Fri. Mar 29th, 2024

GMP identify 809 members of child sex grooming gangs as new unit is launched

A new police unit to investigate child sex grooming gangs in Greater Manchester has already identified more than 800 offenders.

It is running three major investigations into historic abuse of young girls in Manchester and Rochdale.

GMP’s Force Child Sexual Exploitation Unit, has 54 officers and staff and has been launched at a cost of £2.3m.

A year in the planning It comes in the wake of stinging criticism of the force for previous failings when investigating such crimes.

Across the force there are now 70 investigations which involve multiple victims of child sexual exploitation.

A total of 468 victims have been discovered of whom 332 have been identified. Police say there are 809 offenders of whom 540 are known.

In addition there are “hundreds of cases” where a single victim is involved.

The new unit will focus on large and complicated investigations and is currently handling three major operations.

One, Operation Exmoor, has identified ten new victims in Rochdale aged nine to 16 who were sexually abused between 2008 and and 2013. A wide range of alleged offences committed against them includes rape and sexual assault.

It was begun after a review of Operation Span, an investigation into an infamous child sex grooming gang led by Shabir Ahmed, known as “Daddy”.

Ahmed and eight others were convicted and jailed for a series of sex crimes committed against five girls who were abused and then ‘shared’ at sex parties across the north west between 2005 and 2008, although details of their crimes only emerged in 2012.

After the victims were initially not believed, a shelved investigation was resurrected as Operation Span and the victims vindicated.

A second investigation which the new CSE Unit is handling is Operation Green Jacket. It was launched in May 2019 as a response to the flawed Operation Augusta.

After the death of Victoria Agoglia, aged 15, in 2003, Augusta, was set up to see if there was a wider issue of child sexual exploitation in south Manchester. Victoria was sexually abused and injected with heroin.

Officers managed to identify a network of nearly 100 men potentially involved in the abuse of scores of girls via takeaways in and around Rusholme, but Augusta was shut down shortly afterwards due to resources, ‘rather than a sound understanding’ of whether lines of inquiry had been exhausted.

Hardly any charges were made against the men identified by the operation. Eight of them later went on to commit serious sexual crimes, including the rape of a child, the rape of a young woman, sexual assault and sexual activity with a child.

Operation Green Jacket has assessed 122 victims – 82 of whom have declared themselves as victims. It has identified 124 perpetrators of whom eight have been arrested as suspects.

Of the eight arrested four relate the case of Victoria Agoglia.

Deputy Chief Constable, Mabs Hussain, said: “Operation Exmoor is an investigation instigated at the end of 2019/2020. What I asked for was that all victims that had been seen as a result of Operation Span had received the level of service that we would expect today from Greater Manchester Police.

“From that we identified ten victims who provided further investigative opportunities. We have identified 142 offenders linked to the victims and 46 of then have been recognised as suspects. But there is a lot of work to do with the victims. ”

The unit is also running a third major operation, also in Rochdale, but due to operational sensitivities no further details are being released. But police are confident it will result in a large number of charges.

The Deputy Chief Constable added: “We will take any opportunities to bring offenders to justice and, importantly, provide support for victims. Our door is continuously open.”

“There are some horrendous things which happened to these girls which disgust me. That’s why we are so focused on making sure it gets the level of support it does.

“It is never nice when the Senior Investigating Officer briefs you on the circumstances surrounding the horrendous abuse victims suffered. You can’t help but feel for that victim. ”

Commenting on the CSE Unit he added: “It is not a gimmick. This has been in the planning since last year. I am grateful to the Mayor, Andy Burnham, he has supported and helped to finance this team.”

Officers were invited to join the unit and senior, very experienced officers are in charge.

“It you want to make a difference you have got to have people who are passionate and care. If it means knocking someone’s door for something they did 20 years ago we are going to do it.”

“What I don’t want is a repeat of the past. I am not saying we will never make mistakes, we will because we are human. But when we make a mistake, we will apologise and do all we can to put it right.

“What I want to make sure of is that we are not intentionally because of our lack of focus making mistakes.”

In addition to investigating large scale and complex cases, the unit will also have strategic oversight of all multi-victim/multi-suspect CSE investigations taking place across Greater Manchester.

Officers will work closely with dedicated representatives from the Crown Prosecution Service (CPS), Child & Adult Social Services, mental health services and Independent Sexual Violence Advisors (ISVA).

The Deputy Chief Constable added: “I’m incredibly proud to be able to update the public on the latest significant step we are taking to tackle the sexual exploitation of children in Greater Manchester.

“At full capacity, the unit will be made up of 54 officers and staff whose overriding priority will be to dedicate their specialist skills to investigating large scale and complex CSE investigations.

“This will provide consistency in our approach, as well as a specialist focus on victims and investigations. With this significant dedicated resource we will be able to progress complex investigations in a more focused and timely manner; allowing us to disrupt, investigate and convict those responsible for this abhorrent crime swifter than we ever have before.

“It is important to note that this team is not the only resource we have to call on in our campaign to tackle the exploitation of children.

“The work of the unit investigating the most serious and complex cases will be in addition to the work of the 10 Complex Safeguarding Teams currently located in each of our policing districts.

“Actions speak louder than words, and I believe that the establishment of this new dedicated unit clearly demonstrates our ongoing commitment to protecting children and bringing those responsible for abusing them to justice.”

“GMP is not the GMP of 15 years go. We have done a lot of work in the last two and a half years in this field. The amount of investment into this shows the force’s dedication.

“We are going to do everything we can to bring the perpetrators before court. I think the victims in Operation Green Jacket have been extremely brave to support the investigation when we have potentially failed them in the past and give us the opportunity to right the mistakes we made. It is a great leap of faith by them.”

 

Source: (Manchester Evening News)

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