Child sexual abuse in the United Kingdom

Last updated

Child sexual abuse in the United Kingdom includes the proliferation of indecent images, online exploitation, transnational abuse, and contact abuse. Efforts to prevent child sexual abuse include providing information to children and parents, and disrupting abusive situations. Perpetrators may act alone or as part of a group or street gang, and may either exploit vulnerabilities in children and young people or have long-standing sexual attraction to children. Underreporting of child sexual abuse and low conviction rates remain barriers to justice, among other factors. In the UK, high profile media coverage of child sexual abuse has often focused on cases of institutional and celebrity abuse, as well as offences committed by organized groups of sexual abusers.

Contents

Child sexual abuse has been reported in the country throughout its history. [1] In about 90% of cases the abuser is a person known to the child. [2] From the second half of the twentieth century, cases involving religious institutions, [3] schools, [4] popular entertainers, [5] [6] politicians, [7] military personnel, and other officials have been widely publicised. Since the start of the 21st century, media coverage and political discourse has also increasingly covered child abuse rings or "grooming gangs" operating in towns and cities across the UK, most notably in what is now known as the grooming gangs scandal. [8] Efforts to protect children from sexual abuse were recorded as early as the 11th century. [9] Investigation and prevention of child sex abuse were impaired in the 21st century due to the impact of the government austerity programme. [10]

In 2012, celebrity Jimmy Savile was posthumously identified as a prolific child sexual abuser over the previous six decades. Subsequent investigations, including those of Operation Yewtree, led to the conviction of several prominent "household names" in the media, allegations against prominent politicians, and calls for a public inquiry to establish what had been known by those responsible for the institutions where abuse had taken place. In July 2014, an Independent Inquiry into Child Sexual Abuse was announced by Theresa May, then British Home Secretary, to examine how the country's institutions have handled their duty of care to protect children from sexual abuse. [11]

Categories of child sexual abuse

The Child Exploitation and Online Protection Command identify four broad categories of child sexual abuse in the United Kingdom, which they describe as the four "key threats" to children.[ citation needed ]

Within the category of contact sexual abuse, there are a number of recognised types. Firstly, contact child sexual abuse by lone offenders. Secondly, contact child sexual abuse by group offenders and offending associated with street gangs, of which there are two types. [12] Within the group category, authorities describe two broad types:

Statistics

The National Audit on Group-based Child Sexual Exploitation and Abuse (2025) said that around 500,000 children a year are likely to experience child sexual abuse of any kind in the UK, with one in five (100,000) incidents reported. Of the reported offences, 60% (60,000) are contact offences and 40% online. Of the contact offences, 28.5% (17,100) are flagged as child sexual exploitation. [14]

In the UK, a 2010 study estimated prevalence at about 5% for boys and 18% for girls [15] (not dissimilar to a 1985 study that estimated about 8% for boys and 12% for girls). [16] Figures from 2009–10 suggest girls are six times more likely to be assaulted than boys with 86% of attacks taking place against them. [17] [18] In 2014, the charity Barnardo's published a report that estimated that during 2008-2013, two thirds of victims were girls and one third were boys. Barnardo's were concerned that male victims may be overlooked. [19] [20] In 2020, the Centre of Expertise on Child Sexual Abuse said professionals faced difficulties "in identifying sexual abuse and acting on concerns about children from minority ethnic backgrounds". [21]

Recorded offences

Reports of child sex abuse have increased in the UK. This may, in part, be due to greater willingness to report – between October 2013 and December 2017, reports to child protection experts had increased by 700%. The NSPCC reported a 31% increase between 2016 and 2017 alone. [22] Between 2009 and 2010, more than 23,000 offences were recorded by the UK police. [18] [17] This number had almost doubled by 2016–17. [23] The true number of offences remains doubtful, and is generally assumed to be larger, due to expected underreporting. [24] Some 90% of the sexually abused children were abused by people who they knew, and about one out of every three abused children did not tell anyone else about it. [2]

Offender demographics

The vast majority of child sex offenders in England and Wales are male, with men representing 82% of perpetrators of child sexual abuse and 90% of "contact" child sexual abuse in 2023. [25] A 2025 report by the Centre of Expertise on Child Sexual Abuse said that the ethnic background of offenders was recorded in 69% of cases, of which 90% were white, 5% were Asian, 2% were Black, 2% were from mixed ethnic backgrounds and 1% were from "other" ethnic backgrounds. [26] The Centre of Expertise on Child Sexual Abuse used statistics from the Ministry of Justice which show that white offenders are disproportionately over-represented in the numbers of defendants when compared to the 2021 Census which shows whites make up 81.7% of the general population in England and Wales, 9.3% identify as Asian, 4% identify as black, 2.2% identify as mixed race and 1% identify as 'other'. [27]

According to the Ministry of Justice's prison population statistics, there were 8,345 convictions for child sexual abuse offences in 2020. Of this number, 43 did not have their ethnicity recorded. Of those with recorded ethnicity, white prisoners were the majority with a total of 7,353. 464 were Asian, 310 were black and 175 were mixed and "other". [28]

In 2023, 115,489 child sexual abuse and exploitation crimes were recorded. Most cases of abuse occurred within the family or were committed by other children. Group-based child sexual exploitation accounted for 4,228 offences (3.7% of all cases), of which three-quarters involved two perpetrators and two-thirds involved direct contact (rather than occurring online). More than half of all group-based crimes were committed by other children and young people (57%): 9% of offenders were aged 9 or younger, 48% were aged 10–17, and the remaining 43% were adults. 717 (17%) were conducted by organised networks of criminals (so-called "grooming gangs"). [29] [30] [25]

Sexual abuse prevention

In the 11th century, surviving ordinances of Canterbury Cathedral revealed that a process was in place to minimise opportunities for clergy guilty of past abuses to engage in further illicit sexual activities with minors. [9] Several organisations in the United Kingdom work towards the goal of preventing sexual abuse, such as the National Society for the Prevention of Cruelty to Children (NSPCC) and the Lucy Faithfull Foundation. Prevention initiatives have traditionally involved providing information to children and parents about sexual abuse and how to prevent it. Other forms of prevention involve disruption activities where the children can be removed from the family home or area in which they are living, or work can be done to make it more difficult for people to sexually abuse children.[ citation needed ]

Barriers to prevention

Austerity led to cuts in policing so that the police no longer have the resources to investigate possible offences satisfactorily, or to safeguard potential victims. Nazir Afzal (formerly the Crown Prosecution Service lead on child sexual abuse and violence against women and girls) said, "Austerity has come at the wrong time. When finally voices are being heard, finally authorities are beginning to do their job properly and finally the NGO sector are being listened to, there isn't any money to go around. They are doing this with one hand behind their back. As a consequence, clearly people will not get justice". [10] Nazir Afzal has also expressed concern that there are few prosecutions of grooming gangs in the south of England, fearing people in the south are not looking hard enough. Afzal said,

The perceptions is that northern towns and the Midlands have got a better handle on it, but London, the south-east, the south-west really are not focusing on it and claiming they don't have any problems. ... There have been hardly any cases south of Birmingham. What the hell is going on? Is it because there is no problem? I don't accept that at all. Is it because it's not a priority? I hope that's not true. I do think it's that thing about not turning over a stone. [10]

In 2019, a BBC investigation reported that some privately-run sexual assault referral centres (SARCs) were failing to examine young people who had experienced sexual assault in a timely fashion, jeopardising their ability to record forensic evidence. Victims' Commissioner Baroness Newlove said the failures were "shocking". [31]

In 2023 Stephen Cottrell, archbishop of York, said that there was a crisis of safeguarding within the Church of England, due to church-related abuse. He said: "I imagine Jesus weeps over this situation ... And I know many of us are not far from those tears as well." [3]

In November 2024, the U.K. government published the National review into child sexual abuse within the family environment, which sought to look at the "identification, assessment, and response to child sexual abuse within the family environment". It examined local child safeguarding practice reviews (LCSPRs), as well as 136 serious child safeguarding incidents and 41 serious case reviews (SCRs) related to these incidents to set out guidelines for local and national governments, as well as safeguarding partners across the country. The review said that there were "significant and long-standing issues" in reporting child sexual abuse within families, with children affected "frequently not being identified by practitioners" and not "receiving the response needed for their ongoing safety and recovery". [32]

Law and policy

The United Kingdom rewrote its criminal code in the Sexual Offences Act 2003. This Act includes definitions and penalties for child sexual abuse offences, and (so far as relating to offences) applies to England and Wales and Northern Ireland. The Scottish Law Commission published its review of rape and sexual offences in December 2007, which includes a similar consolidation and codification of child sexual abuse offences in Scotland.[ citation needed ]

In 2021, the government published its Tackling Child Sexual Abuse Strategy, which focussed on new technologies and legislation to prevent and police abuse. [33] [34]

Grooming gangs

Several government reviews have reported failures by British institutions in preventing, identifying and prosecuting the widespread cases of group-based child sexual abuse and exploitation that mostly occurred between the 1990s and 2010s. [35] Allegations of governmental and institutional failures to respond to the problem or to downplay or cover up the issue have been described as a grooming gangs scandal. [36]

Media coverage and political discourse around these crimes has especially focused on the ethnic and religious background of perpetrators in high-profile cases, many of whom were of Pakistani British origin, and whether this prevented proper investigation. [37] [38] [39] Data in Greater Manchester, South Yorkshire and West Yorkshire shows that, in the 2020s, men of an Asian ethnic background are disproportionately represented among perpetrators in those areas, but there is insufficient data to draw conclusions about ethnicity of perpetrators across the UK. [40]

The National Audit on Group-based Child Sexual Exploitation and Abuse ("Casey audit") called for better recording of ethnicity by police forces to prevent misinformation, aid examination of the underlying issues, and restore public trust. [41] In 2025, following the Casey audit's recommendations, the British Government indicated it would fund a national inquiry into the issue of group-based child sexual exploitation, including the role played by the ethnic background of offenders and to what extent there were failings by local authorities in the prevention and policing of such abuse.

Scholars such as Shamim Miah, Tufail Waqas, Muzammil Quraishi, Ella Cockbain, Aisha K. Gill, Karen Harrison, and others [42] have accused politicians and the media of creating a moral panic over the issue that demonises Muslims. [43]

Inquiries

Butler-Sloss Inquiry

In 1987, a wave of suspected child sexual abuse cases were reported in Cleveland, England, many of which were later discredited. [44] From February to July 1987, many children living in Cleveland were removed from their homes by social service agencies and diagnosed as sexually abused. The 121 diagnoses were made by two paediatricians at a Middlesbrough hospital, Marietta Higgs and Geoffrey Wyatt, using reflex anal dilation for diagnosis (later discredited). [45]

When there were not enough foster homes in which to place the children, social services began to house the children in a ward at the local hospital. Later, the test used to establish child abuse was contested by the area police surgeon, and cooperation between the social workers, police and hospital doctors involved in diagnosis began to disintegrate. There was public concern regarding the practices being used by the local social service agency, such as the removal of children from their homes in the middle of the night. In May 1987, parents marched from the hospital where their children were being held to the local newspaper. The resulting media coverage caused the social service agency's practices to receive public scrutiny and criticism. Controversy increased when Mr Justice Hollis ruled that 19 of 20 children who had been made wards of the court should be returned to their parents due to the weakness of the medical evidence. [44]

In response, the Butler-Sloss report was commissioned by the Secretary of State for Social Services in July 1987 and published in 1988. The report, led by Dame Elizabeth Butler-Sloss, concluded that most of the diagnoses were incorrect. [45] Ninety-four of the 121 children were returned to their homes. [45] [46] An editorial in The Lancet concluded: "By their bull-headed approach, Dr Higgs and Dr Wyatt ... have set back the cause they sought to promote". In July 1988, six MPs tabled a House of Commons motion for charges of indecent assault and conspiracy to be brought against Higgs and Wyatt. [47]

On 14 October 1991, the Children Act 1989 was implemented in full as a result of the Cleveland child abuse scandal and other child related events that preceded it. [48] [44]

Northern Ireland Historical Institutional Abuse Inquiry

The 2014–2016 Northern Ireland Historical Institutional Abuse Inquiry, often referred to as the HIA Inquiry, [49] is the largest inquiry into historical institutional sexual and physical abuse of children in Northern Ireland legal history. Its remit covered institutions in Northern Ireland that provided residential care for children from 1922 to 1995, [50] but excluded most church-run schools. [51]

The inquiry concluded its hearings on 8 July 2016 and released its report on 20 January 2017. [52] [53] In October 2019 the House of Lords passed the Historical Institutional Abuse (Northern Ireland) Bill [54] "to establish the Historical Institutional Abuse Redress Board and confer an entitlement to compensation...", and it was passed by the House of Commons as one of its last acts before the 2019 United Kingdom general election. [55] [56]

On 11 March 2022 ministers from the five main political parties in Northern Ireland and six abusing institutions made statements of apology in the Northern Ireland Assembly. A typical apology was "Today we, as representatives of the state, say that we are sorry ... that the state's systems failed to protect you from abuse". [57] BBC News reported that Jon McCourt from Survivors North West said "If what happened today was the best that the church could offer by way of an apology they failed miserably. There was no emotion, there was no ownership. ... I don't believe that the church and institutions atoned today." He called on the intuitions to "do the right thing" and contribute to the redress fund for survivors, saying that institutions have done similar for people in Scotland. [58] A board was set to represent all six institutions with a view to paying compensation to abuse victims. January 2025, four of the six institutions had taken no action towards making payments. [59]

Independent Inquiry into Child Sexual Abuse

The Independent Inquiry into Child Sexual Abuse (IICSA) [60] in England and Wales was an inquiry examining how the country's institutions handled their duty of care to protect children from sexual abuse. It was announced by the British Home Secretary, Theresa May, on 7 July 2014. [11] It was set up after investigations in 2012 and 2013 into the Jimmy Savile sexual abuse scandal revealed widespread abuse, including historic claims (spanning several decades) against prominent media and political figures, and inadequate safeguarding by institutions and organisations. Originally the inquiry was intended to be a Panel Inquiry supported by experts, similar to the Hillsborough Independent Panel. [61] [62] [63] After numerous objections related to the panel's scope and its independence from those being investigated, and the resignation of its first two intended chairs, the inquiry was reconstituted in February 2015 as a statutory inquiry under the Inquiries Act 2005, giving it greatly increased powers to compel sworn testimony and to examine classified information. [64]

The first two chairs appointed to the original panel inquiry were Baroness Butler-Sloss (appointed 8 July 2014, stepped down 14 July 2014) [65] [66] [67] and Fiona Woolf (appointed 5 September 2014, stepped down 31 October 2014). [68] [69] [70] The reasons for their withdrawal in each case were objections related to their perceived closeness to individuals and establishments which would be investigated. On 4 February 2015, May announced that the inquiry would be chaired by Dame Lowell Goddard, a New Zealand High Court judge who had no ties to the UK bodies and persons likely to be investigated, and the existing panel was disbanded. [71] [72] Lowell Goddard resigned as chair in August 2016 and was replaced by Professor Alexis Jay, who had previously led the Independent Inquiry into Child Sexual Exploitation in Rotherham (or Jay Report). [73]

The IICSA published 19 reports in all, with the last one coming on 20 October 2022, with many urgent recommendations. [74] [75] Home Secretary Suella Braverman said the Government of the United Kingdom "accepted the need to act on all but one of the Inquiry’s recommendations". [76] As of December 2024, none of these recommendations had been implemented; the Ministry of Justice had closed a further consultation but published no response to the report. [77] [78]

Key recommendations

The 20 key recommendations from the Independent Inquiry into Child Sexual Abuse (IICSA) include: [79] [80]

  • Creating a statutory requirement for people working or volunteering in positions of trust to report allegations of child sexual abuse.
  • Establishing a national compensation scheme for people who have experienced child sexual abuse connected to an institution (state or non-state).
  • Establishing two child protection authorities (one in England and one in Wales) to improve child protection practices and policies, and to advise government.
  • Establishing a dedicated cabinet minister for child protection.
  • Introducing a ban on pain-compliance techniques in prisons, detention centres and other custodial settings.
  • Improving statutory duty compliance so the Disclosure and Barring Service (DBS) is informed about individuals potentially posing a risk to children.
  • Ensuring better age-verification processes online.
  • Issuing regular public awareness campaigns to inform the public on how to spot potential abuse and how to report it.
  • Amending the Children Act 1989 to allow children to apply for a court order to prevent a local authority exercising its parental responsibilities over them.
  • Establishing an independent body to register staff in care homes, set and enforce professional standards, and provide training.
  • Registration of staff at young offender institutes and secure training centres.
  • Allow anyone working with children to see if they have been barred by the DBS.
  • Extend disclosure requirements to those working with children overseas.
  • Require all regulated search service providers and user-to-user services to pre-screen online content for known child sexual abuse material.
  • Establish joint inspection of the victims' code to ensure it provides the minimum level of service for survivors of child sexual abuse.
  • Ending the three-year limitation on personal injury claims for survivors of child sexual abuse.
  • Providing guaranteed, fully-funded therapeutic support by specialists to all survivors of child sexual abuse.
  • Establishing a code of practice which provides access to records related to child sexual abuse and ensures they are retained for 75 years.
  • Updating the criminal injuries compensation scheme to cover a broader range of child sexual abuse and to extend the time limit for survivors to apply.
  • Improving data collection by creating a single set of core data for all child sexual abuse cases.

November 2020 report on Catholic Church

In November 2020, the Independent Inquiry into Child Sexual Abuse published its 144-page report, Safeguarding in the Roman Catholic Church in England and Wales. [81] The report said the Catholic Church of England and Wales "swept under the carpet" allegations of sex abuse by many individuals, including priests, monks and volunteers, in England and Wales. The report said that Vincent Nichols, a cardinal since 2014 and the leader of the Catholic church in England and Wales, made "no acknowledgement of any personal responsibility", [82] protected the reputation of the Church rather than protecting victims, and lacked compassion towards victims. [83]

On 2 September 2021, the inquiry published Child protection in religious organisations and settings - Investigation Report, after examining evidence from 38 groups, including sects from Christianity, Orthodox Judaism, and Islam. [84] The report said there were "shocking failings" and "blatant hypocrisy" in the way major UK religious groups handled child sex abuse allegations. It also said that some religious organisations were "morally failing" children, discouraging the reporting of abuse to protect reputations, blaming victims for their abuse, and responding to allegations using religious dogma. [85]

Scottish Child Abuse Inquiry

The Scottish Child Abuse Inquiry was established in October 2015 to inquire into cases of child abuse in care in Scotland. [86] [87] Retired judge Lady Anne Smith was appointed as chairwoman of the inquiry in July 2016. She is supported by a secretariat team, a legal team and legal council. [88] Prior to the appointment of Smith, the inquiry had a chair, Susan O'Brien, and two panel members, Michael Lamb and Glen Houston. Lamb resigned because of the Scottish government continued interference. [89] The inquiry investigated over 100 locations of over 50 residential care establishments for children where there were child abuse claims. [90] [91] Between 2018 and 2021 the inquiry issued several reports including four case reports on care homes in Scotland. [92] [93] [94]

Abuse survivors have called on the Scottish Child Abuse Inquiry remit to be widened out to include victims who were targeted outwith residential care, including sports and leisure clubs or faith based organisations attended on a day-to-day basis. [95] [96] Lady Smith rejected this request. [95] Those affected by childhood sexual abuse have called for new laws of mandatory reporting to be implemented in Scotland. This would be a legal requirement for those who work with children or in law enforcement to report child sexual abuse, and is already law in many other countries in the world. The Scottish Child Abuse Inquiry has given no indication if they will support this law reform. [97]

The inquiry was to report and make recommendations by 2019. [98] [99] This deadline was later changed to "as soon as reasonably practicable". [87] A transcript contract extension indicates the inquiry hearings could run until February 2025, with a possible extension to February 2026. Then the report would need to be written. [100] Concerns have been raised about mounting costs and delays in the inquiry. [101] [102] In September 2021, Lady Smith released a report which was critical of the previous Scottish government for the 'woeful and avoidable' delay in setting up the inquiry. [103] As of January 2025, after nearly eight years of the inquiry, it still has not published its recommendations. [97]

Notable incidents

See also

References

  1. ↑ Delap, Lucy (30 July 2015). "Child welfare, child protection and sexual abuse, 1918-1990". History & Policy. Archived from the original on 19 July 2016. Retrieved 19 July 2016.
  2. 1 2 "Incidence and prevalence of child abuse and neglect". NSPCC. Archived from the original on 2 July 2014. Retrieved 30 January 2014.
  3. 1 2 Sherwood, Harriet (9 July 2023). "Safeguarding in 'crisis' in Church of England, says archbishop of York". The Guardian. Archived from the original on 9 July 2023. Retrieved 9 July 2023.
  4. ↑ "Teacher guilty of sexually abusing pupil". East Anglian Daily Times . 9 November 2007. Archived from the original on 2 July 2019.
  5. ↑ "Rolf Harris guilty: The moment on the witness stand he came closest to convicting himself". The Sydney Morning Herald . 1 July 2014. Archived from the original on 30 June 2014. Retrieved 1 July 2014.
  6. ↑ "Gary Glitter jailed for 16 years". BBC News. 27 February 2015. Archived from the original on 8 March 2015. Retrieved 6 March 2015.
  7. ↑ Boffey, Daniel (6 July 2014). "Tebbit hints at political cover-up over child abuse in 1980s". The Guardian. London. Retrieved 6 July 2014.
  8. ↑ Adrian Bingham and Louise Settle. Scandals and silences: the British press and child sexual abuse, in History & Policy. (4 August 2015)
  9. 1 2 Walker, S. (2021). Children Forsaken: Child Abuse from Ancient to Modern Times. Critical Publishing. p. 22. ISBN   978-1-913453-83-1. Archived from the original on 14 March 2023. Retrieved 14 March 2023.
  10. 1 2 3 Austerity harms hunt for sexual abuse gangs, says ex-prosecutor Archived 21 October 2018 at the Wayback Machine The Observer
  11. 1 2 "Ex-senior judge Butler-Sloss to head child sex abuse inquiry". BBC News Online. 8 July 2014. Archived from the original on 7 May 2021. Retrieved 12 July 2014.
  12. ↑ Laville, Sandra (14 May 2013). "Children put at risk by rise in images of abuse online, say investigators". The Guardian . Archived from the original on 22 June 2018. Retrieved 21 June 2018.
  13. ↑ "Threat Assessment of Child Sexual Exploitation and Abuse" (PDF). Child Exploitation and Online Protection Command. June 2013. p. 19. Archived from the original (PDF) on 12 November 2020. Retrieved 21 June 2018.
  14. ↑ Casey, Louise (16 June 2025). "National Audit on Group-based Child Sexual Exploitation and Abuse". GOV.UK. Retrieved 16 June 2025.
  15. ↑ Radford; Lorraine; Corral; Susana; Bradley; Christine; Fisher; Helen; Bassett; Claire; Howat; Nick; Collishaw; Stephan (2011). "Child abuse and neglect in the UK today" (PDF). NSPCC. p. 5. Archived from the original (PDF) on 16 August 2014. Retrieved 29 October 2011.
  16. ↑ Baker, AW; Duncan, SP (1985). "Child sexual abuse: a study of prevalence in Great Britain". Child Abuse & Neglect. 9 (4): 457–67. doi:10.1016/0145-2134(85)90054-7. PMID   4084825.
  17. 1 2 "NSPCC says child sex abuse has risen to 64 crimes a day" BBC News. 26 May 2011. Retrieved February 4, 2012.
  18. 1 2 "60 sex offences against children a day – NSPCC" BBC News. 25 January 2010. Retrieved February 4, 2012.
  19. ↑ Malik, Zubeida (27 August 2014). "Barnardo's: Sexual exploitation of boys 'overlooked'". BBC News. Retrieved 23 March 2015.
  20. ↑ Cockbain, Ella; Brayley, Helen; Ashby, Matthew (August 2014). "Not just a girl thing A large-scale comparison of male and female users of child sexual exploitation services in the UK" (PDF). Barnados. Retrieved 17 January 2025.
  21. ↑ "Trends in official data".
  22. ↑ Estimated 20,000 British men interested in sexually abusing children The Guardian
  23. 1 2 3 4 5 Bentley, H.; et al. (2018). How safe are our children? The most comprehensive overview of child protection in the UK 2018. London: NSPCC. pp. 29–31.
  24. ↑ "Why Does So Much Abuse of Children Go Unreported?". Huffington Post. 26 March 2012. Archived from the original on 3 February 2014. Retrieved 30 January 2014.
  25. 1 2 Dunford, Daniel. "Child sex abuse and grooming gangs: What we know, and what we don't, from the data". Sky News. Retrieved 10 April 2025.
  26. ↑ Kewley, Stephanie; Karsna, Kairika (2025). Child Sexual Abuse in 2023/24: Trends in Official Data (PDF) (Report). Barkingside: Centre of expertise on child sexual abuse. doi:10.47117/IZAK2457.
  27. ↑ "Ethnic group, England and Wales - Office for National Statistics".
  28. ↑ 2006 Sex Offenders including CSA Prison population by ethnicity Archived 21 May 2023 at the Wayback Machine
  29. ↑ "'Anybody can be a victim': what do UK grooming gangs look like today?". Financial Times. 10 January 2025. Retrieved 4 July 2025.
  30. ↑ Hymas, Charles (10 January 2025). "Pakistanis up to four times more likely to be behind grooming". The Telegraph. ISSN   0307-1235 . Retrieved 10 April 2025.
  31. ↑ "Sexual assault forensics centres failing some victims". BBC News. 8 January 2019. Retrieved 9 January 2025.
  32. ↑ "National review into child sexual abuse within the family environment". GOV.UK. Retrieved 9 January 2025.
  33. ↑ "Tackling Child Sexual Abuse Strategy". GOV.UK. 7 June 2021. Retrieved 10 January 2025.
  34. ↑ "Priti Patel publishes new strategy to protect children from sexual abuse". GOV.UK. Retrieved 10 January 2025.
  35. ↑ Casey 2025, pp. 61, 74.
  36. ↑ Hanson 2018
    Wroe & Vaughn 2025
  37. ↑ "Britain's Starmer announces national inquiry into 'grooming gangs'". Reuters. 14 June 2025. Retrieved 6 July 2025.
  38. ↑ Gill & Harrison 2015: "The British media's construction of a specifically South Asian notion of hegemonic masculinity began long before the recent spate of high-profile cases of child sexual exploitation and grooming. The Ouseley report on the Bradford race riots (Ouseley 2001), and the Cantle Report on the Oldham, Burnley and Bradford riots (Cantle 2001), focused on cultural difference as the primary causal factor for these events, maintaining that British South Asians and white Britons led 'parallel lives'. Media coverage of the riots described angry young men who were alienated from society and their own communities, and had become entangled in a life of crime and violence, a vision that provided the bedrock for the construction of what Claire Alexander calls the 'new Asian folk devil' (2000)."
  39. ↑ Cockbain & Tufail 2020
    Tufail 2015
    Meyer 2015
    Shawar 2022
  40. ↑ Casey 2025, pp. 61, 84: "Rates of collection and accuracy of ethnicity data were much higher in police data from Greater Manchester, South Yorkshire and West Yorkshire. Their data shows there has been a disproportionality of group-based child sexual exploitation offending by men of Asian ethnicity in these police force areas." (p. 61) "The percentage of suspects of Asian ethnicity (35%) and White ethnicity (34%) compares with an ethnicity profile for West Yorkshire141 of 16% Asian and 77% White, suggesting a disproportionate over-representation of people of Asian ethnic background (roughly double) and disproportionately under representation of people of White ethnicity (roughly half) amongst child sexual exploitation suspects in West Yorkshire over the period examined." (p. 84)
  41. ↑ Casey 2025, pp. 4.
  42. ↑ Miah 2015, pp. 54–66
    Tufail & Poynting 2016
    Quraishi 2016
    Cockbain 2013, pp. 22–32: "The British media's construction of a specifically South Asian notion of hegemonic masculinity began long before the recent spate of high-profile cases of child sexual exploitation and grooming. The Ouseley report on the Bradford race riots (Ouseley 2001), and the Cantle Report on the Oldham, Burnley and Bradford riots (Cantle 2001), focused on cultural difference as the primary causal factor for these events, maintaining that British South Asians and white Britons led 'parallel lives'. Media coverage of the riots described angry young men who were alienated from society and their own communities, and had become entangled in a life of crime and violence, a vision that provided the bedrock for the construction of what Claire Alexander calls the 'new Asian folk devil' (2000)."
    Gill & Harrison 2015
  43. ↑ Cockbain & Tufail 2020
    Tufail 2015
    Meyer 2015
    Gill & Day 2020
  44. 1 2 3 Charles, Pragnell. "The Cleveland Sexual Abuse Scandal". Children Webmag. Retrieved 21 July 2014.
  45. 1 2 3 "20 years on from the Cleveland Child Sex Abuse Scandal". GazetteLive. 8 July 2008.
  46. ↑ Staff writer, The Cleveland Report digest by Robert Shaw, Children Webmag 2011, accessed July 17, 2014
  47. ↑ "Cleveland doctors defended". The Times . London. 15 July 1988.
  48. ↑ Pragnall, Charles (13 December 2014). "Torn from their mothers' arms What are social workers for? Charles Pragnell considers some disturbing cases". The Independent. Retrieved 17 July 2014.
  49. ↑ "Home page". Historical institutional Abuse Inquiry. 30 June 2017.
  50. ↑ "NI abuse inquiry - the background". BBC News. 13 January 2014.
  51. ↑ "Frequently asked questions". Historical institutional Abuse Inquiry. 7 October 2015.
  52. ↑ Sir Anthony Hart, Chairman (20 January 2017). "The Historical institutional Abuse Inquiry". Historical Institutional Abuse Inquiry.
  53. ↑ Historical Institutional Abuse Inquiry - Report. Historical Institutional Abuse Inquiry (Report). 20 January 2017. ISBN   978-1-908820-91-4.
  54. ↑ "Historical Institutional Abuse (Northern Ireland) Act 2019". Legislation.gov.uk. 2019. Retrieved 7 April 2020.
  55. ↑ "31 October 2019". UK Parliament - House of Lords Hansard.
  56. ↑ McCormack, Jayne (5 November 2019). "MPs pass long-awaited abuse compensation bill". BBC News.
  57. ↑ McCormack, Jayne; Andrews, Chris (11 March 2022). "Abuse survivors hear Stormont public apology". BBC News.
  58. ↑ Connolly, Gráinne; Glynn, Niall; McCauley, Ciaran (11 March 2022). "Abuse survivors apology delivered at Stormont (reported live)". BBC News.
  59. ↑ McCormack, Jayne. "Barnardo's and the Good Shepherd Sisters to make abuse payment." BBC News. Published 16 April 2024. Accessed 10 January 2025.
  60. ↑ Joshua Rozenberg (20 July 2015). "Abuse inquiry: breaking with tradition". Law Gazette. Retrieved 20 July 2015.
  61. ↑ "MPs call on Theresa May to set up inquiry into child sex abuse". Exaro. 3 June 2014. Retrieved 19 July 2014.
  62. ↑ "Jimmy Savile: pressure grows for full inquiry into historic child abuse". The Daily Telegraph. London. 29 June 2014. Retrieved 12 July 2014.
  63. ↑ "In this child abuse inquiry, the victims must be heard. But it may be too late". The Guardian. London. 19 November 2014. Retrieved 19 November 2014.
  64. ↑ "Theresa May announces details of independent inquiry into paedophile network claims". The Independent . London. 7 July 2014. Retrieved 12 July 2014.
  65. ↑ "Ex-senior judge Butler-Sloss to head child sex abuse inquiry". BBC News. 8 July 2014.
  66. ↑ "Butler-Sloss steps down from child abuse inquiry". BBC News Online . 14 July 2014. Retrieved 14 July 2014.
  67. ↑ "Butler-Sloss urged to stand aside from abuse inquiry". BBC News. 14 July 2014.
  68. ↑ "Lord Mayor Fiona Woolf to lead child abuse inquiry". BBC News Online . 5 September 2014. Retrieved 5 September 2014.
  69. ↑ "Fiona Woolf resigns as head of child abuse inquiry". 31 October 2014. Retrieved 31 October 2014.
  70. ↑ "Abuse inquiry head Fiona Woolf defends Lord Brittan links". BBC News. 21 October 2014. Retrieved 21 October 2014.
  71. ↑ "New Zealand judge Lowell Goddard to lead abuse inquiry". BBC News. 4 February 2015. Retrieved 5 February 2015.
  72. ↑ Independent inquiry into child sexual abuse: criteria for chair and panel, Gov.uk, 4 February 2015
  73. ↑ Mark Odell (5 September 2014). "Lord Mayor of London Fiona Woolf to lead child abuse inquiry". Financial Times.
  74. ↑ "The Report of the Independent Inquiry into Child Sexual Abuse". 20 October 2022. Retrieved 5 November 2022.
  75. ↑ "Child sex abuse: Failing to report it should be made illegal - major inquiry". BBC News. 20 October 2022. Retrieved 5 November 2022.
  76. ↑ "Government Response to the Final Report of the Independent Inquiry into Child Sexual Abuse" (PDF). HM Government. May 2023. Archived (PDF) from the original on 11 June 2023. Retrieved 2 July 2023.
  77. ↑ "Nigel Farage defends Elon Musk over grooming gangs posts". BBC News. 5 January 2025. Retrieved 8 January 2025.
  78. ↑ Bernard, Stephen (9 December 2024). "Letter: Church must face up to Justin Welby's damaging legacy". The Guardian.
  79. ↑ "Jay Report into child sexual exploitation in Rotherham - Committees - UK Parliament". committees.parliament.uk. Retrieved 10 January 2025.
  80. ↑ Siddique, Haroon (20 October 2022). "Child sexual abuse inquiry: key recommendations". The Guardian. ISSN   0261-3077 . Retrieved 10 January 2025.
  81. ↑ Safeguarding in the Roman Catholic Church in England and Wales, Investigation Report (PDF). Independent Inquiry into Child Sexual Abuse. November 2020.
  82. ↑ Bowcott, Owen (10 November 2020). "Child sexual abuse in Catholic church was 'swept under the carpet', inquiry finds". The Guardian.
  83. ↑ Catholic Church abuse: Cardinal Vincent Nichols criticised over leadership. BBC News.
  84. ↑ "Child protection in religious organisations and settings - Investigation Report". Independent Inquiry into Child Sexual Abuse. 2 September 2021.
  85. ↑ Symonds, Tom (2 September 2021). "Religious groups in UK failing children over sex abuse, report says". BBC News.
  86. ↑ "Child protection: Scottish Child Abuse Inquiry - gov.scot". Scottish Government. Retrieved 17 May 2021.
  87. 1 2 "Scottish Child Abuse inquiry to be extended". BBC News. 23 August 2018. Retrieved 23 August 2018.
  88. ↑ "Who we are". Scottish Child Abuse Inquiry. Retrieved 16 May 2021.
  89. ↑ "Professor blasts Scottish Government 'interference' as he steps down from child abuse inquiry". The Herald . 28 June 2016. Retrieved 16 May 2021.
  90. ↑ "Preliminary Hearing". Scottish Child Abuse Inquiry. 11 December 2019. Retrieved 18 May 2021.
  91. ↑ "List of Investigations". Scottish Child Abuse Inquiry. Retrieved 17 May 2021.
  92. ↑ "Case Study no. 3: The provision of residential care for children in Scotland by Quarriers, Aberlour Child Care Trust, and Barnardo's between 1921 and 1991" (PDF). Scottish Child Abuse Inquiry. January 2020. Archived from the original (PDF) on 28 February 2020. Retrieved 17 May 2021.
  93. ↑ "Case Study no. 4: The provision of residential care for children in Scotland by The Christian Brothers between 1953 and 1983 at St Ninian's Residential Care Home, Falkland, Fife" (PDF). Scottish Child Abuse Inquiry. February 2021. Archived from the original (PDF) on 17 February 2021. Retrieved 17 May 2021.
  94. ↑ "Case Study no. 1: The provision of residential care for children in Scotland by the Daughters of Charity of St Vincent de Paul between 1917 and 1981, with a particular focus on Smyllum Park Orphanage, Lanark, and Bellevue Children's Home, Rutherglen" (PDF). Scottish Child Abuse Inquiry. October 2018. Archived from the original (PDF) on 14 November 2018. Retrieved 10 January 2025.
  95. 1 2 "Child abuse inquiry remit is wide enough, says new chairman". Glasgow Times. Retrieved 23 February 2022.
  96. ↑ Scott, Marion (26 January 2020). "Child abuse inquiry: Angela Constance defends remit". BBC News. Retrieved 6 September 2021.
  97. 1 2 Minelle, Bethany (22 August 2023). "Nicky Campbell compares 'abusive' teacher at Edinburgh Academy to Jimmy Savile". Sky News .
  98. ↑ "Scottish Child Abuse Inquiry". Aberdeen City Council. 7 January 2019. Retrieved 17 May 2021.
  99. ↑ "Terms of Reference, amended 21 June 2018". Scottish Child Abuse Inquiry. 13 July 2018. Retrieved 23 August 2018.
  100. ↑ "Contract suggests Scottish Child Abuse Inquiry could last to 2026". The Herald. 8 October 2020. Retrieved 23 February 2022.
  101. ↑ Marc Horne. "Child abuse inquiry costs soar as concern raised over compensation panel fees". The Times . Retrieved 17 May 2021.
  102. ↑ "Costs for child abuse inquiry reach £30,000 a day - gov.scot". The Times . 6 May 2021. Retrieved 17 May 2021.
  103. ↑ Cameron, Lucinda (29 September 2021). "Government delay setting up child abuse inquiry 'woeful and avoidable' – judge". The Evening Standard .
  104. ↑ "'Social media party' sex gang guilty". BBC News. 6 March 2015. Archived from the original on 19 August 2017. Retrieved 28 April 2018.
  105. ↑ "Sex abuse gangs jailed for grooming". BBC News. 27 November 2014. Archived from the original on 30 April 2018. Retrieved 28 April 2018.
  106. ↑ Carter, Helen (7 January 2011). "Derby sex abuse gang leaders jailed". The Guardian. Archived from the original on 20 April 2018. Retrieved 28 April 2018.
  107. ↑ "Fifteen men jailed for child sex abuse". BBC News. 17 June 2016. Archived from the original on 12 February 2018. Retrieved 28 April 2018.
  108. ↑ "Rise and fall of Ian Watkins - The Lostprophets singer jailed for horrific sex crimes". The Independent. 11 October 2025. Retrieved 20 October 2025.
  109. ↑ Harris, Paul; Bright, Martin (6 July 2003). "The whistleblower's story". The Guardian. Archived from the original on 7 April 2014. Retrieved 28 April 2018.
  110. ↑ "Abuse scandal dates back 50 years". 7 March 2007. Archived from the original on 9 February 2009. Retrieved 28 April 2018– via news.bbc.co.uk.
  111. ↑ "Children at risk: Council condemned in child abuse inquiry". The Independent. 8 January 1988. Archived from the original on 25 March 2014. Retrieved 15 October 2023– via independent.co.uk.
  112. ↑ "Child sex grooming network convicted". BBC News. 9 August 2017. Archived from the original on 12 May 2018. Retrieved 28 April 2018.
  113. ↑ Calderbank, Matthew (11 July 2019). "Leyland man, 46, arrested for sexually grooming 12-year-old is released on bail after being 'exposed' by paedophile hunters on Facebook Live". Lancashire Evening Post . Archived from the original on 30 August 2021. Retrieved 30 August 2021.
  114. ↑ "More abuse claims at children's home". BBC News. 13 July 2013. Archived from the original on 2 March 2019. Retrieved 28 April 2018.
  115. ↑ Morris, Steven (4 May 2025). "Police smash Cornwall paedophile ring as six men jailed for abuse | Crime | The Guardian". The Guardian. Archived from the original on 4 May 2025. Retrieved 4 May 2025.
  116. ↑ "Paedophile ring in Cornwall 'abused at least 30 girls' - BBC News". BBC News. 4 May 2025. Archived from the original on 4 May 2025. Retrieved 4 May 2025.
  117. ↑ "Gang abused girls 'on a massive scale'". BBC News. 24 March 2018. Archived from the original on 30 April 2018. Retrieved 28 April 2018.
  118. ↑ "Gang jailed for sex attacks on girls". BBC News. 20 February 2014. Archived from the original on 12 May 2018. Retrieved 28 April 2018.
  119. ↑ "Independent Inquiry into Child Sexual Exploitation in Rotherham (1997–2013)". Rotherham Metropolitan Borough Council. 26 August 2014. Archived from the original on 19 January 2017. Retrieved 30 August 2014.
  120. ↑ "Rotherham child abuse scandal: 1,400 children exploited, report finds". BBC News . 26 August 2014. Archived from the original on 24 March 2020. Retrieved 26 August 2014.
  121. ↑ "Jay Report: How inquiry shone a light on Rotherham abuse". BBC News. 26 August 2024. Retrieved 10 January 2025.
  122. ↑ Bird, Steve (9 December 2017). "Grooming gangs of Muslim men failed to integrate into British society". The Daily Telegraph. Archived from the original on 12 February 2021. Retrieved 10 May 2019.
  123. ↑ "Telford child sex abuse went on for generations, inquiry finds". BBC. 12 July 2022. Archived from the original on 13 July 2022. Retrieved 13 July 2022.
  124. ↑ Murray, Jessica (12 July 2022). "Over 1,000 children in Telford were sexually exploited, inquiry finds". The Guardian. Archived from the original on 13 July 2022. Retrieved 13 July 2022.

Further reading

This page is based on this Wikipedia article
Text is available under the CC BY-SA 4.0 license; additional terms may apply.
Images, videos and audio are available under their respective licenses.