Girl, 12, raped after police ignored appeal for help, damning Oldham grooming report finds

20 June 2022, 13:24 | Updated: 20 June 2022, 13:50

12-year-old 'Sophie' was turned away by the police in 2006 and told to return when she was 'not drunk'
12-year-old 'Sophie' was turned away by the police in 2006 and told to return when she was 'not drunk'. Picture: Getty

By Amy Addison-Dunne

Police and local authorities failed to protect a 12-year-old girl from profound abuse in Oldham, but there was no cover up by authorities, an independent review found.

Chief Constable Stephen Watson
Chief Constable Stephen Watson. Picture: Alamy

The report detailed how a girl referred to only as 'Sophie' went to the police station in 2006 to report she had been raped by an Asian man.

The 202-page review suggested that Greater Manchester Police (GMP) and Oldham Council should apologise publicly to Sophie for their failings.

The police allegedly told her to return when she was "not drunk". When she left the police station, she was taken away in a car, where she was first raped in the vehicle then taken to a house and sexually abused multiple times by five different men. She was 12 years old at the time.

The independent review was penned by renowned childcare expert Malcolm Newsam, and Gary Ridgeway, a former detective superintendent with Cambridgeshire Police.

It was found that there were serious failings and "significant missed opportunities" to protect her and put in place appropriate arrangements, including a multi-agency strategy meeting and joint police and children’s social care investigation.

It was revealed that the chairperson of the Home Affairs Select Committee raised Sophie's case with Oldham Council, where a senior officer reviewed her file and came to the conclusion that there was “very little if anything to support … allegations of a failures to protect” in an internal email, which was branded as 'bad judgement' on the part of the senior officer.

But while it was found that Sophie was let down badly by authorities, there was no evidence of a deliberate cover up.

Read more: Report finds 'extensive failures' in tackling sexual exploitation of children by gangs

The report delved into allegations that shisha bars were known for being regular haunts for young girls known to be sexually exploited, and identified that although many had closed down by 2013, and no ongoing concerns were reported.

It was also found that there was no evidence of widespread exploitation of children in residential settings in Oldham, but some children in these homes were being exposed to child sexual exploitation.

Taxi companies were also put under the spotlight, and the report found that there was no evidence councillors or senior management sought to cover up their role, but there were multiple allegations against drivers, and of at least two of the cases presented to the council's licensing panel should have resulted in the revocation of one driver's license, and police officers failed to provide sufficient details of the other driver.

The committee however, issued licenses to local taxi drivers who committed serious sexual offences against children, but this was attributed to unrobust procedure being in place.

The report also laid out how serial abuser Shabir Ahmed, notorious for his role as ringleader in the Rochdale grooming gang, worked for Oldham Council for nearly 20 years, despite having multiple allegations against him about sexual abuse of children and a subsequent arrest, GMP did not inform his employer.

Ahmed subsequently received a 22-year sentence in jail.

In response to the review, Manchester Metropolitan Mayor Andy Burnham said: “This report continues the process of shining a spotlight on past failures in Greater Manchester.

"Whilst difficult to read, it has identified a number of wrongs that need to be put right. There were serious failings and victims were let down, particularly Sophie. Whilst there was no evidence of a cover-up, we must not flinch from acknowledging shortcomings."

He added: "I ask all public servants in Greater Manchester to read this report and its findings and consider what more we must do to strengthen our approach to child sexual exploitation. I will also fully support any actions to prosecute those responsible for these abhorrent crimes and hold to account those whose behaviour fell short of what we require.”

GMP Chief Constable Stephen Watson apologised to everyone affected by the events documented in the report, and vowed to meet with Sophie to apologise to her in person.

He said in a statement: "Our actions fell far short of the help that they had every right to expect and were unacceptable. I am sorry for the hurt and on-going trauma they have suffered because of what happened to them.

“I intend to meet directly with Sophie and those that have been supporting her through this very difficult time and I welcome being able to apologise to her in person."

Investigations into former senior GMP officers conducted by police watchdogs are ongoing.

Maggie Oliver, a former GMP detective said: "Another day, yet another report about the failures of a police force to protect the most vulnerable in our society, even when there is irrefutable evidence to prosecute offenders and safeguard children.

"This report yet again clearly evidences catastrophic failings by the force and their repeated attempts to cover up and hide these failings both from the victims and from the public they serve, and that is extremely worrying."

More Latest News

See more More Latest News

Dorothy Chiles

Great-grandmother, 87, pictured for first time after deadly train station attack, as woman in her 20s arrested

President Donald Trump speaks on Wednesday night

Trump makes plans to meet Putin and end Ukraine war as he says 'the US wants its money back'

Exclusive
Katie Amess has spoken out about the need for an inquiry into her father's murder by an Islamist terrorist

Daughter of Sir David Amess, MP murdered by Islamist terrorist, ‘made to sign NDA’ on report into father’s death

Exclusive
Angela Rayner reveals she took advice from NHS trauma specialists ahead of Grenfell demolition meeting

Angela Rayner reveals she took advice from NHS trauma specialists ahead of Grenfell demolition meeting

Italian F1 Grand Prix - Previews

Nightclub bouncer behind £12m plot to reveal Formula One star Michael Schumacher's health secrets jailed

Josef Fritzl

Incest monster Josef Fritzl could walk free from prison next year - and expects 'cheering crowds' to greet him

Ofsted's Chief Inspector Sir Martyn Oliver supports an extension to term times

'Time to think about school holidays': Ofsted's Chief Inspector supports extending term times

Exclusive
Angela Rayner insisted that British support for Ukraine was 'unwavering'

Rayner insists UK support for Ukraine 'unwavering' despite Trump's plan for 'immediate' peace talks with Putin

Prince William, President of BAFTA, operates a film camera as he visits the London Screen Academy in London, Wednesday, Feb. 12, 2025. (AP Photo/Kirsty Wigglesworth, Pool)

William tries his hand at being a cameraman on visit to London film academy

President Donald J. Trump participates in a bilateral meeting with the President of the Russian Federation Vladimir Putin during the G20 Japan Summit Friday, June 28, 2019, in Osaka, Japan.

Trump and Putin 'to meet in Saudi Arabia' and 'start negotiations immediately' to end war in Ukraine

Street scene in Peckham, London, with red bus

Bus driver, 76, found guilty of killing passenger who was run over while attempting to board vehicle

Norward Road, Lambeth, the proposed LTN.

Council staff given 'wellbeing day' after attending 'stormy' neighbourhood meeting

United States Secretary of Defense Pete Hegseth, left, shakes hands with Britain's Defense Secretary John Healey prior to a bilateral meeting on the sidelines of a NATO defense ministers meeting at NATO headquarters in Brussels, Wednesday, Feb.

Ukraine's NATO membership plans 'unrealistic' says US - as defence secretary claims US troops won't be peacekeepers

Jaysley Beck, 19, was found dead at Larkhill Camp in Wiltshire

Officer accused of pinning down and trying to kiss soldier, 19, had been 'waiting for moment for them to be alone'

A public inquiry into the Nottingham attacks will begin 'within weeks'

Public inquiry into Nottingham attacks will begin 'within weeks', PM tells victims' families

Paul Allen.

Cagefighter guilty of Britain's largest cash robbery shot in neck in his kitchen in murder plot