By Dave Atherton
For thirty years, gangs of mainly Pakistani heritage Muslims, often with other Muslims from Afghanistan and Bangladesh, systematically groomed and raped mainly white girls, some were Sikh, without let, hindrance, or interference. Aged between 10 and 15, the police, social services, and local politicians, at best, turned a blind eye; at worst covered it up or were child rapists themselves.
The police were petrified of being called racist; many also feared a Pakistani culture that is not conducive to the rule of law but more the rule of the mob. Many police forces were too frightened to do their jobs. Sarah Wilson, aged 14, a victim, went with her mother to the police, and even with 177 names on her phone of Pakistani heritage men, the police refused to investigate.
Social services were too scared to help the girls, many of whom came from broken homes and were in care, for fear of being labeled a racist and losing their careers. The local politicians, predominantly socialist Labour Party Councillors, were too petrified of losing a vote where 80% or more supported the party.
The rapist’s motivations went beyond lust and misogyny. Much of it was race and religious-based hatred. Many were physically abused, whether plied with alcohol, given heroin or cocaine, to beatings, or raped with a broken bottle. One girl’s vaginal tears took three months to heal. In contrast, others were murdered through an overdose of drugs, in the case of Victoria Agoglia, or in Blackpool, Charlene Downs, who was allegedly murdered, and her body fed into a mincer.
The Quran, which many Muslims believe, should be interpreted literally. Quran 4:24 أَزْوَاجِهِمْ أَوْ مَا مَلَكَتْ أَيْمَانُهُمْ, “And all married women (are forbidden unto you) save those (captives) whom your right hands possess.” A man may indulge in sexual relations with a non-Muslim without shame. A victim told me her rapist recited verses from the Quran to absolve him from guilt.
The local Muslim community knew what was going on. Rotherham was one of the worst cases of child rape. Parveen Qureshi, director of the United Multicultural Centre in Rotherham remarked that “Muslim leaders were fully aware of the problem but did nothing. ” They” talked in mosques but not to police.”
Others, including imams, actively encouraged it. In the wake of the jailing of seven Pakistanis in 2013, Oxford moderate imam Dr Taj Hargey said:
“It was “bound up with religion and race. In mosques across the country, a different doctrine is preached – one that denigrates all women but treats whites with particular contempt,” men are taught that women are “second-class citizens, little more than chattels or possessions over whom they have absolute authority. ” Dr Hargey finishes:
“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 behavior by being exploited and degraded.”
You might ask, where was the pushback? The establishment, government, councilors, political parties, and mainstream media hushed it. Anyone who raised the issue was denounced as a racist, a fascist, and a bigot who was destabilizing community relations. Tommy Robinson (real name Stephen Yaxley-Lennon) appeared on the BBC’s Newsnight program in 2011, where presenter Jeremy Paxman was sneering and incredulous. The founder member of the English Defence League (EDL), a working-class based protest group, has been harassed, arrested, and jailed for speaking the truth. Sometimes, he was the architect of his downfall, and sometimes, he was on the wrong side of the law. Nevertheless, the state used its full majesty and resources to victimize him. Only last November, he was covering a pro-Israel march for Urban Scoop in London and was arrested and pepper sprayed while sitting having his breakfast.
The tide did turn. As far back as 2001, the BBC smeared the victims as child prostitutes, but the first time many were made aware of Grooming gangs was in 2006. The admittedly vile fascist Nick Griffin was put on trial for hate speech. I found it strange he was found not guilty despite the grooming gang claims.
Under Robinson’s leadership, the EDL marches were attracting thousands and mainstream publicity, social media refused to bend to the woke narrative, and the government decided to wake up. The next watershed was Andrew Norfolk, who wrote for the highly respected Times Newspaper and investigated grooming gangs in the north and the Midlands of England. His article, published in 2011, was a landmark.
The next was the prosecution of rapists in Rochdale in north-west England. The Rochdale Crisis Intervention Team co-ordinator for the NHS, Sara Rowbotham, brought 180 cases to the police’s attention. At the same time, Maggie Oliver, a Detective in the Greater Manchester Police, who resigned as she was unable to investigate rape gangs, continued to pressure the force. The prosecutors, known as the Crown Prosecution Service, had been reluctant to take the rapists to court, mainly because they thought the girls would be poor witnesses in court. This was not a barrier for Nazir Afzal. May I note Mr Afzal is a practicing Muslim of Pakistani heritage? Between October 2013 and January 2020, forty-five men were jailed.
This week a damning 173-page report was published into Rochdale rape gangs ten years on. Rochdale is part of Greater Manchester, and the police force was criticized.
Commissioned by Manchester Mayor Andy Burnham, Malcolm Newsam CBE, co-author of the report, said: “Successive police operations were launched over this period, but these were insufficiently resourced to match the scale of the widespread organized exploitation within the area. “Consequently, children were left at risk, and many of their abusers to this day have not been apprehended.”
The Manchester Police are accused of still not doing their job, and 96 pedophiles are still in the community unprosecuted.
Similar findings were found in the 2014 Professor Alexis Jay report into Rotherham grooming gangs. In a town of about 250,000, over 1,400 girls were raped. Indifference, fears of being called racist, and a political cover-up, as usual.
The grooming still goes on, it is still ignored, and the shame of Britain continues.
About The Author
David Atherton is Chairman of Freedom2Choose, a libertarian lifestyles organization, journalist, and frequent contributor to the BBC, ITV, BBC Radio, TalkTV and GBNews.