferred from France to the UK.
Over the same period, 11,298 migrants have arrived on small boats. More than 100 migrants arrived in small boats on Wednesday alone, the figure for this year so far exceeding the total of
36,816 who arrived in 2024.
The Iranian said he had fled an asylum accommodation centre in Paris where French authorities had been housing him. He told The Guardian, which revealed his return to the UK, that he came back because he felt unsafe in France. He said: “When we were returned to France, we were taken to a shelter in Paris. I didn’t dare to go out because I was afraid for my life. The smugglers are very dangerous. They always carry weapons and
knives. I fell into the trap of a human trafficking network in the forests of France before I crossed to the UK from France the first time.
“They took me like a worthless object, forced me to work, abused me, and threatened me with a gun and told me I would be killed if I made the slightest protest.
The Home Office said: “Individuals who are returned under the pilot and subsequently attempt to reenter the UK illegally will be removed.” Josh MacAlister, the children’s minister, confirmed that the migrant, and any others who came back under the scheme, would be returned “again and again”.
He told Times Radio: “The message is really clear from the government.
“You will go back to France. The money you’ve spent will be wasted, and if you do it again and again, you will be returned again and again.”
MacAlister brushed off concerns that the man could claim he was a victim of modern slavery, describing them as “ludicrous”.
“If that’s the case and he paid a gang to then smuggle him to the UK, I think that claim is very, very shaky,” he said. “France is a safe country. You cannot cross the channel illegally.” Mahmood said the record numbers of migrant arrivals demonstrated the need for more radical action to combat crossings.
“Every day and every night I was filled with terror and stress. Every day I live in fear and anxiety, every loud noise, every shadow, every strange face scares me.” Border Force officers immediately identified him through routine biometric checks on small boat arrivals last Thursday.
Soldier F found not guilty of murder in first Bloody Sunday trial
Desk report: The only British soldier to be prosecuted over Bloody Sunday has been found not guilty of murder after a judge concluded that the evidence against him fell “well short”.
Soldier F, a former paratrooper who is now in his seventies, was accused of shooting dead two unarmed protesters and attempting to kill five others on January 30, 1972.
Thirteen civilians were killed in total when the Parachute Regiment opened fire on a civil rights demonstration held in Londonderry, Northern Ireland. Despite the “gratuitous” shootings becoming a flashpoint at the start of the Troubles, it took more than half a century for a serviceman to be charged. Soldier F, who cannot be named because of a court order protecting his identity, was accused of murdering James Wray, 22, and William McKinney,
26, and trying to kill Patrick O’Donnell, Joseph Friel, Joe Mahon, Michael Quinn and an unknown person. He had pleaded not guilty to all seven counts. Delivering his verdict over the non-jury trial, Judge Patrick Lynch KC described at length the “harrowing events” that took place on Bloody
Sunday, including survivors’ descriptions of being shot in the face while fleeing. Over the course of the two-anda-half-hour ruling, he said that the court established that soldier F was part of the group of British paratroopers who had opened fire on civilians. Those firing had intended to
kill, the judge said, based on the rifles used and injuries indicating a level of military training. He said: “I’m satisfied that soldiers who opened fire did so with the intention to kill. Given the nature of their weapons — high velocity SLRs [self-loading rifles] — the range of no more than
50 yards and injuries to the wounded all on the upper body.”
He said that the soldiers responsible for “shooting in the back unarmed civilians fleeing from them” had “totally lost all sense of military discipline” and “should hang their heads in shame”. However, the court could not establish “by whose hand the fatal shots were fired” due to evidence falling “well short” of the standard. Statements from fellow soldiers implicating Soldier F were found to have been “serially untruthful” about the event.
The judge added: “Whatever suspicions the court may have about the role of F, this court is constrained and limited by the evidence properly presented before it. To convict it has to be upon evidence that is convincing and manifestly reliable.
Starmer told to stop ‘show trials’ of veterans
Desk Report: Sir Keir Starmer has been told to stop “show trials” of Troubles veterans after a former paratrooper was cleared of murdering civilians on Bloody Sunday.
The man, known as Soldier F and now in his 70s, was cleared on Thursday of murdering two unarmed protesters and attempting to kill five others more than 50 years ago. He is the only soldier prosecuted over the killings in the Bogside area of Londonderry, Northern Ireland, on Jan 30 1972, and was dragged through a fiveweek non-jury trial before a judge ruled at Belfast Crown Court that the evidence against him fell “well short”.
The verdict is likely to bring an end to five decades of multi-million pound inquiries and investigations into Bloody Sunday, regarded as one of the darkest days of the Troubles when 13 civilrights demonstrators were shot dead and more than a dozen were injured.
However, other Troubles veterans still face potential prosecution because Labour has scrapped Conservative plans to offer them immunity. On Thursday night, in the wake of the Soldier F verdict, Sir Keir was told he must back down and reinstate these plans under the Legacy Act in full.
Robert Jenrick, the shadow justice secretary, said: “Soldier F has been dragged through the courts, despite a clear lack of evidence.
“There are going to be many more prosecutions brought like this because Keir Starmer plans to scrap the protections brought in through the Legacy Act. The treatment of our brave veterans brings shame on our country.” Adml Lord West, the former head of the Royal Navy and a Labour peer, told The Telegraph he was “growing increasingly concerned” about his party’s planned legislative changes to the Act.
The retired Cold War commander added: “We shouldn’t be bringing individual soldiers in front of courts for charges like this from 50 years ago. We shouldn’t be doing it.”
Lord Glasman, founder of the Blue Labour campaign group, added: “We must reverse it as soon as
possible.” Suella Braverman, the former Conservative home secretary, said Soldier F should never have been prosecuted, adding: “It is a disgrace that this ever came to trial. The witch hunt of our brave veterans needs to stop.”
Doug Beattie, a spokesman
Soldier F was charged in 2019, but the Northern Ireland Troubles (Legacy and Reconciliation) Act 2023, introduced by the Conservatives, brought a halt to dozens of other civil cases and inquests linked to the conflict.
in July 2024.
Throughout his trial, Soldier F sat in the courtroom behind a curtain supported by a number of veterans who sat in a packed public gallery. Soldier F was accused of the murders of James Wray, 22, and William McKinney, 26, on Bloody Sunday.
for the Ulster Unionist Party, said: “Why was this show trial allowed to proceed in the first place when the evidence was so clearly flawed?” Soldier F, who was a lance corporal with the 1st Battalion of the Parachute Regiment at the time of Bloody Sunday, was the only soldier to face trial in relation to the killings. The £200m Bloody Sunday Inquiry, the most expensive in British legal history, concluded in 2010 that those killed were innocent and unarmed. It was followed by an apology from David Cameron, then the prime minister.
It also offered conditional immunity for alleged perpetrators of crimes during the Troubles in exchange for their co-operation with a new investigatory body, the Independent Commission for Reconciliation and Information Recovery. The law was pushed through despite opposition from all the major Northern Irish parties, including the DUP and Sinn Féin, and the Republic of Ireland.
Labour has now started the process of repealing the act after promising to do so before the general election
Mulholland KC, defending in the case, had put to the court that the statements of Soldiers G and H fundamentally contradicted each other in terms of who fired, where and when. He also described Soldier H as an “unreliable witness”.
He said: “At every turn the contradictions are absolutely fundamental when one considers their bearing on the reliability of the accounts that they provide.”
Delivering his judgment, Judge Patrick Lynch KC said that on Bloody Sunday a number of members of the Parachute Regiment “lost all sense of military discipline” but there was no concept of “collective guilt” in the courts. He concluded: “To convict it has to be upon evidence that is convincing and manifestly reliable.
“The evidence presented by the Crown falls well short of this standard and signally fails to reach the high standard of proof required in a criminal case; that of proof beyond a reasonable doubt. “Therefore, I find the accused not guilty on all seven counts on the present bill of indictment.”
Paul Young, the national spokesman for the Northern Ireland Veterans Movement, said veterans would be “heartened by this verdict today”.
The prosecution case largely relied on statements made by two of Soldier F’s comrades, known as Soldier G and Soldier H, in the immediate aftermath of the deaths, who claimed he had opened fire at Glenfada Park, Londonderry. But the two veterans’ statements were not cross-examined during the trial because Soldier G has since died while H, whom the inquiry heard fired the most shots on Bloody Sunday, indicated he would exercise his right against self-incrimination if summoned. Mark
“Soldiers across the United Kingdom will be happy with this, and I hope that there are no more soldiers brought to the courts here with evidence that has actually no way of going through.” Defending the decision to prosecute, Stephen Herron, Northern Ireland’s Director of Public Prosecutions, said: “From the outset, this case presented complex legal and evidential issues, including the admissibility and reliability of statements taken from soldiers by the Royal Military Police at the time.”
He added: “We can assure the public that all decisionmaking in this case was conducted independently and impartially and fully in accordance with our Code for Prosecutors.”
Following the verdict, Mr McKinney’s brother said Soldier F would leave Court 12 “a million miles away from being an honourable discharge”
King Charles and Pope Leo hold historic prayer service in Vatican
Desk report::It was the moment that made ecclesiastical history. The King and the Pope joined together in prayer, marking the public end to a 500-year-old divide and ushering the Christian faith into a new era.
It was quiet, simple and understated: blink, in fact, and you might have missed it.
The two heads of state, standing before a congregation in the Sistine Chapel, did not put their hands together, kneel or bow their heads conspicuously. Instead, the Pope and the Archbishop of York, representing the Church of England, spoke words of prayer in unison.
“Amen,” replied the King. It was the first time a British monarch, as supreme head of the Church of England, has prayed with the Pope in public in modern history.
For the King, who has made it his mission to bridge the gap between faiths and now within the Christian faith, it was an immeasurably important gesture.
And there was more to come.
At the Papal Basilica and Abbey of St Paul’s Outside the Wall, as the voices of choir boys soared, the King looked visibly moved as he was made Royal Confrater, a new title created for the occasion to mark the brotherhood between the Anglican and Catholic church and Charles’s personal contribution. Cardinal James Harvey, Archpriest of St Paul’s Basilica, told a small congregation that the “significance of this visit today cannot be overestimated”, explaining that the churches of England and Rome had moved from “mutual incomprehension and suspicion” to a relationship which has grown “deeper and warmer”.
Speaking directly to the King, who sat in a throne-like chair built for him which will remain in the basilica in perpetuity, he added: “Your presence is historic by any measure or calculation.”
It marked, he said, the start of a “soul-stirring new chapter”. The King’s face belied his emotions: when he was offered a “heartfelt welcome”, he nodded and looked down at his hands.
At times during the service, he closed his eyes, swaying a little to the Gregorian chants. No-one, it appeared, understood the significance of the day better. The King
and Queen took a moment of private prayer, on their knees in front of the Tomb of St Paul.
Vincent Nicholls, Archbishop of Westminster Cathedral, read a prayer saying: “For all who bear the burdens of illness or are weighed down by pain: that the sick may find strength in the companionship of Jesus, and in his passion know their salvation. Lord, in your mercy.”
In a short walkabout outside, he was greeted with shouts of “God save the King”.
The King and Queen had arrived at the Apostolic Palace by car on Thursday morning, greeted by the Swiss Guard and the national anthems.
Pope Leo XIV greeted them inside; the first time the King has met this Pope, the fourth pontiff with whom he has become acquainted. Posing for an official photograph, the King joked about the “constant hazard” of the cameras.
Pope Leo, who has been in position since May, told King Charles III: “You get used to it.”
The King told the Pope it was a “pleasure to meet you, if I may say so”.
“You’re so kind to see us,” he added. They went on to exchange gifts, which the King called a “small token of esteem and appreciation”.
The King presented the Pope with a large silver signed photograph, as per royal custom on state visits, and Icon of St Edward the Confessor.
The Pope gave the King a signed photograph of himself and scale version of the mosaic of Christ Pantocrator, in the Norman Cathedral of Cefalù, in Sicily, in return. The King is known to greatly admire mosaics as an art form. The Queen had dressed in a black mantilla for the occasion, a mark of respect in line with Vatican protocol.
In the Sistine Chapel, trailed as the crowning moment of the day, the King, Queen, Pope and the Most Revered Stephen Cottrell, representing the Church of England, sat on yellow, throne-like seats under Michaelangelo’s Last Judgement. Watched by a sea of black cassocks, topped with red and purple caps, the King looked around in apparent wonder at the frescoes above him.
The choirs of His Majesty’s Chapel Royal and St George’s Chapel joined the choir of the Sistine Chapel to sing Thomas Tallis’s If Ye Love Me and two
After the last page
psalms.
At the end of the ecumenical service, Pope Leo led the symbolic moment with the words: “Let us pray.”
“God our Father, you have created the heavens and the earth and made us in your own image: teach us to see your hand in all your works and your likeness in all your children,” he said. “Through Christ our Lord.”
London’s grooming gang shame
Desk Report:
In the shadow of Stratford Westfield, just a few minutes' walk from the Olympic Park and the canal dotted with riverboats, young skateboarders and dancers would flock nightly to the glossy, white-tiled floors of a nearby shopping mall.
The fading Stratford Centre was a magnet for teenagers. When shoppers departed, it would turn into a sanctuary for London’s homeless seeking shelter. It also became something much darker: a hub for grooming gangs who sought vulnerable teens to exploit. In 2017, only a few years after the national scandal of grooming gangs in Rotherham dominated the news, another investigation was launched in east London: Operation Grandbye. It was sparked by allegations from four girls, aged between 13 and 15, who alleged that they had been raped by men based around the Stratford Centre. Officers went on to identify 18 girls as victims, most aged 14 and 15. The teens targeted in this area of east London are far from London’s only victims. Yet there has seemingly been a catastrophic failing of the Met Police to connect the dots from borough to borough, meaning grooming gangs in the capital can operate unbothered.
The Standard has spoken to social workers, charities, experts and survivors who all say sexual abuse by gangs is ubiquitous across the capital. Cases outlined in independent reports published by local authorities in London over the past two years suggest young girls are being groomed by groups of men.
The investigations — known as Child Safeguarding Practice Reviews — were ordered after serious incidents involving children who were sexually and criminally exploited. They all tell a similar story of vulnerable youngster, often in care, let down by the authorities there to protect them. In 2017 in Stratford, detectives acted swiftly, and
the arrests of six men followed, though half of these suspects were themselves aged 16 or under.
Two of the men were aged 21 and one 34. Police issued nine Child Abduction Warning Notices, a tool used to disrupt relationships between adults and children when exploitation is suspected. But progress appears to have stalled, and countless cases of child exploitation continue in the capital. The last public update on Operation Grandbye came in a written answer at Mayor’s Question Time in August 2018: “Operation Grandbye has been successful in disrupting perpetrators through a number of arrests and civil orders… The Met Police will continue to monitor the impact of the operation [and the] Sexual Exploitation Team (SET) maintain a working relationship with the local borough police in Newham.”
As part of the Standard’s investigation, we sent a Freedom of Information request to the force asking about the results of the police action — how many people were charged and convicted of crime and whether any other victims were identified. Six months later, no answers have been received. For years Britain’s grooming gang scandal has been defined by a handful of northern towns where groups of men abused vulnerable girls with near impunity while police and local councils seemingly turned a blind eye and, in some cases, even criminalised the victims.
London was barely mentioned, with authorities suggesting that child exploitation in the capital was centred predominantly around county lines drug dealing gangs. Is this wilful ignorance, or an institutional cover up? When Sir Sadiq Khan was questioned about it earlier this year, he said the focus in the city was primarily on county lines drug dealing. When pushed by the Conservative’s leader on the London Assembly, Susan Hall, he denied knowing what she meant by a grooming gang.
“We do have issues in London with young girls being groomed for county lines,” the Mayor said.
“Some of those girls are used for sex and that is one of the reasons why I have set up things like the Lighthouse [a City Hall-funded project that helps survivors of child sexual abuse in north London] and why we are investing in London’s Violence and Exploitation Support Service.”
A spokesperson for the Mayor of London said: "Any individuals or gangs exploiting
young women and girls for sex are utterly abhorrent. They must face the full force of the law. Anyone with any information about any crimes should contact the police so that action can be taken. "The Mayor and the Met police are committed to doing all they can to protect women and children in London from organised criminal and sexual exploitation, including instances of gangs sexually exploiting young women and girls.”
Met Commissioner Sir Mark Rowley last week told Assembly Members in City Hall that Scotland Yard had a “steady flow” of ongoing multi-offender child sexual exploitation investigations, and a “very significant” number of allegations would need to be reopened because of the Home Office’s grooming gangs review.
But he added that he would be “loath” to take child protection specialists away from dealing with current caseloads “to look back in history” and it might cost “millions of pounds” to reinvestigate the alleged crimes. Retired Chief Superintendent Simon Ovens, a former Met borough commander, told the Standard: “More should have been done at the time.
“But as I recall, it wasn’t high on the list of priorities for any mayor or commissioner because other things were. There was a focus on 12 key crime types — including robbery, burglary and even bicycle theft. Child sexual grooming wasn’t one of those we were measured on or had to put resources into.”
However, Mr Ovens said funds must be found to go after London gangs: “If people were the victims of sexual grooming as young children, it is absolutely vital that we go back and investigate those crimes. This isn’t some ‘woke chit-chat’, it’s stuff that ruined people’s lives.”
Susan Hall said she had been contacted privately by victims of grooming gangs after making numerous attempts to force Sir Sadiq to respond in public to her concerns.
She told the Standard: “It beggars belief that we are being told London is the only place in the country where there are no grooming gangs. “It’s absolutely outrageous that Sadiq Khan fails to take this seriously.
“I have been asking for months - then lo and behold last Thursday Mark Rowley suddenly said there were grooming gangs. It’s hugely concerning.”