Rochdale grooming police whistleblower Maggie Oliver mentioned she feared being jailed however determined ‘talking the reality was extra necessary than my job’

Rochdale grooming gangs whistleblower and ex-detective Maggie Oliver has told of fearing she could be jailed for speaking out and exposing police cover-ups.

The former Greater Manchester Police officer has opened up about the decision she made and how raising concerns felt ‘more important than keeping my job’.

Ms Oliver, 70, whose whistleblowing role over grooming gangs prompted public inquiries and also an award-winning BBC docudrama, has accused senior bosses of putting pressure on her to stay silent.

The founder of the charity the Maggie Oliver Foundation, which offers help and support to survivors of childhood sexual abuse and exploitation, has been speaking on a new episode of a podcast called Address The Harm.

Ms Oliver quit Greater Manchester Police after the force failed to act on allegations of widespread child grooming and sex abuse.

She told interviewer Leah Brown: ‘As a junior officer, you do as you’re told, and if you can’t do that, you’re in the wrong job.

‘Now, I always refer to my oath of attestation in the police where I promised to uphold the law, to protect the vulnerable, to uphold fundamental human rights.

‘And when I’m seeing children of, you know, 11 and 12 being raped on a daily basis, and the police doing nothing, deliberately, unknowingly – my job wasn’t to do as I was told, it was to uphold the law.

‘I was put into a position where I either carried on my job and as I was told, “Come to work, get your wage, put your bum on a seat and go home”.

‘I didn’t join the police for that – I joined the police to do good, to help those who were being failed or to put away the bad guys is what I would say.

‘I was left with no alternative other than to just remain silent and let things continue or to resign to go public – and I truly feared I would go to prison.

‘I was threatened with that. If I went public, you know, as serving police officer, you signed the Official Secrets Act – so everything I knew, I knew because I was a police officer.

‘So I made the almost impossible decision that the truth and speaking the truth was more important than my job.

‘I’ve got four children of my own and I did not want them to turn the TV on and you know there’s a scandal there like you know like the one we’re seeing in Hillsborough or the infected bloods or the Post Office.

‘I wanted my kids to know that I tried my best so when I’m, you know, dead and buried and all this hit the headlines.’

The failure of law enforcement and social services to address concerns about child sex rings in Rochdale was depicted by BBC drama Three Girls in 2017.

Ms Oliver was played by actress Lesley Sharp and fellow whistleblower Sara Rowbotham by Maxine Peake.

According to one estimate, upwards of 250,000 girls have been attacked repeatedly by street gangs in 50 British towns and cities over the past 40 years.

Social services and police have apologised for their past failings surrounding victims.

A report into the Rochdale grooming gangs scandal ordered by Greater Manchester Mayor Andy Burnham last year found a generation of girls had been failed.

Its lead author, child protection specialist Malcolm Newsam, identified 96 men who are still deemed a potential risk to children.

He concluded that two ‘lone voices’ – Sara Rowbotham, co-ordinator of a young people’s Crisis Intervention Team, and Ms Oliver – had flagged clear evidence of ‘prolific serial rape of countless children in Rochdale’.

But this was not acted upon, with the children’s unwillingness to make a formal complaint repeatedly used as an excuse for not investigating.

Mr Newsam wrote: ‘GMP and Rochdale Council failed to prioritise the protection of children who were being sexually exploited by a significant number of men within the Rochdale area.

‘Successive police operations were launched over this period, but these were insufficiently resourced to match the scale of the widespread organised exploitation.

‘Consequently, children were left at risk and many of their abusers to this day have not been apprehended.’

At the time, Mr Burnham called the report ‘a detailed and distressing account of how many young people were so seriously failed’.

Rochdale Council leader Councillor Neil Emmott said the authority was ‘deeply sorry’ for the ‘very serious failures that affected the lives of children in our borough’ and how officials ‘failed to take the necessary action’.

And Greater Manchester Police Chief Constable Stephen Watson said it was ‘a matter of profound regret’ that victims of child sexual exploitation in Rochdale in the early 2000s were ‘failed’ by the force.

A series of initiatives have taken place around Rochdale since 2012, including better engagement with potential victims and a scheme encouraging hotel owners and taxi firms to report concerns.

Last year, an Ofsted report into Rochdale Council judged that ‘children at risk receive an effective response’.

Ms Oliver also told the Address The Harm podcast: ‘Every single recommendation of the Independent Inquiry into Child Sexual Abuse, albeit endorsed by the government, requires us to battle as victims to keep pressing and looking for updates on progress. 

‘We really need some kind of oversight body to keep pressing on victims’ behalf. We need independent scrutiny that has real teeth and real powers to insist on change.

‘A massive difference would be an independent office for institutional accountability with survivor voice at the centre.’

Ms Oliver welcomed in October this year new prison terms totalling 134 years for seven Asian offenders in Rochdale.

But she warned of the lifelong trauma the two girls at the centre of the latest case will still suffer – as well as ‘hundreds’ of other victims she says have gone neglected.

And she demanded to know why it took so long for abusers to be brought to justice, with sentences coming 20 years after some young girls were first groomed before being used as ‘sex slaves’.

Ms Oliver told the Daily Mail: ‘The serious question that begs to be asked is, why were they not dealt with at the time?

‘I recognise these men’s names going back years – it was definitely known what was going on.

‘It’s been 20 years since these victims were targeted – and every day of their lives since, they’ve had to suffer. It shouldn’t take this long to get justice.

‘It’s on their minds every single day. I’ve got the greatest admiration for these women who’ve stuck with it – but it shouldn’t take this long.

‘These particular victims have had most of their lives destroyed by abuse, and the failure of the authorities to protect them – they’ve been seriously let down.

‘This case, every case – it’s different victims whose lives are tarnished forever. And the victims are still very much an afterthought.

‘I hope this isn’t just an isolated case. This is what every rapist should be facing.

‘I think the tide is turning. The public are demanding change. They’re fully aware of the horror of these crimes.’

The Asian grooming gang in the town, led by a market stallholder dubbed ‘Boss Man’, were jailed for a total 174 years after two white schoolgirls were raped as they were used as ‘sex slaves’ from aged 13.

Mohammed Zahid, 65, gave free underwear from his lingerie stall at Rochdale Indoor Market to both teenagers, along with money, alcohol and food, in return for the expectation of regular sex with him and his friends.

The father-of-three, jailed for 35 years, was one of seven Asian men convicted in June by a jury at Manchester Minshull Street Court of committing various sexual offences against the girls between 2001 and 2006.

They were the first Asian grooming gang to be brought to justice since Labour faced accusations of a cover-up for resisting calls for a public inquiry into how a generation of girls were betrayed by police and social services.

Both girls were treated as ‘sex slaves’, said prosecutors, ‘amid deeply troubled home lives’ as they were given drugs, alcohol, cigarettes, places to stay and people to be with.

Soon after, they were expected to have sex ‘whenever and wherever’ the defendants and other men wanted, in filthy flats, on rancid mattresses, in cars, car parks, alleyways and disused warehouses.

The trial also heard how one girl – at the time living in a children’s home – was dismissed by social workers as having been ‘prostituting’ herself from the age of ten.

Girl A told the jury she could have been targeted by more than 200 offenders as her phone number was swapped in the town but said ‘there was that many it was hard to keep count’.