Hundreds of beforehand closed reviews of kid abuse instances being reviewed in ‘unprecedented’ police operation
Thousands of grooming gang cases dropped by police could be reinvestigated as part of an ‘unprecedented’ probe, it is announced today.
Nearly 1,300 previously closed investigations involving allegations of group-based child sexual abuse and exploitation are currently being reviewed by the National Crime Agency (NCA) as it seeks to ‘put right’ previous mistakes.
This includes cases involving ‘human error’ or officers failing to follow best practice during the initial investigation by not interviewing suspects adequately.
Officers admit the work as part of Operation Beaconport is at an early stage, but say it could result in many more cases being reopened and reinvestigated by police, leading to prosecutions where appropriate.
Nigel Leary, NCA deputy director, said this was ‘the most comprehensive investigation of its type in UK history’.
He said: ‘This is going to be a phenomenally large undertaking … an operation that will span many years.
‘This is an operation where we will want to ensure that the right decisions are made now, and that we are putting right anything that has gone wrong in the past.
‘But we will only be able to do that in conjunction with victims and survivors.’
Police said thousands of group-based child sexual abuse cases could be reinvestigated as part of an ‘unprecedented’ attempt to ensure justice has been served on perpetrators
Operation Beaconport will review cases where police forces in England and Wales and the Crown Prosecution Service made the decision to take no further action against suspects between January 2010 and March this year.
The NCA will only review cases submitted by police forces if they meet certain criteria. This includes requiring at least two or more suspects, where the suspects are believed to be alive today, that the case has not previously been reviewed, and that the alleged victims support the review.
So far, 1,273 cases relating to allegations of group-based child sex abuse have been referred to the NCA, including 236 rapes.
A total of 23 police forces have referred cases to the investigation team for review.
It is not known whether the Met, Britain’s largest police force, is among them.
The NCA said it would not offer a breakdown of how many referrals were made by each force at this early stage, but said they expected to receive ‘thousands’ of cases.
Last month Scotland Yard announced it was reviewing 9,000 grooming cases.
The NCA said investigators are recording the ethnicity of the suspects and the complainants, while dangerous suspects identified during the review will be flagged to relevant authorities.
Mr Leary added: ‘Initial reviews have identified that in some cases where there has been a decision to take no further action, there were available lines of inquiry that could have been pursued.
‘We’ve seen in those cases what appears to be potentially human error.’
The operation is separate to the inquiry into grooming gangs, launched by Sir Keir Starmer in the summer following an audit by Baroness Louise Casey into the data and evidence on the nature and scale of group-based child sexual abuse.
The Prime Minister was forced to act after growing concern from victims’ groups, politicians and high-profile commentators including the tech billionaire Elon Musk that authorities failed to tackle grooming gangs in the UK.
