‘Extensive failings’ to stop child sex abuse by criminal gangs, landmark inquiry finds

‘Extensive failings’ by police and councils has seen child sex abuse by criminal gangs become a “hidden problem”, a damning report has found.

Authorities are struggling to keep pace with the sexual abuse of children by grooming gangs, the Independent Inquiry into Child Sexual Abuse (IICSA) has found in its publication put out today (February 1)

Officials wrongly believed rates of abuse were falling, while the issue became “more of a hidden problem” and “increasingly underreported” across England and Wales, it found.

Bristol was one of the six areas looked at in the report into child sexual exploitation by organised networks, which was the inquiry’s 18th report on its work looking at the issue.

It comes after the conclusion of police Operation Brooke, which saw 13 men convicted of the sexual abuse of children in the city, with prison sentences from 18 months to 13 years.

Looking at Bristol, the report found:

• There was a “steady decline in child sex abuse risk assessments in the city, despite hundreds of “potential adult perpetrators” being identified;
• Police did not identify “significant organised crime gang involvement”;
• A disabled Bristol boy who was abused for three years from age 13 reported meeting with a “known paedophile”, but it was said there “little evidence” to support concerns;
• Police officers described a child as “prostituting herself” in a crime report;
• A Bristol girl went missing from care nine times in a year and was sexually exploited.

It also reported that Ch Supt William White, of Avon and Somerset Police, had said: “There’s lots of potential groups but to define them as different networks is virtually impossible”.

Professor Alexis Jay OBE, chairman of the IICSA, said: “The sexual exploitation of children by networks is not a rare problem confined to a small number of areas with high-profile criminal cases.

“It is a crime which involves the sexual abuse of children in the most degrading and destructive ways, by multiple perpetrators.

“We found extensive failures by local authorities and police forces in the ways in which they tackled this sexual abuse.”

The inquiry was first founded in 2014 after “public revulsion” over the Jimmy Saville case.

It is examining the extent to which institutions and organisations failed to protect children in England and Wales from sexual abuse.

What Avon and Somerset Police have said

Avon and Somerset Police today published its statement in response to the inquiry, in which the force said it recognised more needed to be done by all safeguarding agencies to prevent sex abuse.

It said its response to child sexual exploitation had seen the launch of Operation Topaz, which has seen more officers allocated to supporting children identified as being at risk of being exploited.

The operation also uses data and multi-agency partnerships to provide a better understanding of those at risk of exploitation, and help those targeted, the force said.

But the statement continues: “The report does highlight examples of where victim blaming language has been used in the past.

“This is unacceptable and we’ve come a long way in making sure officers recognise the signs of exploitation and are empowered to challenge this type of behaviour or language if witnessed.

“We are very clear – the abuser is always responsible, never the victim.”