𝓤𝓷𝓲𝓽𝓮𝓭 𝓝𝓮𝔀𝓼

The grooming gangs scandal is one of the most horrific to have happened in our country. Thousands, if not tens of thousands, of victims have had their lives shattered by these crimes, with failures by those in authority allowing abuse to continue when action should have been taken.

Now, victims are being confronted with the horrifying reality of seeing men who abused them walking around free. That is an appalling further injustice for people who have already been failed so badly.

These are some of the most serious and sickening offences imaginable. The British public expects dangerous criminals to be brought to justice.

Too many opportunities to act were missed in the past. Warnings were ignored, concerns were brushed aside, and, in some cases, protecting so-called “community relations” was put ahead of protecting vulnerable girls.

Let’s not forget that the Labour Government initially refused to have an inquiry at all – and then, when they were forced to, they dragged their feet for months, and months have been lost while victims and their families continue to wait for answers.

A national statutory inquiry must get on with the job of finding out what went wrong, who knew what, why warnings were ignored and how these failures were allowed to happen in town after town. But an inquiry cannot become an excuse for inaction in the meantime. Evidence of criminality must be properly investigated, and prosecutions must follow.

Victims have waited long enough.

They should not have to watch perpetrators escape justice while the authorities tell them to wait still longer.

The victims of these horrific crimes were failed once, so they cannot be failed again.