MPs demand ‘pressing’ probe into London grooming gangs after Sadiq Khan was condemned over claims there may be ‘no proof’ they exist

MPs have called on the government to set up a new urgent probe into grooming gangs in London amid fears many girls have been raped and forced into sex work. 

Eight Conservative MPs and three London Assembly members have sent a letter demanding ‘urgent action’ over the abuse of vulnerable victims in the capital. 

They condemned what were described as the ‘failings of the authorities in London to tackle the grooming gangs we have seen operating all over the country’.

And there has been criticism of London’s mayor Sir Sadiq Khan over his previous insistence there were ‘no reports and no indication’ of Rochdale- or Rotherham-style grooming gangs existing in the capital.

Those signing the letter include Shadow Home Secretary Chris Philp and former Conservative party leader Sir Iain Duncan Smith.

It comes after revelations of women and girls as young as 14 being raped and forced into sex work by ruthless London grooming gangs in a recent investigation.

The new letter demands ‘urgent action’ from Home Secretary Shabana Mahmood and London mayor Sir Sadiq.

The MPs and London Assembly members behind it wrote: ‘Survivors told the BBC they had been raped by several men as payment for unpaid drug debts by the gangs that controlled them, while others said they had been groomed for sex.

‘We are horrified by these reports. The report lays bare the failings of the authorities in London to tackle the grooming gangs we have seen operating all over the country.’

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

But appearing before MPs last 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, with former England children’s commissioner Baroness Anne Longfield announced as its chair last December.

A probe last month included interviews with five survivors of gang-based violence, telling of victims being groomed into trading weapons, stealing phones and dealing drugs by groups of men. 

Some have been raped as supposed ‘payment’ for unpaid drug debts accumulated by the gangs controlling them, with others groomed and forced into sex work by the organised crime groups. 

Det Sgt John Knox, head of the Metropolitan Police‘s Child Exploitation Team, described girls as being the ‘lowest rung’ among the gangs, meaning ‘they cannot say no to sex’.

He told the BBC: ‘Within that gang world, the girls are the lowest rung, and they have to do as they are told, and that includes sexually.’ 

Sir Sadiq previously said the capital had not witnessed the type of sex grooming rings that have been exposed in dozens of towns and cities elsewhere in Britain, while the Met’s Chief Commissioner Sir Mark Rowley said he had ‘not seen’ them.

Yet Sir Mark more recently suggested to the London Assembly last October that there were a ‘very significant’ number of multi-offender cases that would need probing again amid the grooming gangs review by the Home Office.

Evidence of concerns about gangs of men carrying out such abuse in London was taken from Her Majesty’s Inspectorate of Constabulary and Fire and Rescue Services reports from between 2016 and 2025.

The inspectorate’s reports suggested six potential victims had been identified, with girls as young as 13 being preyed upon by grooming gangs. 

Two victims were mentioned in a report in February this year by the inspectorate on the Met’s ‘handling of the sexual and criminal exploitation of children’.

One was a 15-year-old girl missing for four days before being found with a man aged 21 and she then told officers of being raped by ‘numerous men’.

The other was a girl aged 13 said to be at high risk, with officers identifying two men that were suspected of sexually exploiting her.

The previous February, HMICFRS’s equivalent report found a social worker told of a 15-year-old girl being coerced to go to a hotel where she was given drugs and alcohol and forced to carry out sexual acts on men.

Their previous study in February 2018 included details of a girl aged 17 telling the Met a number of men raped her after plying her with alcohol.

And an earlier inspectorate report in November 2016 told of two more victims, one of whom was a 16-year-old who said she was raped numerous times over a three-year period by a group of men in London who threatened to harm her and her family.

The other was aged 13, went missing overnight and was reported to police as being unsafe and in a room with three men.

The risk level was raised to ‘high’ and she was found but arrested for a minor assault on her mother while the three men were not interviewed, HMICFRS said.

Mr Khan had provided formal statements in response to each report, including calling the November 2016 one ‘deeply troubling’ and saying it was ‘simply unacceptable’ that too often ‘children in our city have been let down’.

In his comments in response to the inspectorate’s findings in February last year, Mr Khan said it was ‘reassuring’ that the Met had made ‘significant improvements’. 

A spokesman for the mayor has since said: ‘The Mayor has repeatedly said on record that there are grooming gangs in London.’ 

The Metropolitan Police receives about 2,000 reports annually regarding child criminal exploitation, child sexual exploitation or cases where both forms of harm were present.

The force had previously stated it would be reviewing at least 1,200 child sexual exploitation cases again following a national review into the matter.

A spokesperson for the Metropolitan Police said: ‘We have always recognised the scale and seriousness of group‑based child sexual exploitation offending in London, and remain committed to securing justice, regardless of the historic nature of some offending.

‘Such cases are already investigated by specialist officers with expertise in sexual offences and safeguarding.’

The force said that as part of the national reinvestigation it had a dedicated unit reviewing about 12,000 child sexual abuse and exploitation cases over 15 years.

The spokesperson added: ‘Work is ongoing to further strengthen our specialist response – training over 11,000 frontline officers and expanding safeguarding teams – leading to three times more cases solved last year and 134 additional suspects charged.

‘We also recognise the openness and courage of victims in coming forwards, and sharing their personal experiences to continually bring this issue to the forefront.’

A Home Office spokesperson said: ‘Sexual and criminal abuse of children by gangs, wherever they occur, are among the most horrific crimes imaginable.

‘The local areas to be examined by the Inquiry will be selected by the Chair in due course.’

A spokesperson for the mayor of London said: ‘Any individuals, groups or grooming gangs exploiting children for sex are utterly abhorrent and the Mayor wants justice for every single victim of these horrific crimes.

‘Since taking office, the mayor has led efforts to strengthen the protection of children from exploitation and harm in all its forms in London, including grooming gangs.

‘Sadiq has driven forward long-overdue reforms in the way the Met protects children and delivered vital investment in specialist services to support child victims of sexual abuse and exploitation including a new £2.4million package of support for victims and survivors to ensure they have the care, attention and specialist support services they deserve.

‘The mayor is clear that the Met must follow the evidence wherever it leads and he will continue to ensure it does everything possible to tackle all child sexual exploitation in the capital, including grooming gangs, to build a safer London for everyone.’

Initiatives include Mr Khan’s £15.6million Violence and Exploitation Support Service offering specialist support to young Londoners who are vulnerable, caught up in or being exploited by criminal gangs in the capital.

Officials have also pointed to £233million invested in supporting police to go after the worst perpetrators of violence against women and girls and schemes such as GPS tagging of male perpetrators.