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Child sexual exploitation bombshell as official report reveals almost 500 victims in Birmingham and West Midlands




Rocketing figure more than DOUBLE previous estimate, as police tackle 70 live cases


Almost 500 children in Birmingham and the West Midlands have been identified as victims of sexual exploitation in just six months, a bombshell new report has revealed.

The chilling figure is more than DOUBLE the previous estimate for the same period, indicating the scale of the problem was previously vastly underestimated.

And for the first time police and council officials have publicly admitted a ‘disproportionate number’ of Asian Pakistani men are involved in on-street grooming, as revealed by the Mail last year.

The assessment report also reveals there are currently 70 live Child Sexual Exploitation (CSE) investigations being conducted by West Midlands Police, with 97 people on bail.

The 488 figure was for the period January to June 2014 but has rocketed from an original estimate of 210 for the same period after a full review by police and council officials. But authorities admit the number is likely to be a “significant underestimate’’ of the true scale of the problem.

By comparison around 1,400 children were found to have been failed by the authorities after being sexually exploited in Rotherham over a16-year period, eventually leading to the mass resignations of council and police figures.

Former Home Office CSE expert Stephen Rimmer, now seconded to Birmingham City Council, has published the new report with contributions from West Midlands Police and the seven councils in the region. It revealed how:

*488 children were identified by police and local authorities as being sexually exploited or at risk from sex exploitation from online and on-street grooming gangs in the first six months of 2014;

*87 per cent of victims were female and 54 per cent were white;

*Around a third of children identified were in local authority care;

*Children going missing from home or care homes was a frequent factor in the cases.

The report also said: “Suspects are from a wide range of backgrounds, but there are disproportionate numbers from an Asian Pakistani background suspected of abuse and exploitation on the streets; and primarily white male suspects in relation to online offending.”

It later adds: “Our profile of offenders is evolving as our understanding of the threat grows. The most common background for online predators remains white young and middle-aged males. Offenders investigated for predominately on-street activity are disproportionately but by no means exclusively males of Asian-Pakistani origin.

“The common factor across all perpetrators is their manipulative and abusive attitudes and behaviours.

“We need to work with schools, faith groups, communities, parents and young people themse4lves to address any factors which might generate unacceptable attitudes within any ethnic group.

“We will continue working closely with those neighbourhood bodies which recognise the risks of such cultural attitudes within some men and boys in their own communities and challenge such attitudes.”

The report said the CSE offending typically takes place with multiple victims and offenders being involved at each incident, with victims frequently trafficked to other areas including London, Greater Manchester, the West Country, Suffolk and North Wales. It adds: “The most common vulnerable and frequented CSE locations within the West Midlands are residential dwellings, hotels and parks - those living in children’s home are frequently targeted too.”

In terms of the 488 figure, the report says: “We believe the number of victims over the first six months of last year is still a significant underestimate of the true scale of the problem in our region.

“Many victims worry they will not be believed or are threatened by offenders and don’t feel able to seek help. Many victims of grooming do not see themselves as victims of abuse as they have been so significantly manipulated by the perpetrators.”

The report admits cases of CSE have been growing since last summer, but claims the increase is a ‘positive step’ as more victims are coming forward after public awareness campaigns and initiatives by police and councils. “However, we know we have more to do and will be publishing a further update later in the year,’’ it says.

Potential mistakes in tackling CSE have been previously highlighted by the Mail, including an investigation showing how Birmingham City Council had ‘buried’ a report by a respected academic 23 years ago.

Researcher Dr Jill Jesson was asked by the authority to look at the issue of child prostitution involving girls in care back in 1990. The following year, after six months research, she produced a critical two-part report which showed child protection failings by social workers and other agencies.

Her report also highlighted claims that some Asian private hire drivers were linked to the sexual exploitation of young white girls in care, including some who had been cautioned for prostitution offences. Yet when Dr Jesson presented her draft findings to a steering group, she was ordered to remove all reference linking ethnicity and the private hire trade. Incredibly, her full amended final report was never published.

A meeting planned to discuss it was cancelled – and all copies were to be destroyed. Dr Jesson told the Mail: “I was employed to do the work because I think they thought I would be objective,” she said. “I was told to reveal what I saw. I did – and some people didn’t like it.”

In his accompanying statement to the report Mr Rimmer, the regional strategic lead on preventing violence against vulnerable people, said the assessment gave ‘‘a proper picture for the first time of the scale and nature of the CSE threat across the West Midlands.’’

He added: “Since this snapshot we have put into practice common standards and a shared regional approach to coordinate our operational activity, we have launched an awareness raising campaign to inform young people, parents and communities and we have engaged directly with front line staff – teachers, GPs, taxi drivers and many others.

“This is to improve our support to children and young people at risk and to make life increasingly difficult for perpetrators of this crime – our number of investigations is growing as a result.

“I am clear that victims can now feel more confident than ever that they will get a proper and caring response from these services. CSE thrives in the dark and we are determined to expose it and tackle it wherever we find it.”

Commenting on behalf of the seven West Midlands local authorities, Solihull’s Chief Executive Nick Page, said: “Today’s assessment describing our collective work to tackle the perpetrators of child sexual exploitation and protect children and young people is an important staging post. We have moved some way from having a collective will to now having some tangible evidence of our impact.

“However we cannot be complacent in any way. The perpetrators of this horrendous abuse are, whilst evil, very adept at disguising their activity. As the statutory agencies our duty, responsibility and purpose to protect children and young people is crystal clear. Working together with our communities and partners across the West Midlands has to be the way to go. So we can say today that some progress is being made, whilst being clear there is so much more we must do. “

Detective Chief Superintendent Danny Long, from West Midlands Police’s Public Protection Unit, said: ”Child sexual exploitation remains a top priority for West Midlands Police.

“Over the past 12 months our Public Protection Unit has been doubled in strength to some 800 officers and staff. This means around 10 per cent of the entire force are engaged in the fight and shows just how committed we are to tackling CSE.

“There is nothing more important than safeguarding children and our continuing work with all local authorities and other partner agencies strengthens everybody’s ability to stamp out the problem.”

The Mail told in January whilst the force has doubled its numbers of officers in its Public Protection Unit, that still only accounts for just over ten per cent of the force’s resources. The PPU tackles domestic violence, female genital mutilation, honour crime, CSE, child abuse and sexual offences. Domestic violence alone makes up 30 per cent of the force’s total workload.



SOLIHULL AND CSE:

The report said the number of victims at serious risk of CSE within Solihull was ‘significantly greater proportionately’ than the six other local authority areas. But it added: “This is not because Solihull is a ‘hot-spot’ for CSE activity - it is because Solihull had particularly well-developed processes for identifying children at risk at this period and we expect all local authorities to be generating greater numbers of identified children at risk through using these processes which have been coming into place over recent months.’’



WHERE TO GET HELP:

If you have any concerns about the safety of a child, or would like some advice, you can call:

*Barnardo’s in the West Midlands on 0121 359 5333;

*West Midlands Police on 101;

*And Childline for free, confidential advice 0800 1111.

Further sources of support can be found at http://www.seeme-hearme.org.uk/help-advice-and-support/

http://www.birminghammail.co.uk/news/mi ... al-8862316

_________________
Think of how stupid the average person is, and realize half of them are stupider than that.
George Carlin

At risk from sex exploitation from online and on-street grooming gangs is not the same as having been exploited....those identified as being at high risk group should be protected before they get to the exploited stage. potentially any child in the country could be classed as AT RISK, it's just to vague a statement.

Tragedy of Birmingham City Council's 'buried' child sexual exploitation report



Peter Hay admits a 'huge opportunity' to protect children in care was missed

A Birmingham City Council boss has condemned the authority’s decision not to follow up on a bombshell report linking Asian private hire drivers to child sexual exploitation victims.

Peter Hay said it was a “tragedy” that “many” of the issues in Dr Jill Jesson’s 1991 investigation were not “developed”.

His comments came just four months after he defended the council from claims the former Aston University lecturer’s report – commissioned by the authority – was “buried”.

Mr Hay, its strategic director for people, told the Mail last November: “This is a matter which was discussed in full and in public over 20 years ago.”

In a new report to the council’s education and vulnerable children scrutiny committee, he repeated his belief there had been no cover-up – but admitted Dr Jesson’s research would have been potentially “ground-breaking”.

He said: “The tragedy is many of the issues in the report were then not developed – it shows the attitude of male staff in particular towards the young girls; it highlights the involvement of taxi drivers; it has a good grasp of the number involved.

“The council’s decision to commission the research was not then translated into similar bold actions to follow through on the messages coming from the work, and from the voice of young people who were being abused.”

Dr Jesson was asked by the authority to look at the issue of child prostitution involving girls in care back in 1990.

The following year, after six months research, she produced a critical two-part report which showed child protection failings by social workers and other agencies.

Her report also highlighted claims that some Asian private hire drivers were linked to the sexual exploitation of young white girls in care, including some who had been cautioned for prostitution offences.

Yet when Dr Jesson presented her draft findings to a steering group, she said she was ordered to remove all reference linking ethnicity and the private hire trade.

Incredibly, her full amended final report was never published.

A meeting planned to discuss it was cancelled – and all copies were to be destroyed.

“I was employed to do the work because I think they thought I would be objective,” Dr Jesson told the Mail.

“I was told to reveal what I saw.

“I did – and some people didn’t like it.

“There was a link between the sexual abuse of the girls and private hire drivers in the city.

“I thought at the time I did the work that there was an issue with race.

“Most of the girls were white.

“I was asked to take this link out, to erase it.”

Mr Hay confirmed last year that Dr Jesson’s report was NOT published in 1991 “for reasons which are not clear”.

He said it was published in full in December 1995, although the Mail reported last year that just one part of the two-part original report was discussed.

In his new report to the education and vulnerable children committee, Mr Hay conceded: “A huge opportunity to improve the safety of children in care and to build a pioneering response to the sexual exploitation of children in care was missed.

“The lesson is to not allow the issues to get lost, however uncomfortable the debate.

“I am sure the current scrutiny committee will share that resolve.”

Mr Hay also revealed that social services were “not robust” in following up the “psychological needs” of the young women highlighted in Dr Jesson’s report.

He said six returned to care with sexually transmitted diseases, four became pregnant and three were physically abused – with one suffering burns and another reportedly thrown out of a moving car.

“This is compounded by the different standards of the time – for example the perception of this as ‘prostitution’ not ‘child sexual exploitation’,” he added.

“It is clear the report is thorough in the application of research,” he adds.

“By the standards of the time, it was probably ground-breaking.”

Mr Hay’s new comments emerged as another report revealed that 488 children in Birmingham and the West Midlands were identified as victims of sexual exploitation in just six months from January to June last year.

The chilling figure was more than double the previous estimate for the same period, indicating the scale of the problem was previously vastly underestimated.

For the first time, police and council officials publicly admitted a ‘disproportionate number’ of Asian Pakistani men were involved in on-street grooming, as revealed by the Mail last year.

http://www.birminghammail.co.uk/news/mi ... ed-8866877

_________________
Think of how stupid the average person is, and realize half of them are stupider than that.
George Carlin

‘Imams promote grooming rings’, Muslim leader claims



Dr Taj Hargey, imam of the Oxford Islamic Congregation, said race and religion were inextricably linked to the recent spate of grooming rings in which Muslim men have targeted under-age white girls.


Earlier this week seven members of a child sex ring from Oxford were found guilty of forcing under age girls to commit acts of "extreme depravity".


Their victims, aged between 11 and 15, were groomed and plied with alcohol and drugs before being sexually assaulted and forced into prostitution. They targeted "out of control" teenagers.


Dr Hargey said that the case brought shame on the city and the community and is a set back for cross community harmony.


But worse still is the refusal to face up to its realities, he wrote in the Daily Mail.


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The activities of the Oxford sex ring are “bound up with religion and race” because all the men - though of different nationalities - were Muslim and they “deliberately targeted vulnerable white girls, whom they appeared to regard as 'easy meat', to use one of their revealing, racist phrases”, Dr Hargey said.

That attitude has been promoted by religious leaders, he believes. “On one level, most imams in the UK are simply using their puritanical sermons to promote the wearing of the hijab and even the burka among their female adherents. But the dire result can be the brutish misogyny we see in the Oxford sex ring.”

People tiptoe around the issues and refuse to discuss the problems exposed by the scandals such as those “from Rochdale to Oxford, and Telford to Derby”, he wrote.

In all cases the perpetrators were Muslim men and the victims were under age white girls.

To pretend it is not a problem is the Islamic community is “ideological denial”, Dr Hargey said.

“But then part of the reason this scandal happened at all is precisely because of such politically correct thinking. All the agencies of the state, including the police, the social services and the care system, seemed eager to ignore the sickening exploitation that was happening before their eyes.

“Terrified of accusations of racism, desperate not to undermine the official creed of cultural diversity, they took no action against obvious abuse.”

The men were allowed, he said, to come and go from care homes by the authorities, and if the situation had been reversed with gangs of white men preying on Muslim teenagers ”the state's agencies would have acted with greater alacrity.”

True Islam preaches respect for women but in mosques across the country a different doctrine is preached - “one that denigrates all women, but treats whites with particular contempt,” the Imam said.

The men are taught that women are “second-class citizens, little more than chattels or possessions over whom they have absolute authority," he claims in the column.

“The view of some Islamic preachers towards white women can be appalling. They encourage their followers to believe that these women are habitually promiscuous, decadent, and sleazy — sins which are made all the worse by the fact that they are kaffurs or non-believers.

“Their dress code, from miniskirts to sleeveless tops, is deemed to reflect their impure and immoral outlook. According to this mentality, these white women deserve to be punished for their behaviour by being exploited and degraded.”

Such cases can only be prevented in the future if Britain abandons the blinkers of political correctness, he concludes.



http://www.telegraph.co.uk/news/uknews/ ... laims.html