UK’s hidden horrors: The dark reality of Pakistani grooming gangs
Pakistani grooming gangs in the UK have come back into the limelight due to renewed public and media attention on the Rotherham scandal and other similar cases.
Recently, public figures like Elon Musk and JK Rowling have called for accountability and justice for the victims. Their social media posts have sparked a heated debate and brought the issue back into the spotlight
A terrifying and controversial concern, Pakistani gangs in the UK have been involved in various criminal activities, with some of the most notable cases being related to grooming and sexual exploitation.
One of the most notable cases is the Rotherham scandal, which occurred between 1997 and 2013. During this period, an estimated 1,400 children were victims of sexual exploitation in Rotherham.
The majority of the perpetrators were of Pakistani heritage, and the crimes involved systematic abuse, manipulation, and trafficking of young girls. Reports have indicated links between these gangs and other crimes such as drug trafficking and gun violence.
The scandal highlighted severe institutional failures, as law enforcement and social services consistently failed to take appropriate action despite victims repeatedly coming forward. The reluctance to address the ethnic background of the perpetrators due to fears of being labeled racist significantly impeded efforts to tackle the issue effectively.
The issue of Pakistani grooming gangs in the UK, has exposed significant inadequacies in the UK’s system for addressing such crimes. Despite numerous reports and warnings, law enforcement and social services consistently failed to take appropriate action. This was due to a combination of disbelief, denial, and a reluctance to address the ethnic background of the perpetrators for fear of being labeled racist.
The issue of grooming gangs, particularly those involving men of Pakistani descent, has been a significant concern in other parts of the UK, such as Rotherham, Rochdale, and Telford.
In her independent review of the Rotherham case, published in 2014, Prof Alexis Jay concluded that the majority of “known perpetrators were of Pakistani heritage” including five men convicted in 2010. Greater Manchester Police identified the men convicted at the trial in the Rochdale abuse scandal in February 2012 as British Pakistani.
Aside from the Rotherham scandal which found 1,400 children sexually abused over a 16-year period, predominantly by British Pakistani men, in Telford it was discovered that up to 1,000 girls had been abused over 40 years again by men of Pakistani descent- and that some cases had not been investigated because of “nervousness about race”.
In Oldham, an inquiry was set up after rumours spread online that children were being groomed in council homes, shisha bars and by taxi drivers, all British Pakistanis.
The Rotherham scandal remains one of the most harrowing examples of systemic failure in safeguarding vulnerable children in the UK. There was a reluctance to pursue cases involving non-white offenders due to concerns about being accused of racism.
This led to a lack of accountability and allowed the abuse to continue unchecked. The agencies responsible for protecting vulnerable children were often under-resourced and overwhelmed, which contributed to their inability to effectively address the issue.
The debate recently intensified after Tesla CEO Elon Musk directly challenged current Prime Minister Keir Starmer’s role in these cases, pointing to his tenure as head of the Crown Prosecution Service (CPS) from 2008 to 2013. “Who was the head of the CPS when rape gangs were allowed to exploit young girls without facing justice?” Musk posted on social media platform X.
Author JK Rowling weighed in on the controversy, taking issue with the terminology used to describe these crimes. She condemned the actions of the perpetrators and questioned whether there had been police corruption in the cases, referencing an article in The Telegraph by journalist Sam Ashworth-Hayes.
Rowling wrote, “The details emerging about what the rape gangs (why call them ‘grooming’ gangs? It’s like calling those who stab people to death ‘knife owners’) did to girls in Rotherham are downright horrific. The allegations of possible police corruption in the case are almost beyond belief.”
Additionally, there have been calls for a national inquiry into the handling of these cases, with Conservative leader Kemi Badenoch and other politicians demanding a thorough investigation. Posting on X, Badenoch said, “Trials have taken place all over the country in recent years but no one in authority has joined the dots. 2025 must be the year that the victims start to get justice.”
The reluctance of authorities to address the ethnic background of the perpetrators and the systemic failures in protecting vulnerable children have also contributed to the renewed focus on this issue.
