For over two decades, towns across Northern England became the epicentres of one of the worst child abuse scandals in British history. In Rotherham alone, at least 1,400 children were sexually abused between 1997 and 2013, often by groups of men of Pakistani heritage, according to the now-infamous Jay Report.
In 2025, a national audit and fresh government inquiry revealed that this trend was not isolated. It was national. The data showed a disturbing pattern: men of Pakistani descent—representing just 3.9% of the UK population—were responsible for 64% of group-based child sexual abuse cases in Rotherham, and were similarly overrepresented in other towns like Rochdale, Telford, and Oldham.
So, how did it come to this? How did a modern democratic state allow generations of vulnerable girls—some as young as 11—to be groomed, raped, trafficked, and ignored?
Political Correctness Over Child Safety
One of the clearest reasons authorities failed was fear: the fear of losing out on a huge vote bank.
Multiple investigations revealed that local councils, police forces, and social workers were aware of grooming patterns but deliberately chose not to act, citing concerns about inflaming racial tensions. Some whistleblowers were even reprimanded or fired for raising alarms that involved “Pakistani” men.
Instead, sweeping terms were used first, calling them just grooming gangs, then later Asian or South Asian, although the Japanese, Chinese, Koreans, Indians, etc, form little to no part of these statistics.
The grooming gang lists are largely overflowing with Pakistani names. Yet the government continued on its stance of shying away from naming the country involved for political reasons.
In one Rotherham council memo, officials even urged staff to avoid mentioning the national identity of offenders, warning it could “damage community cohesion.” In effect, child protection took a back seat to political image management.
This has even affected other communities negatively, who are being included due to the headlines, but in reality have no part in these huge syndicates. Instead, it also gives the option to the Pakistani community to not only pretend that nothing is happening but instead to mesh in with nationalities that have nothing to do with these crimes.
It is particularly troubling for the UK as many victims were from troubled backgrounds—foster care, broken homes, or working-class communities—and were dismissed by professionals as “making poor lifestyle choices.” Some were even arrested themselves, branded as “child prostitutes” rather than victims of rape and trafficking.
One survivor described being told by police, “No one will believe you. You’re just a slag.” For years, children were left to fend for themselves while abusers operated with impunity.
Data Suppression
Despite growing anecdotal evidence, no consistent national data on offender ethnicity was collected. The 2025 audit found that in more than 60% of group-based abuse cases, ethnicity was not recorded at all.
This lack of data was not accidental—it was a deliberate choice made by institutions fearful of the racial implications. The result: policymakers had no clear picture of offender profiles, making it nearly impossible to formulate targeted prevention strategies.
Even when victims came forward, charges were often dropped or downgraded. In numerous cases, suspects were not charged with rape, despite clear evidence of sexual activity with minors. The law did not require prosecutors to pursue rape charges if a minor “appeared to consent”—a loophole that has only recently been closed.
Meanwhile, some known offenders remained taxi drivers or local business owners, giving them continued access to vulnerable girls.
It was quite evident from the statistics that a disproportionate number of group-based grooming cases involved networks of Pakistani-origin men.
In Rotherham, 64% of identified perpetrators were of Pakistani descent. This is profoundly disproportionate given their small share of the population—just 3.9% nationally. In hotspot towns like Bradford, Rochdale, and Oldham, the Pakistani-origin population ranges between 10%–30%, yet the abuse networks were often deeply embedded within tight-knit local subcultures where accountability was scarce and silence was encouraged.
What Has Changed in 2025?
After years of delay, the UK government—under Prime Minister Keir Starmer—has finally ordered a statutory national inquiry with full legal powers. Led by Baroness Louise Casey, it will compel witnesses, review historic cases, and make binding recommendations.
Reforms already underway include:
Mandatory rape charges for any penetrative sex with under-16s.
Ethnicity recording in all child sexual exploitation cases.
Reopening 800+ historic cases with further prosecutions expected.
Stripping abusers of public service licenses (e.g., taxi drivers).
Deportation for foreign-national offenders and asylum seekers convicted of grooming.
Funding for local inquiries in Rochdale, Oldham, Telford, Bradford, and Rotherham.
The government has also passed the Online Safety Act, targeting grooming and exploitation online, now seen as the “next frontier” of abuse.
The UK’s failure to protect vulnerable children from organised sexual exploitation was not due to lack of evidence—it was due to lack of will. Fear of political repercussions, the denial of the quite apparent basic Pakistani cultural patterns, along with bureaucratic cowardice allowed hundreds—perhaps thousands—of children to be destroyed.
It took over 20 years, dozens of reports, and growing public outrage for real action to begin. Whether this long-overdue reckoning will bring lasting justice remains to be seen. But one thing is clear: silence and denial protected abusers more than any law ever did.
