by Christopher Stevens, Daily Mail
A report that identified more than 330 young women at risk from Asian grooming gangs was deemed ‘toxic’ and suppressed by the Home Office, according to a Channel 4 documentary.
In her 90-minute film Groomed: A National Scandal, which airs tonight, (30 April – Ed) investigative reporter Anna Hall reveals that the report into child exploitation in Rotherham in the early 2000s was part of research funded by Tony Blair‘s government.
With unflinching bluntness, Hall asks one of its authors, youth worker Jayne Senior, whether the report’s allegations were ignored ‘because the perpetrators were overwhelmingly British-Pakistani’.
Senior replies: ‘I was told on more than one occasion that I needed to stop rocking the multicultural boat. We were talking about children that were being exploited, trafficked, tortured, raped.’
The documentary is Channel 4 at its best, airing a series of shocking interviews with victims of systematic mass abuse carried out in full view of police, social services and schools.
The evidence is presented without melodrama or sensationalism, which renders it all the more devastating.
And, despite the denials of the authorities, it is clear that organised grooming gangs – many from Muslim communities – across England continue to target adolescent girls. Hall says one care home manager in Blackpool tells her that the scale of abuse is worse than it has ever been.
Though the weight of the evidence is staggering, this investigation’s most powerful segments are not its revelations, but the interviews with survivors. Three victims’ words are voiced by actresses. Only two victims appear on screen, even giving their real names: Jade and Chantelle.
Read also: Groomed: A National Scandal review — enraging, harrowing stories by Ben Dowell, The Times