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The Rochdale sex trafficking gang was a group of men who preyed on under-age teenage girls in Rochdale, Greater Manchester, England. They were convicted of sex trafficking on 8 May 2012; other offenses included rape, trafficking girls for sex and conspiracy to engage in sexual activity with a child. Forty-seven girls were identified as victims of child sexual exploitation during the police investigation. The men were all British Pakistanis (except for one from Afghanistan) and the girls were white; this has led to national discussion of whether the crimes were racially motivated, or, conversely, whether the early failure to investigate them was linked to the authorities' fear of being accused of racism.

Gang members

Twelve men were originally charged, of the nine men convicted eight were of British Pakistani origin and one was an Afghan asylum-seeker. Of the three others who were not convicted, one was cleared of all charges, the jury was unable to reach a verdict in the case of the second, and the third was not present at the trial after going on the run while on bail. Most of them were married and well-respected within their community. One gang member convicted of sex trafficking was a religious studies teacher at a mosque and a married father-of-five. The men were aged between 24 and 59 and knew each other in various ways. Two worked for the same taxi firm and another two worked at a takeaway restaurant; some came from the same village in Pakistan and another pair shared a flat. The gang worked to secure underage girls for sex.

Abuse

The abuse began in 2008 centered around two takeaways in Heywood near Rochdale. Despite one of the victims going to the police in 2008 to report the grooming, and the detectives involved giving her their support, the Crown Prosecution Service controversially decided not to prosecute two of the men at the time, invoking the witnesses's credibility. This decision was overturned in 2011 when a new chief prosecutor for the region was appointed. The victims were vulnerable teenagers from deprived, dysfunctional backgrounds who were targeted in "honeypot locations" where young people regularly congregated, such as takeaway food shops. One of the victims, a 15-year-old known as the Honey Monster, acted as a recruiter for the gang, procuring girls as young as 13 for the gang's use. The victims were coerced and bribed into keeping quiet about the abuse through a combination of free alcohol and drugs, food, small sums of money and other gifts.

Although some of the victims willingly had sex with their abusers, others were physically assaulted and raped by as many as five men at a time, or obliged into having sex with "several men in a day, several times a week". The victims were plied with drugs and alcohol and were passed around to friends and family, being taken to various locations around the north of England, including Rochdale, Oldham, Nelson, Bradford and Leeds. The abusers paid small sums of money for these encounters, one thirteen-year old victim recounting that, after being forced to have sex in exchange for vodka, her abuser immediately raped her again and then gave her £40 to not say anything about the incident. Among the incidents that police recorded were: a 15-year old victim too drunk to recall events being raped by 20 men, one after the other; another victim so drunk that she was sick over the side of the bed as she was being raped by two men. One thirteen-year-old victim had an abortion after becoming pregnant.

Trial

Some gang members told the court the girls were willing participants, and happy having sex with the men. A 59-year-old claimed the girls were "prostitutes" who had been running a "business empire" and it was all "white lies". He shouted in court, "Where are the white people? You have only got my kind here." Judge Gerald Clifton told the convicted gang members: "All of you treated your victims as though they were worthless and beyond any respect – they were not part of your community or religion."

Second sex ring

Following the break up of the first sex ring, in May 2012 the police made arrests in relation to an earlier child sexual exploitation ring in Rochdale. Nine men between 24 and 38-years-old were arrested on suspicion of sexual activity with a child.

Public debate and analysis

The case raised a serious debate about whether the crimes were racially motivated. There were suggestions that police and social work departments failed to act when details of the gang first emerged for fear of appearing racist, and ignored vulnerable white teenagers who were being groomed by Pakistani men.Tim Loughton, the Minister for Children and Families, stated that British Pakistanis were targeting white girls in some parts of the country and there was no point in "sweeping it under the carpet". A report conducted by The Times found that "most identified networks in the North have involved British Pakistanis", and that "a disturbing mindset has developed among a criminal sub-section of young men from the British Pakistani community." Ann Cryer, the former MP for Keighley, posited that the practice of arranged marriages, involving the arrival of young, uneducated men from villages in Pakistan, might have a bearing on this issue. Although the age of consent is the same in Pakistan and Britain, girls can be married in Pakistan on reaching puberty.

In a BBC documentary investigating the grooming of young girls for sex by some Pakistani men, Imam Irfan Chishti from the Rochdale Council of Mosques deplored this practice saying it was "very shocking to see fellow British Muslims brought to court for this kind of horrific offence." Mohammed Shafiq, chief executive of the Ramadhan Foundation, accused elders of the Pakistani community of "burying their heads in the sand" on the matter of sexual grooming. He said that of 68 recent convictions involving child sexual exploitation, 59 were of British Pakistani men and it was a significant problem for that community. He said the actions of criminals who thought "white teenage girls are worthless and can be abused" were "bringing shame on our community." Sayeeda Warsi, the co-chairman of the Conservative Party, said in an interview with the Evening Standard, that "You can only start solving a problem if you acknowledge it first.” She pointed out that the perpetrators "were grown men, some of them religious teachers or running businesses, with young families of their own.” Nazir Afzal, who as the newly appointed chief crown prosecutor decided to bring the case to trial, and who is a British Pakistani himself, said that gender, not race, was the key issue: "There is no community where women and girls are not vulnerable to sexual attack and that's a fact."

References

1. ^ Bunyan, Nigel (8 May 2012). "Rochdale grooming trial: gang convicted for sex trafficking". The Telegraph. London: Telegraph Media Group. Retrieved 8 May 2012.
2. ^ Carter, Helen (8 May 2012). "Rochdale child sex ring case: respected men who preyed on the vulnerable". guardian.co.uk. London: Guardian News and Media. Retrieved 8 May 2012.
3. ^ "Rochdale grooming trial: Nine found guilty of child sex charges". BBC News. 8 May 2012. Retrieved 8 May 2012.
4. Bunyan, Nigel (8 May 2012). "Rochdale grooming trial: how the case unfolded". The Telegraph. London: Telegraph Media Group. Retrieved 9 May 2012.
5. ^ Carter, Helen (8 May 2012). "Nine men found guilty of sexually abusing vulnerable girls in Rochdale". guardian.co.uk. London: Guardian News and Media. Retrieved 8 May 2012.
6. Ward, Victoria; Bunyan, Nigel (9 May 2012). "Members of paedophile gang treated victims as 'worthless'". The Telegraph. London: Telegraph Media Group. Retrieved 9 May 2012.
7. ^ "Gang To Be Sentenced Over Child Sex Crimes". Sky News. 9 May 2012. Retrieved 8 May 2012.
8. "Profiles Of Child Sex Abuse Gang Members". Sky News. 9 May 2012. Retrieved 8 May 2012.
9. ^ Lewis, Jamie (8 May 2012). "Rochdale Child Sex Ring: 'Master', 'Tiger' and Seven Others Guilty of Rape and Trafficking". International Business Times. Retrieved 8 May 2012.
10. Mcginnes, Jamie (8 May 2012). "'Child sex victims were prostitutes with enough business acumen to win The Apprentice', man at centre of sex gang trial tells court". Mail Online. London: Associated Newspapers. Retrieved 8 May 2012.
11. 77 years jail for Asian brutes who preyed on 'white trash' girls for sex
12. ^ Henry, Julie (12 May 2012). "Arrests made in second Rochdale sex grooming scandal". The Telegraph. London: Telegraph Media Group. Retrieved 12 May 2012.
13. Bunyan, Nigel (8 May 2012). "Rochdale grooming trial: Police accused of failing to investigate paedophile gang for fear of appearing racist". The Telegraph. London: Telegraph Media Group. Retrieved 9 May 2012.
14. ^ Bunyan, Nigel (8 May 2012). "Rochdale grooming trial: Asian grooming gangs, the uncomfortable issue". The Telegraph. London: Telegraph Media Group. Retrieved 9 May 2012.
15. MENON, LAKSHMAN (27 November). "Most UK girl child abusers are British Pakistanis". Sunday Guardian. {{cite news}}: Check date values in: |date= (help)
16. "Rochdale featured in sex grooming documentary". Rochdale Online. 7 December 2011. Retrieved 9 May 2012.
17. Stanley, Emma (8 May 2012). "Heywood: Rochdale town at the centre of child sex ring". BBC News. Retrieved 9 May 2012.
18. Evening Standard. 18 May 2012.
20. Nazir Afzal: 'We tackled grooming gangs. Now we have to confront forced marriage among Travellers' . HAN BROWN. MONDAY 21 MAY 2012.

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• Rochdale
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