‘Police must acknowledge Pakistani sex-grooming issue#’

The Home Affairs Select Committee’s findings support concerns raised by former Keighley MP Ann Cryer, who faced a fierce backlash when she suggested underlying cultural attitudes might be a factor in such offending, which she was worried was happening in her constituency.

The panel heard from Ms Cryer in January, when she told members the problem had gone unchecked because authorities were “terrified of being called racist”.

Her successor Kris Hopkins supported her view, telling the committee: “Since that time, many more children have been abused because of the failures of the agencies and of the communities to address what was happening.”

The model of offending identified in the report featured in a number of recent high-profile cases, including in Rotherham, Rochdale, Derby and Oxford.

But the committee warned there was no simple link between race and child sexual exploitation.

“It is a vile crime which is perpetrated by a small number of individuals, and abhorred by the vast majority, from every ethnic group,” MPs said.

“However, evidence presented to us suggests there is a model of localised grooming of Pakistani-heritage men targeting young white girls.”

The panel said it was concerned to hear agencies had been slow to draw attention to the issue for fear of affecting community cohesion.

“The condemnation from those communities of this vile crime should demonstrate that there is no excuse for tip-toeing around this issue,” the report found.

“It is important that police, social workers and others be able to raise their concerns freely, without fear of being labelled racist.”

The panel said agencies should not be “blinkered by one formula which will blind them to other patterns of abuse”, however.

“Stereotyping offenders as all coming from a particular background is as likely to perpetuate the problem as a refusal to acknowledge a particular group of offenders from a common ethnicity,” the report said.

The report also warned that the under-reporting of offences against ethnic minority children meant it should not be assumed all victims were white.

“Witnesses told us there were cases of groups of Asian men grooming Asian girls, but these do not come to light because victims are often alienated and ostracised by their own families and the whole community if they go public with allegations,” it noted.

Evidence of grooming carried out by offenders from other ethnic groups was also acknowledged, including cases involving men from Eastern Europe and Africa.

The report also highlights grooming and abuse carried out by a gang of white British men in Torbay, Devon, as well as the five white British men sentenced as part of the Derby case last year.

Committee chairman Keith Vaz said: “Race is a factor but it is one of many in cases of child sexual exploitation.

“Children only have one chance at childhood; once that childhood is stolen by the horrific crime of sexual exploitation, it cannot be returned.”