Scotland Yard is now reviewing nine thousand historic cases of child sexual exploitation that were reported and closed between January 1, 2010 and March 31 this year. The reassessment forms part of Operation Beaconport, a nationwide effort to uncover past failures in tackling group based child sexual exploitation involving two or more perpetrators and at least one victim. Detectives may reopen some of the cases.
Susan Hall, the Conservative leader in the London Assembly, said the mayor had repeatedly dismissed her concerns about what she described as rape gangs operating across the capital.
During a meeting at City Hall in east London on Thursday, Hall challenged Khan directly as he appeared alongside Sir Mark Rowley, the Metropolitan Police commissioner. Assembly members were told that the Met had initially submitted one hundred and ninety seven cases to the National Crime Agency in June, but this number later surged to nine thousand.
Hall said she was unusually disappointed in Rowley and completely appalled by the mayor. Addressing Khan, she said: “In January you dismissed my question about rape gangs by saying you did not know what I meant. The rape victims knew exactly what I was talking about and so did most people. Would you like to apologise to the victims who saw you dismiss this?”
Khan began by expressing sympathy for victims and survivors who he said had been failed for many years, particularly in northern towns. He added that he had worked to protect vulnerable children and exploited women. He then attempted to clarify the definition of a grooming gang.
Hall interrupted again, citing comments Khan made earlier this year. “On June 19 you said there were no reported cases and no indication of the grooming gangs I was concerned about in London. Clearly there is an issue. Had you simply said it was dreadful and you were looking into it, I would have accepted that. Instead you pretended you did not know what I meant.
“The rape victims have phoned me. They are devastated. Many have been ignored by the police for years. For the mayor of London to take the mickey out of them by saying, ‘I do not know what you mean’ is disgraceful. You know exactly what I was talking about.”
Hall also questioned whether Khan had been aware of grooming gangs during his time as the Labour MP for Tooting in south London.
Khan responded: “It is because I care about victims that I appointed the first ever victims commissioner for London. It is because of my experience as an MP and a lawyer that I have invested so much in supporting victims.”
Sir Mark Rowley told the Assembly that investigators had already reviewed two thousand two hundred of the nine thousand cases. “Some did not meet the criteria,” he said.
He added: “I would expect the work with the National Crime Agency to identify perhaps two or three thousand cases where no one was charged, or where missed or new investigative opportunities exist, or where suspects may still pose a risk. This will cover online, intrafamilial, institutional and peer on peer abuse cases, as well as those described as grooming gangs.”
The Met said the ethnicity of suspects was varied and broadly reflected Londons diversity. Rowley added that investigators had not seen the same pattern reported in some northern towns, where groups of Pakistan men targeted white British girls. While such cases may form part of the picture, he said they did not dominate Londons landscape in the same way.
