Greater Manchester Police failures have left paedophile ring at large for seven years, whistleblower claims
A whistleblower who resigned from Greater Manchester Police has told Sky News the force’s child protection investigation unit where she worked is “not fit for purpose” and that failures have left a paedophile ring at large for at least seven years.
In her resignation letter last year, she said: “I don’t feel like we’re making things better for these kids. In fact, I think we’re making it worse.”
She also said that her work with the victims only served to “re-traumatise them” and “leave them hanging.”
Assigned a major operation into child sex offenders in Manchester in 2022, the detective constable we are calling “Lucy” says failures could have allowed the continuation of what she says “professionals have called some of the worst abuse they’ve ever seen.”
Jason Farrell interviews ‘Lucy’. Pic: Andy Portch
She first noticed a problem when she picked up the investigation and realised there had been two previous complaints involving the same suspects and other children, dating back to 2018. One where the case had been closed.
She told Sky News: “A lot of the professional material such as children’s records, medical records and school records had not been requested, had not been read because if they had, they would say that many of the children had reported multiple disclosures of sexual abuse, physical abuse, neglect and psychological torture.”
The 2018 case was reopened. Lucy realised she was leading a complex investigation with very young victims, whose trust she needed to gain, but says she was managing numerous caseloads and was not given the time or the resources to do the job.
She said: “I wanted to go and see them regularly, but the time just wasn’t made available to me. And so, you’d go and speak to them, you’d bring it all back up, re-traumatise them, and then you’d leave them hanging.
“I had a Teams meeting with the DCI. He’s making all these promises to me. ‘I’ll get you the resources’. It just didn’t happen.”
Lucy says victims’ experiences are being made worse. Pic: Andy Portch
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She added: “You just got a lot of shoulder shrugging. You know, ‘it’s out of my hands’ sort of thing.
“I know that superintendent level knew about this. So it goes that far up. You start to realise it doesn’t matter how far up you go, nobody’s going to listen.”
Last week a report into Greater Manchester Police (GMP) found multiple failures in a grooming gang investigation in Rochdale over a decade ago.
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Former detective Maggie Oliver
At a news conference, Chief Constable Steve Watson said “lessons had been learned”, but Maggie Oliver, the detective who blew the whistle on the scandal, said he was wrong – and told the room about recently resigned officer Lucy.
Speaking directly to the chief constable sat in front of her, Ms Oliver said: “That officer could have been me 12 years ago.
“She had been banging on doors. She has been desperately trying to get a very serious case where many, many children are being abused, taken seriously.”
‘It’s still happening’
Lucy says the force hasn’t learned from its failings.
“It is still happening. It’s appalling the treatment these victims get… And it’s not just failing the victims, it’s failing the community.”
She says she felt she had “the workload of six or seven people”, and that she was encouraged to focus on just two victims rather than look at the bigger picture, which echoes complaints made by Ms Oliver in the Rochdale case over a decade ago. Although GMP has subsequently told us it is investigating a larger number of victims.
‘Lucy’ resigned from Greater Manchester Police. Pic: Andy Portch
Lucy says it began to impact her mental health.
“I just felt like my head was buzzing. I felt like I couldn’t sleep, even though I was exhausted. At one point I felt like I was losing my marbles, and it was just too much for me.
“I thought, I can’t change anything. I can’t keep saying the same thing. It’s draining the life out of me.
“The thought that I was failing them, it was just too much for me.”
After five years in the force, Lucy resigned, putting in a formal complaint about the investigation.
She says: “I sent an email. I said this resourcing issue is bigger than all of us. I said, ‘But I don’t feel like we’re making things better for these kids. In fact, I think we’re making it worse.’
“And I said, ‘I don’t think this child protection unit is fit for purpose’. And my inspector didn’t even speak to me about it. She just pretended like it hadn’t happened.”
She says morale among the other staff is low.
“It’s just awful. You know, people just want to leave. People are crying because of the problem and in my exit interview, I said ‘you haven’t got enough staff’.”
GMP headquarters. Pic: Andy Portch
Calls for serious case review
She is now calling for a serious case review into the investigation she was working on.
“I think a lot of offenders were involved. I think if they were allowed to follow the lines of inquiry, I think they would find it was a massive, massive job. It’s a paedophile ring. That’s what I think it is.” she says.
“It’s 20 months since I was involved. It’s seven years since the first child came forward. So that’s a failure.”
Greater Manchester Police’s Chief Constable Steven Watson
A GMP spokesperson said: “We are concerned to hear how this former detective feels about this operation.
“GMP has a significant number of officers across the force working in child protection roles, with large increases in staff allocated to these roles in recent years. It is absolutely accurate to say that the situation is much different to GMP’s approach in the past.
“However, we are not complacent. The former officer escalated her concerns to the chief constable’s office last week.
“The issues raised, and the investigation mentioned, are being reviewed by a detective superintendent and the assistant chief constable who holds the public protection and serious crime portfolio.”
They added: “In respect of this case, crucially, we can confirm that the children in question had been subject to safeguarding arrangements for several years before reports of non-recent abuse were made.
“The children involved were protected and are all safe and well and have been throughout the course of the investigation.
“A team of four officers continue to investigate reports of domestic incidents. Two suspects remain under investigation and reviews have been taking place every six weeks since January 2023.”
UK
Pictured: Boy killed in Gateshead industrial estate fire – 14 children arrested on suspicion of manslaughter
Tributes have been paid to 14-year-old Layton Carr who died in a fire at an industrial estate.
Eleven boys and three girls, aged between 11 and 14 years, have been arrested on suspicion of manslaughter after the incident in Gateshead on Friday. They remain in police custody.
Police were alerted to a fire at Fairfield industrial park in the Bill Quay area
Firefighters raced to Fairfield industrial park in the Bill Quay area shortly after 8pm, putting out the blaze a short time later.
Police then issued an appeal for a missing boy, Layton Carr, who was believed to be in the area at the time.
In a statement, the force said that “sadly, following searches, a body believed to be that of 14-year-old Layton Carr was located deceased inside the building”.
Layton’s next of kin have been informed and are being supported by specialist officers, police added.
Layton has been described as a ‘beautiful soul’
A fundraising page on GoFundMe has been set up to help Layton’s mother pay for funeral costs.
Organiser Stephanie Simpson said: “The last thing Georgia needs to stress trying to pay for a funeral for her Boy Any donations will help thank you.”
One tribute in a Facebook post read: “Can’t believe I’m writing this my nephew RIP Layton 💔 forever 14 you’ll be a massive miss, thinking of my sister and 2 beautiful nieces right now.”
Another added: “My boy ❤️ my baby cousin, my Layton. Nothing will ever come close to the pain I feel right now. Forever 14. I’ll miss you sausage.”
A third said: “Rest in peace big lad such a beautiful soul taken far to soon my thoughts are with you Gee stay strong girl hear for u always.”
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Detective Chief Inspector Louise Jenkins, of Northumbria Police, also said: “This is an extremely tragic incident where a boy has sadly lost his life.”
She added that the force’s “thoughts are with Layton’s family as they begin to attempt to process the loss of their loved one”.
They are working to establish “the full circumstances surrounding the incident” and officers will be in the area to “offer reassurance to the public”, she added.
A cordon remains in place at the site while police carry out enquiries.
Sky News can reveal that the government has rowed back on a national compensation scheme for victims of child sexual abuse, despite it being promised under the previous Conservative administration.
Warning – this story contains references to sexual and physical abuse
A National Redress Scheme was one of 20 key recommendations made by the Independent Inquiry into Child Sexual Abuse (IICSA), but a Home Office report reveals the government has scrapped it because of the cost.
Marie, who is 71, suffered alleged sexual, physical, and emotional abuse at Greenfield House Convent in St Helens, Merseyside, between 1959 and 1962, and is still fighting for compensation.
Greenfield House Convent, where Marie says she was abused
As soon as she arrived as a six-year-old, Marie says her hair was cut off, her name changed, and she experienced regular beatings from the nuns and students.
She claims a nun instigated the violence, including when Marie was held down so that her legs were “spread-eagled” as she was sexually abused with a coat hanger.
Merseyside Police investigated claims of abuse at the convent, but in 2016, a suspect died before charges could be brought.
Marie has received an apology from the Catholic body that ran the home; she tried to sue them, but her claim was rejected because it was filed too long after the alleged abuse.
Marie, 71, is still fighting for compensation for the abuse she says she suffered as a child
In February, ministers said the law would change for victims of sexual abuse trying to sue institutions for damages, which was a recommendation from the IICSA.
Previously, people had to make a civil claim before they were 21, unless the victim could prove a fair trial could proceed despite the time lapse.
Campaigners argued for the time limit to be removed as, on average, victims wait 26 years to come forward. Changes to the 1980 Limitation Act could lead to more people making claims.
Peter Garsden, President of The Association of Child Abuse Lawyers
Civil cases ‘can take three to five years’
But Peter Garsden, president of the Association of Child Abuse Lawyers, worries that when it comes to historical abuse where the defendant is dead, institutions will still argue that it is impossible to have a fair trial and will fight to have the case thrown out of court.
Mr Garsden said it takes “between three and five years” for a civil case to get to trial.
He warned that claimants “can end up losing if you go through that process. Whereas the Redress Scheme would be quicker, much more straightforward, and much more likely to give justice to the victims”.
Victim awarded £10 compensation
Jimbo, who was a victim of abuse at St Aidan’s children’s home in Cheshire, took his case to the High Court twice and the Court of Appeal three times, but, after 13 years, all he ended up with was £10 for his bus fare to court.
Despite the Lord Justice of Appeal saying he believed that the abuse had occurred, Jimbo lost his claim because of the time limit for child sexual abuse claims to be made.
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Neither Marie nor Jimbo is likely to benefit from the removal of the time limit for personal injury claims, which is why Mr Garsden is calling on the government to implement a National Redress Scheme for victims of sexual abuse, as recommended by the IICSA.
Hundreds of millions paid to victims
The governments in Scotland and Northern Ireland have set up compensation schemes and paid hundreds of millions of pounds to victims.
In 2023, the then Conservative government said a similar scheme would be organised for England and Wales.
But the Home Office admitted in its Tackling Child Sexual Abuse: Progress Update that it “is not currently taking forward any further steps on the IICSA proposal for a separate, national financial redress scheme for all survivors of child sexual abuse”.
“In the current fiscal environment, this recommendation is very difficult to take forward,” it added.
For victims, the scheme was the last chance of compensation for a lifetime blighted by abuse.
“The money is about justice and about all the other people who have had to suffer this abuse,” Marie said.
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