Launch particular inquiry into grooming gang allegations in London regardless of Sir Sadiq Khan’s claims there may be ‘no proof’ of paedophile rings within the capital, urges new report

A specific inquiry should be launched into allegations of grooming gangs in the capital, a senior Conservative urges in a new report today

Conservative leader at London‘s City Hall, Susan Hall, called for a ‘London module’ to be set up within the national grooming gang inquiry.

London Mayor Sir Sadiq Khan has repeatedly claimed the capital has not witnessed the type of sex grooming rings that have been exposed in dozens of towns and cities elsewhere in Britain, the report said.

Instead, the mayor has suggested that grooming gangs in London are confined to exploitation by ‘county lines’ drugs gangs, rather than being sexual in nature.

Ms Hall said in her report: ‘I asked Mayor of London Sadiq Khan nine times in January 2025 whether grooming gangs existed in London.

‘The mayor’s response was to refuse to answer the question, and ask me six times what a grooming gang is.

‘If Sadiq Khan, as Mayor and London’s Police and Crime Commissioner, does not even know what a grooming gang is, how on earth is he, or his office for Police and Crime, going to find out whether they existed in London?’

She added: ‘Since that time, dozens of victims, families of victims, and former police officers have reached out to me to share their stories.

Conservative leader at London’s City Hall, Susan Hall, called for a ‘London module’ to be set up within the national grooming gang inquiry

London Mayor Sir Sadiq Khan, right, has repeatedly claimed the capital has not witnessed the type of sex grooming rings that have been exposed in dozens of towns and cities elsewhere in Britain, the report said

‘Their experiences of rape, abuse and exploitation have been utterly appalling; the system has so clearly failed them.

‘It has made me more determined than ever to get to the truth of this, so that they can get justice and so that this never happens again.

‘Our current understanding of grooming gangs in London is not fit for purpose, and the national inquiry should have a specific London module.’

The Conservative City Hall leader has written to Baroness Longfield, the chair of the national grooming gang inquiry, to formally ask for the situation in London to be specifically looked at by the review.

Her report said: ‘More than 50 towns and cities across the country have now been identified as possible locations where a grooming gang may have been operating.

‘If these crimes were so prevalent across the UK, it seems impossible to imagine that London was simply not affected.

‘The capital must have a clear and strong voice in the national inquiry, and I am determined to push for this so all of London’s victims can get the justice they so badly deserve.’

Sir Sadiq told the London Assembly in June last year there was ‘no indication of grooming gangs’ operating in the capital.

But appearing before members in November, Metropolitan Police commissioner Sir Mark Rowley said officers were working on ‘tens’ of active cases.

He also confirmed the force was reviewing 9,000 cases of child sexual exploitation which were reported and closed between January 2010 and March 31 last year.

Sir Mark said he expected ‘two to three thousand’ of the initial 9,000 cases to be identified as group-based offending, but said this would include intra-familial, institutional, peer-on-peer and online abuse as well as grooming gang activity.

Baroness Casey, a former victims’ commissioner, published a report last year which found local authorities and other official bodies had shied away from tackling ‘ethnicity or cultural factors’ in grooming gangs ‘for fear of appearing racist’.

Her findings prompted Prime Minister Sir Keir Starmer to order the creation of a national inquiry – even though he had previously said those calling for such a move were jumping on a far-Right bandwagon.

Campaigners who urged action over Pakistani child abuse rings were condemned as racist until Lady Casey concluded there were ‘disproportionate numbers of men from Asian ethnic backgrounds’ amongst the suspects.

However, the piecemeal way it has been established has seen the Government accused of shying away from a full inquiry for fear of upsetting Labour voters in key parliamentary seats, including some with high proportions of Muslim residents.

A Home Office spokesman said the scope of the inquiry would be decided by its chair.