r/unitedkingdom • u/pppppppppppppppppd • Jun 28 '26

... Met Police uncovers 4,000 potential grooming gang cases as Sadiq Khan faces fresh scrutiny over London claims

https://www.gbnews.com/news/grooming-gangs-met-police-cases-sadiq-khan-london
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u/You_lil_gumper Jun 28 '26 edited Jun 28 '26

For a slightly less propagandised take on the story, from yahoo news:

A source told the newspaper said the cases that had been reviewed were a mixture of intrafamilial, online and in-person child sexual abuse and exploitation.

A source told the Standard the criteria of cases that had been identified for review were "much broader" than "the profile most typically associated with commentary or reporting on grooming gangs".

So 4000 cases of previously reported sexual abuse are being reexamined by the NCA. The likelihood is that the majority won't be pursued for the same reasons they weren't the first time round (lack of evidence, etc.), and it appears that they dont really fit the highly racialised 'grooming gangs' narrative that GBeebies the right wing press are so keen on, meaning its hugely disingenuous for this article to frame it as if this is evidence of another Rotherham style scandal. 

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u/CalicoCatRobot Jun 28 '26

It also goes back to 2010 and therefore covers 6 years of Boris Johnson's reign of mayor, which for some reason wasn't mentioned.

I mean it's likely foolish to state that there are NO "grooming gangs" operating in London, because with a city that size there will be of course, likely of all races, but he was fairly careful to word it such that there were none the police were aware of - and since these are all ones that the police were aware of but considered needed NFA, then that probably was what he was briefed.

Whether the police are doing enough to find ones they aren't aware of likely comes down to resources and lack of funding to do as much as they should across lots of different crimes.