Asian grooming gang free to roam streets because officers were told to 'find other ethnicities' to investigate, detective claims

An Asian grooming gang was free to roam the streets and abuse young girls because police officers were told to “find other ethnicities” to investigate, a detective has claimed.

At least 57 young girls are thought to have been exploited by a paedophile network of around 100 suspected perpetrators based in south Manchester in the 2000s. The gang, mainly comprised of Asian men, hooked their victims on drugs, groomed, and sexually abused them. One girl, aged 15, died after being injected with heroin by a 50-year-old man.

Following a two-year inquiry, commissioned by Greater Manchester mayor Andy Burnham, into the historic failings of police and social workers, a report was published today which concluded that vulnerable girls in care were groomed and abused in "plain sight".

The report found multiple failings at the hands of GMP, including how fears over race relations appear to have played a part in senior police thinking when tackling grooming gangs comprised of predominantly Asian men.

It added that officers were aware of "many sensitive community issues" around policing in south Manchester in 2002 and 2003.

Giving evidence to the report panel, a Detective Superintendent was emphatic that any concerns about creating further community tensions did not influence any of his investigative decisions, but the impact "clearly had to be considered" by senior officers in the gold command group.

However the report also quotes an unnamed GMP detective constable, involved in the arrest and jailing of one child sex offender, who was not of Asian heritage.

It quotes him as saying: "What had a massive input was the offending target group were predominantly Asian males and we were told to try and get other ethnicities."

Operation Augusta was set up in 2004 and uncovered the systematic exploitation of looked after  children mainly in the care system in the city of Manchester and around the Rochdale area.

Today’s report, report, written by child protection specialist Malcolm Newsam CBE and former senior police officer Gary Ridgway, comes following the death of 15-year-old Victoria Agoglia, who – after years of abuse and days after she was injected with heroin by a 50-year-old man - died in hospital of an overdose in 2003.

The inquiry was launched off the back of allegations made by former GMP detective turned whistleblower, Maggie Oliver.

As a detective, she had investigated countless gangland murders, shootings, kidnappings, rapes and witness protection jobs. She said that she felt “vindicated” by the report.

She said: “Girls were lost to the wind. What has been the cost of all these lives? We will never be able to put a number on how many lives have been lost.

“I want the law changing so there can be retrospective accountability for people whose duty it is to protect the vulnerable. It’s knowing and deliberate neglection of duty…[those who were involved] should be charged with gross misconduct - it’s criminal - where is the accountability?

“I was face-to-face with 15 years of misogyny - ‘stupid woman, she’s become too emotionally involved’ - authorities are very powerful and tried to control the dialogue.

“There will be other people in their own force areas who see similar things, I encourage them to stand up and speak up. This has been life for 15 years, it’s destroyed my life but I don’t regret it because we’ve made the public aware that this is the truth. I think the establishment will do half the job if they can get away with it.”

GMP has made a referral to the police watchdog, the Independent Office for Police Conduct. so that they can carry out an independent assessment to determine if there are any conduct matters that should be investigated.

Assistant Chief Constable Mabs Hussain, Head of Specialist Crime for Greater Manchester Police, said: “We accept that authorities fell short of doing all they could to protect and support the child victims of sexual exploitation identified under Operation Augusta in 2004.

“Children should be able to expect those responsible for their care will do all they can to keep them safe and I want to apologise to all those vulnerable children who were let down.

“I can only imagine the pain and distress they must have gone through, which would have only been made worse by these failings. I am sorry they were let down and I am sorry they were not protected from harm.

“Many of the children were subject to the most profound abuse and, although the review team acknowledged there was much in Operation Augusta and the work carried out by the investigation team to be commended, we agree the overall operation was not to the standard rightfully expected from victims.”

He added that the case involving Victoria Agoglia’s death is ongoing and anyone with information is being urged to come forward.

Victoria Agoglia was in the care of Manchester City Council following the death of her mother. The report found that her carers were aware of her being subjected to "multiple threats, sexual assaults and serious sexual exploitation" and were told that she was being "injected with heroin by an older Asian man [however] no action was taken by the police or social care".

She subsequently died "having been administered an overdose", but the men who exploited her "have never been brought to justice", the report said,   Following the publication of the report, grandmother, Joan Agoglia, said the publication of the report made her feel "wonderful as I've been fighting for this all my life, it seems".