Starmer calls in 'Britain's FBI' to investigate grooming gangs after U-turn on national inquiry
16 June 2025, 05:35 | Updated: 16 June 2025, 08:17
The Home Office has announced the National Crime Agency (NCA) will carry out a nationwide operation to target and jail predators who have sexually exploited children as part of grooming gangs.
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The NCA will work with local police forces to give victims their "long-awaited justice" and prevent further abuse from taking place.
It comes as Baroness Louise Casey's findings on grooming gangs are set to be announced today, after Sir Keir Starmer committed to a statutory inquiry in a dramatic U-turn over the weekend where he finally admitted a national inquiry was needed.
The Home Secretary is set to address Parliament over the review, which prompted the Prime Minister to implement a full probe after months of resistance.
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Earlier this year, the Government dismissed calls for a public inquiry, saying its focus was on putting in place the outstanding recommendations already made in a seven-year national inquiry by Professor Alexis Jay.
Home Secretary Yvette Cooper said: “The vulnerable young girls who suffered unimaginable abuse at the hands of groups of adult men have now grown into brave women who are rightly demanding justice for what they went through when they were just children.
“Not enough people listened to them then. That was wrong and unforgivable. We are changing that now.
“More than 800 grooming gang cases have already been identified by police after I asked them to look again at cases which had closed too early. Now we are asking the National Crime Agency to lead a major nationwide operation to track down more perpetrators and bring them to justice.”
According to the Home Office, the NCA will work in partnership with police forces to investigate cases that "were not progressed through the criminal justice system" in the past.
Ms Cooper said that it was "unforgivable" that "not enough people" listened to victims in the past, but ministers "are changing that now".
According to the Times, the review by Baroness Casey is expected to explicitly link the grooming gang issue to men of Pakistani origin and say that people were ignored for the fear of racism.
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The review comes after a row on the issue was ignited earlier this year, when Sir Keir became embroiled in a row with tech billionaire Elon Musk over calls for a national investigation.
In January, the Prime Minister hit out at politicians "calling for inquiries because they want to jump on the bandwagon of the far right", but on Sunday, the Chancellor said that Sir Keir had been focused on "victims" rather than "grandstanding".
A children's charity has said that the Government must not wait until the end of the inquiry to implement the recommendations from existing reports such as the Inquiry into Child Sexual Abuse (IICSA).
Lynn Perry, chief executive of Barnardo's, said: "Children and survivors of abuse have already been waiting many years for action, so it's vital the Government doesn't wait for the outcome of this new inquiry to implement recommendations from previous ones.
"That includes upskilling social workers and other professionals to spot the signs of abuse, as well as investing in vital support services to help children experiencing life-changing consequences of abuse and to keep them safe from further harm."
