Operation Beaconport: more than a thousand grooming gang cold cases being reviewed by NCA
More than a thousand alleged grooming gang cold cases are being reviewed by the National Crime Agency to see if charges can be brought.
It comes after then-Home Secretary Yvette Cooper ordered all of the country’s 43 police forces to review potential grooming gang cases between 2010 and 2025 which had no further action against the suspects.
The NCA said that 1,273 cases involving allegations of group-based child sexual exploitation and abuse have been referred from 23 forces.
Operation Beaconport - the name of the investigation - is focusing on the 236 allegations of rape, it explained.
This is to sit alongside the national inquiry into grooming gangs, which was launched after Baroness Louise Casey’s audit into the scandal.
The NCA said it was too early to say publicly how many cases were being reviewed from each police force.
Any reinvestigations would most likely be carried out by local detectives, however the NCA would take over the more complex cases.
NCA director general Graeme Biggar also issued a Crime and Courts Act yesterday, which orders police forces across the country to work together with a more co-ordinated approach.
He said: “Baroness Casey’s audit of group-based child sexual abuse and exploitation demanded law enforcement’s collective attention and a focused, UK-wide investigation which places victims and survivors at its very heart.
“Operation Beaconport is harnessing the experience of specially trained officers from the National Crime Agency and wider policing.
“It’s applying the tried and tested approach of Operation Stovewood and wider best practise to ensure victim and survivors’ experiences are validated, that their allegations are investigated thoroughly and that perpetrators face justice.
“It will set out a blueprint for future group-based child sexual abuse and exploitation investigations to ensure that police forces utilise every appropriate tactic and tool available to prevent child sexual abuse, to identify and arrest perpetrators and to swiftly safeguard victims and survivors.”
South and West Yorkshire have been two of the hot spots for grooming gangs.
There have been numerous inquiries into child sexual exploitation in Rotherham, after the Jay Report found 1,400 children were sexually abused between 1997 and 2013.
West Yorkshire and Bradford in particular is expected to be one of the locations assessed in the new national inquiry.
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.
While more than 70 defendants are currently charged and standing trial or listed to stand trial at Bradford and Leeds Crown Courts in 2025 and 2026.