Victims who had been preyed upon and raped by grooming gangs demand public inquiry – as Elon Musk pours extra gasoline on spat with Keir Starmer over scandal

Grooming gang victims spoke out today to demand a public inquiry and tougher sentences for abusers amid a social media war waged against Sir Keir Starmer by Elon Musk.

The row began yesterday after Jess Phillips rejected a request by Oldham Council for the Home Office to lead a public inquiry into child sexual exploitation, suggesting it would be best for the local council to investigate the issue instead. 

Mr Musk, 53, has said Ms Phillips ‘deserves to be in prison’, while Tory leader Kemi Badenoch said a full national inquiry into organised grooming gangs is ‘long overdue’.

Sarah Wilson was groomed and raped by paedophiles in Rotherham for five years from the age of 11 – with one attack taking place in a school playground. 

She wrote on X: ‘Jess Phillips needs to hang her head in shame!!! Anyone who denies an independent investigation has a lot to hide.’

Sammy Woodhouse was just 14 when she met her rapist, Arshid Hussain, who was jailed for 35 years in 2016. Hussain, known in Rotherham as Mad Ash, was reportedly contacted by the council about care proceedings. 

She told LBC: ‘We have report, after report, after report telling us the same thing. We know what’s happening in this country because people like myself have been giving thousands of interviews to the mainstream media telling you about it.

‘What’s not happening is action – there’s not enough paedophiles being taken through the courts and when they are, they’re walking free. There’s no professionals being held to account.’ 

While the proposed public inquiry would have focused on Oldham, grooming gangs have been exposed in numerous other parts of the country ranging from Newcastle to Oxford and Bristol. The abusers were predominantly Asian men. 

It comes as Elon Musk launched another salvo against Labour and Sir Keir by accusing the PM of being ‘complicit’ in crimes carried out by sex abuse gangs.

The billionaire, a senior adviser to incoming US president Donald Trump, spent a large chunk of the US east coast night on his platform bombarding followers with his thoughts on UK politics.

He criticised Sir Keir and safeguarding Minister Jess Phillips before backing a madcap call for King Charles to unilaterally dissolve the government and call an election.

And later he accused Sir Kier, who was director of public prosecutions (DPP) between 2008 and 2013, of having allowed criminals to get away with abuse.

‘Starmer must go and he must face charges for his complicity in the worst mass crime in the history of Britain (sic),’ he said.

However, Labour ministers finally emerged to hit back at Mr Musk.

Health Secretary Wes Streeting this morning said his slew of tweets were ‘misjudged and certainly misinformed’.

And asked about the Tesla owner’s criticisms, Health Minister Andrew Gwynne told LBC: ‘Elon Musk is an American citizen and perhaps ought to focus on issues on the other side of the Atlantic.’

Mr Musk jumped in on a row over the government’s refusal to back a probe into gangs of British Asian men targeting teenage girls in Oldham, Greater Manchester.

He used his social media site to post or repost about child grooming in the UK more than 40 times over the last 24 hours, lining up alongside senior Reform UK and Conservative politicians demanding a fresh inquiry.

Several are from UK MPs like Reform’s Rupert Lowe and the Tories’ Robert Jenrick, while others include a video featuring right wing activist Tommy Robinson – who was jailed for 18 months for contempt of court in October.

In a sign of some concern among rightwing politicians in the UK, Bloomberg today reported efforts by those with links to Trump to get him to tone down his praise for Robinson, a far right agitator.

The world’s richest man, Mr Musk last week praised the far right Alternative fur Deutschland (AfD) party in Germany.

Overnight he shared a post asking whether Charles III ‘should dissolve parliament and order a General Election… for the sake and security’ of Britain.

Mr Musk retweeted the X thread with a one-word comment: ‘Yes.’

The King undemocratically dissolving Parliament of his own volition six months after voters went to the polls would trigger an immediate constitutional crisis in the UK.

Pressed if Mr Musk’s comments were unhelpful to the Government, Health Secretary Mr Streeting told ITV News that ministers took child sexual exploitation ‘incredibly seriously’.

He added: ‘Some of the criticisms that Elon Musk has made, I think are misjudged and certainly misinformed, but we’re willing to work with Elon Musk, who I think has got a big role to play with his social media platform to help us and other countries to tackle this serious issue.

‘So if he wants to work with us and roll his sleeves up, we’d welcome that.’

The Health Secretary also said  that ministers were supportive of an inquiry into the Oldham scandal, but signalled it had to be led locally.

Mr Musk continued to wade into the gangs debate overnight, hours after he posted that safeguarding minister Jess Phillips ‘deserves to be in prison’ after she denied requests for the Home Office to lead a public inquiry into child sexual exploitation in Oldham on Thursday.

He also suggested the Prime Minister had failed to bring ‘rape gangs’ to justice when he was director of public prosecutions.

Mr Musk reposted an article in The Daily Telegraph by shadow justice secretary Robert Jenrick in which he says the ‘grooming gangs’ should be renamed ‘torture rape gangs’.

He wrote that Mr Musk’s comments had shamed ‘the establishment by taking more interest in bringing these rape gangs to justice in one evening than most of the British establishment has for decades’.

Mr Musk continued his criticism in a post alongside footage of The Times’ chief investigative reporter Andrew Norfolk as he detailed the scope of the case and police mishandling, calling it ‘State-sponsored evil.’

Mr Norfolk reported on the Rotherham child sexual exploitation ring in the UK press in 2011. The scandal was first exposed by the Mail in 2010. 

In another comment on the same post, Mr Musk branded the scandal and the child rapists involved as ‘utterly shameful’.

The Tesla owner also called a post asking why people were angrier at his comments than they were about ‘mass rape’ of children as the ‘perfect question’.

Meanwhile, Tory leader Kemi Badenoch said a full national inquiry into organised grooming gangs is ‘long overdue’.

Ms Phillips said she recognised the ‘strength of feeling’ for a Home Office-led inquiry into Oldham, but she told the local council the Government will not ‘intervene’.

‘I believe it is for Oldham Council alone to decide to commission an inquiry into child sexual exploitation locally, rather than for the Government to intervene,’ she said.

In response, Mr Musk, a key member of US President-elect Donald Trump’s inner circle, said: ‘She deserves to be in prison.’

He also appeared to place blame at the Prime Minister’s door.

Mr Musk said: ‘In the UK, serious crimes such as rape require the Crown Prosecution Service’s approval for the police to charge suspects.

‘Who was the head of the CPS when rape gangs were allowed to exploit young girls without facing justice? Keir Starmer, 2008-2013.’

In a series of posts on his social media site, Mr Musk described the Prime Minister as ‘two-tier Keir’, claiming there was ‘no justice for severe, violent crimes but prison for social media posts’.

Mr Musk also expressed his support for activist Tommy Robinson – real name Stephen Yaxley-Lennon – who was jailed for 18 months for contempt of court in October.

Senior Tories also sought to put pressure on the Government over grooming gangs.

Mrs Badenoch said: ‘The time is long overdue for a full national inquiry into the rape gangs scandal.

‘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.’

Shadow home secretary Chris Philp and shadow safeguarding minister Alicia Kearns pressed for a statutory inquiry in Oldham.

They said that only a public inquiry ‘can adequately encompass the national nature of these crimes and issues’ and consider whether reports were ignored by the police, CPS and local council ‘or even covered up’.

In 2022, the then-Conservative government also refused a request for a public inquiry into events in Oldham.

An Oldham Council spokesman said: ‘Survivors sit at the heart of our work to end child sexual exploitation.

‘Whatever happens in terms of future inquiries, we have promised them that their wishes will be paramount, and we will not renege on that pledge.’

Responding to Mrs Badenoch’s post, Reform UK leader Nigel Farage said: ‘Talk is cheap. The Conservatives had 14 years in government to launch an inquiry.

‘The establishment has failed the victims of grooming gangs on every level.’

Mr Musk, who is rumoured to be considering a major donation to Mr Farage’s party, responded: ‘Exactly. Time for Reform.’

The Independent Inquiry into Child Sex Abuse, which published its final report in 2022, described the sexual abuse of children as an ‘epidemic that leaves tens of thousands of victims in its poisonous wake’.

Led by Professor Alexis Jay, the inquiry looked into abuse by organised groups following multiple convictions of sexual offences against children across the UK between 2010-2014, including in Rotherham, Cornwall, Derbyshire, Rochdale and Bristol.

In November last year, Professor Jay said she felt ‘frustrated’ that none of the probe’s 20 recommendations had been implemented more than two years after its conclusion.