Hugely Wasted Opportunity’: UK Grooming Gangs Inquiry

Published: 25 October 2025. The English Chronicle Desk. The English Chronicle Online.

In late 2012, Samantha Walker-Roberts boarded a Megabus from Manchester to London, bound for the Houses of Parliament. In an airless Westminster room, she recounted her story to Keith Vaz, then chair of the Home Affairs Select Committee.

Walker-Roberts’ abuse began in October 2006, aged 12, when she reported a sexual assault in a graveyard at a police station in Oldham, Greater Manchester. Dismissed by staff and encouraged to accept a lift home from two men loitering nearby, she ended the night in a detached house where multiple men raped and abused her.

Vaz, a former Labour MP, had been investigating “localised grooming” – gangs targeting teenagers across towns and cities in England. While concerns emerged about the overrepresentation of men of South Asian origin, Walker-Roberts emphasised that her attackers came from various ethnic backgrounds. Her case was referred to Operation Messenger, a child sexual exploitation taskforce, yet only one man, Shakil Chowdhury, a British citizen of Bangladeshi origin, was convicted due to a series of systemic failings.

Peter Fahy, then chief constable of Greater Manchester Police, defended the force’s record in tackling abuse, citing Operation Messenger in Oldham. Yet he admitted frustration that offenders had evaded justice longer than they should have. Questions arose over Rochdale, later dramatized in the BBC series Three Girls, where nine men were convicted of abusing white teenagers, reversing earlier decisions that dismissed victims as unreliable witnesses. Fahy rejected claims that ethnic considerations affected investigations.

For Walker-Roberts, the notion that victims of operations like Messenger were “prostitutes” was devastating, given that many were still in primary school when abused. “It’s offensive, abusive and upsetting,” she said.

Vaz’s role in leading the first major inquiry remains contentious, especially after his resignation in 2016 following a scandal involving male escorts. His 2013 report stressed the need for adequately funded multi-agency teams to prevent child sexual exploitation, yet many initiatives were cut or merged. In Oldham, Messenger battled funding issues before joining a regional taskforce in 2014. Telford, Shropshire, where around 1,000 children suffered abuse, faced similar struggles, while Rotherham’s child protection department ran specialist services after youth work closures.

The Rotherham inquiry, led by social work professor Alexis Jay in 2014, revealed that 1,400 girls were targeted between 1997 and 2013. Victims described rape, beatings, abductions, and being doused in petrol and set on fire. Jay noted that most perpetrators were described as Asian, yet councillors had failed to engage the community to tackle the issue.

Although the Jay report lacked the power to compel testimony under oath, it inspired further investigations. Telford’s council initially resisted, but a statutory inquiry was eventually commissioned in 2018 following a series of abuse-linked deaths. Chaired by former judge Tom Crowther, it highlighted decades of failings, though key individuals, including retired officer Clive Harding, declined to testify.

The government’s national inquiry into child abuse examined only six towns, leaving gaps in areas like Rotherham, Oldham, and Rochdale. Harriet Wistrich of the Centre for Women’s Justice described the omission as a “hugely wasted opportunity.”

Walker-Roberts campaigned for a statutory inquiry in Oldham to ensure victims like her could have their voices heard. Whitehall troubleshooter Louise Casey’s audit confirmed disproportionate numbers of Asian men among suspects but noted a lack of national ethnicity data. A panel of 30 survivors was formed to advise the inquiry, though five resigned, citing manipulation to widen its remit beyond street-based grooming gangs. Walker-Roberts, whose abusers’ case did not involve traditional grooming, continues to push for broader inclusion.

She and four other survivors wrote to Keir Starmer, urging that anyone wishing to contribute evidence should be allowed, highlighting that broader participation could encourage other victims to come forward.

Yet questions remain over the inquiry’s statutory powers. Crowther cautioned earlier this year that it could not compel witnesses to recall events, stating, “You can lead a horse to water, but you can’t make that horse drink.” For survivors like Walker-Roberts, the hope of answers remains fragile, caught between ambition and systemic limitations.