UK failed to identify disproportionate number of Asian men in 'grooming gangs', report says

By Andrew MacAskill and Michael Holden

LONDON (Reuters) -British police will be ordered to record the ethnicity of gangs involved in organised child sexual abuse after a report on Monday detailed state failures to tackle the issue and a reluctance to recognise an "over-representation" of Asian men.

For about 15 years, Britain has been shocked by revelations of so-called child "grooming gangs" exploiting thousands of children for sex, becoming one of the most contentious political issues amid findings that fears of being accused of racism had played a part in the failure of the authorities to intervene.

Those on the political left have argued that far-right groups have used the issue to stigmatise entire Asian communities, while others say the ethnicity question has been ignored, often at the expense of the victims.

The scandal returned to the spotlight this year after U.S. billionaire Elon Musk criticised Prime Minister Keir Starmer's government over its stance, forcing him to commission a review by Louise Casey, a member of the House of Lords, into the scale and nature of the problem and who was responsible.

The report found data from three areas showed "clear evidence of over-representation among suspects of Asian and Pakistani heritage men", but that ethnicity was not recorded in two-thirds of cases.

"Despite reviews, reports and inquiries raising questions about men from Asian or Pakistani backgrounds grooming and sexually exploiting young white girls, the system has consistently failed to fully acknowledge this or collect accurate data so it can be examined effectively," the report said.

The report found the questions about the ethnicity of those behind the abuse had "been dodged for years" and partly because of "fear of appearing racist, raising community tensions or causing community cohesion problems".

Interior minister Yvette Cooper apologised to victims in parliament saying there had been "too much reliance on flawed data, too much denial, too little justice, too many criminals getting off, too many victims being let down".

The government accepted all the recommendations of the report, including setting up a national inquiry into the grooming gangs after months of resistance.

Opposition parties, including Nigel Farage's Reform UK and the Conservative Party, have accused the government of delaying its decision and failing the victims.

To counter those accusations, the government announced that the policing agency that investigates serious crime would help track down the perpetrators of abuse.

The police have already identified more than 800 cases for review, with the figure expected to rise to over 1,000 in the coming weeks, Cooper said.

Cooper said survivors of the abuse had been ignored for too long and "blindness, ignorance, prejudice, defensiveness and even good but misdirected intentions all played a part in this collective failure".

(Reporting by Andrew MacAskill, Michael Holden and Muvija M; Editing by Mark Potter and Alison Williams)