'Moment of reckoning' needed on grooming gangs, says Mahmood

Evening Standard

'Moment of reckoning' needed on grooming gangs, says Shabana Mahmood sets out the appointment and the inquiry’s terms of reference in the Commons on Tuesday.Baroness Anne Longfield will lead the inquiry over three years with a budget of £65 million.

Transcript

00:00It is vital that we too call these crimes what they were. Multiple sexual assaults committed

00:18by multiple men on multiple occasions. Children were submitted to beatings and gang rapes.

00:25Many contracted sexually transmitted infections, some were forced to have abortions, others

00:30had their children taken from them. But it was not just these awful crimes that now shame

00:35us. There was also an abject failure by the state in its many forms to fulfil its most

00:42basic duty, protecting the young and vulnerable. Worse still, some in positions of power turned

00:50a blind eye to the horror, even covered it up. Despite a shameful lack of national data,

00:57Baroness Casey was clear that in some local areas where data was available, and I quote,

01:03disproportionate numbers of men from Asian ethnic backgrounds were amongst the suspects.

01:08Like every member of my community who I know, I am horrified by these acts. We must root out

01:15this evil once and for all. The sickening acts of a minority of evil men, as well as those

01:22in positions of authority who look the other way, must not be allowed to marginalise or demonise

01:29entire communities of law-abiding citizens. What is required now is a moment of reckoning.

01:37We must cast fresh light on this darkness.

Category

Transcript

Be the first to comment

Recommended