NCA urged to probe alleged grooming gang 'cover up' in Bradford
A former Bradford Council official allegedly threatened to have a charity worker and former police officer arrested unless he stopped investigating grooming gangs, it is claimed.
Whistleblower John Piekos, a former Detective Chief Inspector in Greater Manchester Police, also alleged that a senior West Yorkshire Police (WYP) officer told him that he risked inflaming community tensions by continuing to raise child sexual exploitation.
The account of Mr Piekos has led the Shadow Home Secretary Chris Philp, inset, to write to the National Crime Agency urging an investigation into the potential for misconduct in public office by the former WYP officer. Mr Philp said: “There is now evidence from across the country that those in authority covered up these rapes because the perpetrators were mainly of Pakistani heritage.
“Covering up the rape of young girls for that reason is immoral, yet not a single person has ever been held to account for these cover-ups.”
Mr Philp’s letter to the NCA recounts Mr Pikos’ testimony, who is willing to give evidence under oath in court.
After 30 years with the GMP, Mr Pikos had retired and was working for an anti-trafficking charity in Bradford in 2009.
In his letter, Mr Philp says: “In 2010 as part of his work for the charity, he began investigating issues around a children’s home in Bradford where he observed multiple incidents of children going missing late at night.
“John said these girls would often be gone for long periods of time. As part of his investigation, one night he followed a car that collected a girl from the home and he then witnessed the young girl apparently being abused in the car. He believed the driver to be of Asian heritage.”
Mr Pikos recounted these incidents to Bradford police, several children’s charities and the Bishop of Bradford at a meeting. He was told to brief the council about these issues.
Mr Philp’s letter claims that a senior council official “told John that if he did not stop looking into the situation then she would have him arrested. John told me that he was shocked to be threatened in this way”.
Mr Piekos then alleges that a senior WYP officer called him up and said that if he continued looking into grooming gangs “all this work was being put in jeopardy because the far right could use this to start rioting and fomenting hatred between the various community groups”.
He claims the officer told him: “Can’t you just go away.”
Mr Philp adds that it is clear that the officer – whose name is withheld for legal reasons – had “no intention of investigating these crimes, as he was obliged to do, but he was also seeking to actively influence or warn John Piekos away from looking into them himself”.
A WYP spokesperson said: “We are aware of a letter sent from Mr Chris Philp MP to the National Crime Agency. However no formal report has yet been made to us directly, and we would encourage Mr Philp to contact us regarding this matter.”
The NCA added: “We can confirm the director general has received a letter and will respond to Mr Philp in due course.”
A spokesperson for Bradford Council said: “The contents of the letter sent by Mr Philp MP to the NCA relate to conversations that Mr Piekos says took place 15 years ago, in 2010. The details of this have not been shared with us and we can find no record of this conversation so aren’t able to comment further at this stage. If anyone has a concern about the safety of a child, they must report it to the police.”
Since 2016, police investigations in West Yorkshire have resulted in over 200 offenders sentenced to over 2,200 years, and there are currently 50 historic child sexual exploitation investigations ongoing.