Whistleblower says Starmer ‘guilty as anyone’ over grooming gang failures
A former detective who uncovered police failings in investigating grooming gangs has said Sir Keir Starmer is “perhaps as guilty as anyone” over the failure to bring about change.
Whistleblower Maggie Oliver, who resigned from Greater Manchester Police (GMP) in 2012, on Friday criticised previous inquiries into the scandal and called for an independent investigation and “criminal accountability” for public officials and police who “turned a blind eye”.
It came after Elon Musk claimed the Prime Minister failed to bring “rape gangs” to justice when he was director of public prosecutions (DPP) between 2008 and 2013.
Millions
Ms Oliver said on X that inquiries into what happened have led “absolutely nowhere” and “wasted” millions of pounds, adding that those leading them “have always wanted to cover up the truth”.
She went on: “I firmly believe we need totally independent people who will ensure it’s not just another attempt to delay and hide the truth. Radical change and overhaul of all our public bodies.
“And bring in criminal accountability for all our senior police and public officials who have turned a blind eye.
“Those with vested interests who pop up when this hits the headlines then fade away again when it all dies down will not bring change. They’re in it for themselves I believe.
“Conservatives and Labour are all equally to blame imo (in my opinion), and Keir Starmer as former DPP is perhaps as guilty as anyone I know in where we find ourselves today.
“We all know what’s going on, but I don’t trust a single one of those who to date have been entrusted with keeping our children safe and prosecuting serial rapists. They’ve failed. Repeatedly. Knowingly. Criminally.”
Tesla owner Mr Musk, a key member of incoming US President Donald Trump’s inner circle, also suggested that safeguarding minister Jess Phillips “deserves to be in prison” after she denied requests for the Home Office to lead a public inquiry into child sexual exploitation in Oldham on Thursday.
Instead Ms Phillips said, in a letter to the local council, Oldham must follow in the footsteps of other towns like Rotherham and Telford and commission its own inquiry into historical abuse of children.
Frustration
Whistleblower Sara Rowbotham, co-ordinator of the Crisis Intervention Team set up to support young people in Rochdale, expressed frustration at Mr Musk’s posts about the scandal on X, which he owns.
She told The Guardian: “What is (Musk’s) motivation for interfering? It seems very political.
“The person he is trying to go after is Keir Starmer – it is a political swipe that is nothing to do with the women and girls who have been abused time after time.”
The Independent Inquiry into Child Sex Abuse, which published its final report in 2022, described the sexual abuse of children as an “epidemic that leaves tens of thousands of victims in its poisonous wake”.
Led by Professor Alexis Jay, the inquiry looked into abuse by organised groups following multiple convictions of sexual offences against children across the UK between 2010-2014, including in Rotherham, Cornwall, Derbyshire, Rochdale and Bristol.
In November last year, Professor Jay said she felt “frustrated” that none of the probe’s 20 recommendations had been implemented more than two years after its conclusion.
The Labour Party and Number 10 have been approached for comment.
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Not that surprising to find that in the more opaque parts of his past Sir Keir was, as he is now, a committed fence sitter. Where the grooming was based on groups of Asians he and his kind should have set the race issue aside engaged top quality police officers from ethnic groups and set them loose on the organised crime groups. Instead the entire ruling elites wet themselves in their anxiety not to offend. It would also be interesting to know why they failed to get to grips with grooming gangs based on other social groups. All this stimulates… Read more »
And it has wings.
Elon Musk’s boss literally hung out with a child sex trafficker. Oh, I get it. We can turn a blind eye to the sexual exploitation of children when wealthy white men do it. Selective accountability does no justice at all to abuse victims.
Is this a Putin sock puppet bot rag? Didn’t the conservatives knight Jimmy Saville? Isn’t Elon a billionaire welfare queen who interferes in elections to line his own pockets? So you want us to vote workshy riotstarter Farage?
What a genuinely ridiculous comment.
If I were in Starmers position and had nothing to hide I would welcome an inquiry, clear this matter up and declare Musk an interfering muck-raker. This issue is not going to go away. He should deal with it or go.
Clearly an independent enquiry into the failings of the public services involved is much needed alongside action to change the way they operate in relation to the criminal activities of ethnic minorities. Crimes should be appropriately investigated and people charged and sentenced regardless of ethnicity. it surprises me that the men prosecuted in Rochdale etc had suchn short prison sentences considering the horrendous nature of their crimes, none were deported ad most were allowed to return to their families upon release. Families with children Seems odd to me that any convicted paedophile should be allowed to live among children let… Read more »