The Bishop of Manchester has said he doesn’t believe the predatory behaviour of grooming gangs is "confined to any particular ethnic, cultural, or religious group".
Rt Rev David Walker’s comments are in stark contrast to those of Baroness Louise Casey who authored a report on the scale and nature of group-based child sexual exploitation and abuse in England and Wales.
The report, published on Monday, said that the ethnicity of people involved in grooming gangs had been "shied away from" by authorities and not recorded for two-thirds of grooming gang perpetrators. It found that in three police forces - Greater Manchester, South Yorkshire and West Yorkshire - there was enough evidence to show “disproportionate numbers of men from Asian ethnic backgrounds amongst suspects for group-based child sexual exploitation".
Bishop David was speaking to BBC Radio 4’s Thought for the Day just ahead of the report’s publication. He said that his area of the country had seen “more than its fair share” of grooming-gang cases. “In the last three months two gangs have been convicted and sentenced. One, in Rochdale, comprising men of Pakistani origin, the other, in Bolton, all with names and appearances that suggest a White British background.
“This is not a pattern of offending confined to any particular ethnic, cultural or religious group. I hope that the forthcoming Inquiry will help us find ways to keep young girls safe from groups of predatory older men, whatever their origin.
“It’s a natural human tendency to want to think that such horrendous crimes are only carried out by people who are not like us.”
He went on to state that “the vast majority of child sexual exploitation is committed by the victim’s close family members or friends, something which accords with my own experience over 24 years as a bishop. It is here, where children should be safest, that harm is most likely to go unreported. It is here, where the words of Jesus might be hardest to hear.
“Protecting young girls from the predations of gangs is a laudable aim, one that has my wholehearted support. But just as vital is the challenge which remains, of keeping all our children, boys and girls, safe in the home and family.”
The government has announced a national statutory inquiry into the issue of grooming gangs.