Hundreds of Child Sex Attackers Roaming Free in Oxford, Survivors Claim
Women who were abused as children say perpetrators, many of them older men of Pakistani heritage, are still seen in public, while a former detective acknowledges police failures.
Hundreds of child sex attackers are roaming free in Oxford, with victims and former police alleging that perpetrators have avoided justice. Survivors of grooming gangs claim that many of the men, who are often older and of Pakistani heritage, are still seen in the city.
One woman recounted being given cigarettes laced with heroin and alcohol by a gang, who then told her she owed them money and must have sex with them to repay the debt. Another victim, who was trafficked at age 12, said men paid the gang to sleep with her and alleged that a police officer once solicited oral sex from her.
A third survivor stated that gang members would befriend her, provide her with money and alcohol, and then demand sexual favors to settle a fabricated debt. These accounts are detailed in a new BBC Panorama documentary, 'Grooming Gangs: Why Were We Ignored?'
Former senior detective Simon Morton, who led an initial grooming probe in Oxford, admitted that the police force made mistakes. He stated that while the core group of offenders was identified, many others likely remain at large, making identification extremely difficult. Morton also confirmed that the abuse was ongoing in Oxford and agreed with the survivors' assessment that hundreds of abusers are still free in the city.
One survivor, identified as Sarah, testified in court two decades after her ordeal began, leading to the conviction and jailing of three men for between five and 24 years in 2020. Despite these convictions, Sarah reported still seeing gang members in public places. She described how the abuse, starting at age 11, led to a lifelong drug addiction and the trauma of being locked in rooms with multiple perpetrators.
Another survivor, Chloe, has seen some of her abusers in her local area, including in supermarkets, despite not pursuing a police investigation. She recalled being picked up and taken to flats where she and others were raped by various men.
Rachel, a key witness in the first Oxford grooming gang trial in 2013, which resulted in seven convictions, stated that police did not believe her claims for years. The 2013 trial revealed six girls were groomed and raped over eight years, but subsequent investigations indicated many more victims, with an estimate of over 370 children affected by 2015. Rachel also alleged that a police officer in a police van asked her for oral sex.
Mr. Morton described the scale of the gangs as 'crazy' and 'ridiculous,' adding that the police 'should have done more - it's tragic.' He explained the difficulty in prosecuting cases, citing the challenge of getting victims to testify years later.
A spokesperson for Thames Valley Police stated that the force works diligently to investigate and prosecute offenders and encouraged anyone with information to come forward, assuring that victims would be listened to and supported.
Oxford was among several UK locations, including Rotherham, Rochdale, and Telford, where male gangs were found to have sexually exploited children between the 1990s and 2010s. In Oxford, many gang members were identified as older men of Pakistani heritage. A national inquiry into group-based sexual exploitation of children in England and Wales is currently examining factors such as ethnicity, culture, and religion, as well as institutional responses from police, councils, health services, social care, and schools.