UK

Blitz on child sex grooming gangs to be announced after No 10 shocked by 'heartbreaking' stories of abuse

Action to tackle child sexual exploitation will be announced this week after No?10 was shocked by ‘heartbreaking’ stories of abuse.

The move follows the conviction of nine Asian men for systematically raping and abusing underage girls in Rochdale, Greater Manchester, and claims by a Government expert that abuse was taking place ‘all over the country’.

On Tuesday, Ministers will launch an urgent review of the quality of care provided in children’s homes – which were at the heart of the Rochdale scandal – and publish a progress report on an ‘action plan’ designed to tackle child exploitation.

In May, nine men were jailed for a total of 77 years after a court heard that they had plied girls as young as 13 with drink and drugs before carrying out acts of abuse.

Many of the girls, who all came from deprived family backgrounds, had been in the care of the local authority.
Last month, the All-Party Parliamentary Group for Runaway and Missing Children and Adults delivered a devastating report which claimed that up to 10,000 children were going missing from care every year.

Sue Berelowitz, England’s Deputy Children’s Commissioner – who this week will publish a separate report into protection for children in care – told MPs that ‘sexual exploitation of children is happening all over the country. It is very sadistic’.

She said the number of victims was in the ‘thousands’.
A Government source said: ‘Child sexual exploitation is an abhorrent crime. We have all been shocked by the heartbreaking stories that have come to light.’

News report
30 June 2012

http://www.dailymail.co.uk/news/article-2167096/Child-exploitation-Blitz-child-sex-grooming-gangs-No-10-shocked-heartbreaking-stories-abuse.html?ITO=1490

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