Muslims grooming children in Blackpool

[dune]

A gang of men who groomed 60 schoolgirls for sex has been uncovered by police investigating the disappearance and murder of a 14-year-old in a northern seaside town, it was claimed.

 

Officers investigating the unsolved disappearance of Charlene Downes in Blackpool in 2003 discovered that dozens more 13 to 15 year old girls from the area had fallen victim to grooming or sexual abuse, it was claimed.

 

An unpublished police report identified 11 takeaway shops in the town centre which were being used as "honeypots" where the non-white men preyed on young white victims, who were given food, alcohol and cigarettes in return for sex.

 

Mick Gradwell, a former detective superintendent with Lancashire Police, told The Times officers had long been aware that girls in Blackpool, Blackburn and Burnley were being “passed around like toys for sexual gratification” but that investigations were being hampered by political correctness

 

http://www.telegraph.co.uk/news/uknews/law-and-order/8433887/60-girls-groomed-for-sex-at-takeaway-shops-in-Blackpool.html

 

Jack straw was right. There is a serious problem here that needs addressing.

Edited 7 April, 2011 by dune

[SuperMikey]

There are sickos in every culture Dune, this isn't an occurence that is exclusive to Muslims.

 

Weird quote at the bottom of the article, an ex-police officer from the area saying that the investigation had been hampered in the past by political correctness... I doubt that was the case.

[saint.tom.clancy]

I suppose just because every culture does it, its ok for muslims to then? Its sick whoever does it, but more and more of these muslim grooming gangs have been highlighted in the press lately, and there does currently seem to be a serious issue with these muslim/asian gangs targetting young girls - which needs to be sorted, there's nothing pc about stopping the grooming of children.

[Crab Lungs]

Having been fortunate enough to know someone who has dealt with cases like the one above and the recent issues in Derby and Bradford, he seems to think it is a problem among Muslims. He has no agenda or swerve towards any faith or religion, he has no problem with any colour, creed or race - just to clear that up before anyone accuses him of being EDL, BNP, NF etc etc...

[anothersaintinsouthsea]

There have been some terrible instance of abuse amongst Christian organisations. I don't think it is sensible to label a thread in the way you have or to try to generalise about whole groups of people but then it is unsurprising given your agenda.

Edited 7 April, 2011 by anothersaintinsouthsea

[SuperMikey]

I suppose just because every culture does it, its ok for muslims to then? Its sick whoever does it, but more and more of these muslim grooming gangs have been highlighted in the press lately, and there does currently seem to be a serious issue with these muslim/asian gangs targetting young girls - which needs to be sorted, there's nothing pc about stopping the grooming of children.

 

Well, that's the key there isn't it? The papers need something to panic over - so they'll highlight certain instances of crimes amongst certain groups in society to give the illusion of an epidemic.

Obviously i'm not trying to defend this, as abuse of a minor is a terrible thing, but i'm just pointing out that this rise in crimes of this type is probably not as bad as the press are letting on.

[benjii]

TBF it is hard to find a decent barber for young kids. These fellas know their way around a beard so if they can bring some of that knowledge to the kiddy market then so much the better.

[Joensuu]

Why put the race or religion into the thread title?

 

(would you do the same if this were a caucasian 'gang'?)

[holepuncture]

There are sickos in every culture Dune, this isn't an occurence that is exclusive to Muslims.

 

Weird quote at the bottom of the article, an ex-police officer from the area saying that the investigation had been hampered in the past by political correctness... I doubt that was the case.

 

Having been fortunate enough to know someone who has dealt with cases like the one above and the recent issues in Derby and Bradford, he seems to think it is a problem among Muslims. He has no agenda or swerve towards any faith or religion, he has no problem with any colour, creed or race - just to clear that up before anyone accuses him of being EDL, BNP, NF etc etc...

 

This article would counter Supermikeys claim and supports Crab Lungs mates view:

 

http://www.telegraph.co.uk/news/uknews/crime/8240202/Cover-up-claims-over-Asian-sex-gangs.html

 

Well, that's the key there isn't it? The papers need something to panic over - so they'll highlight certain instances of crimes amongst certain groups in society to give the illusion of an epidemic.

Obviously i'm not trying to defend this, as abuse of a minor is a terrible thing, but i'm just pointing out that this rise in crimes of this type is probably not as bad as the press are letting on.

 

Here is a reasonably balanced article for you:

 

http://www.telegraph.co.uk/news/uknews/crime/8248347/Are-white-girls-really-easy-meat.html

 

My brother currently lives in Harrogate which is in this region, he reckons it is an issue. He also made a point of the conduct of the girls, and how with better education, they may be able to avoid falling for the traps. Its like 'dont take sweets from strangers' but the game has got a bit more serious now.

 

Not much talk of this happening to the south, are we more clued up?

[View From The Top]

It's been an issue in the Northern mill towns for well over a decade.

[holepuncture]

It's been an issue in the Northern mill towns for well over a decade.

 

This article on the same story agrees with you. It also suggests a 13yr old girl was groomed, murdered, turned into mince meat and sold as kebabs in 2003.

 

http://www.dailymail.co.uk/news/article-1374443/More-60-teenage-girls-groomed-sex-gangs-men-Blackpool.html?ito=feeds-newsxml

[thesaint sfc]

Down with Muslims.

 

Down with Blackpool.

 

Down with School girls.

[Crab Lungs]

The thing is, I'm not exactly sure how long we can continue to ignore that it is a problem at the risk of offending muslims? It's quite clearly a problem and whatever case for the defence is presented doesn't matter. It's happening and it's inexcusable, yet we remain too timid to deal with a very real, very worrying issue.

[View From The Top]

The thing is, I'm not exactly sure how long we can continue to ignore that it is a problem at the risk of offending muslims? It's quite clearly a problem and whatever case for the defence is presented doesn't matter. It's happening and it's inexcusable, yet we remain too timid to deal with a very real, very worrying issue.

 

It's not a case of offending Muslims.

 

Most know that those doing it are utter scum. Usually poor, unemployed and involved in petty crime and drug dealing. The cast a shadow of the majority who, in my experience of working with and teaching them, are hard working decent people.

[View From The Top]

The thing is, I'm not exactly sure how long we can continue to ignore that it is a problem at the risk of offending muslims? It's quite clearly a problem and whatever case for the defence is presented doesn't matter. It's happening and it's inexcusable, yet we remain too timid to deal with a very real, very worrying issue.

 

No, we're not. That's you opinion and not based on anything.

 

It's taken very, very seriously by all the child protection teams.

[Crab Lungs]

Welcome to the West, rape who you want: http://www.iris.org.il/blog/archives/757-Pan-European-Arab-Muslim-Gang-Rape-Epidemic.html

 

"God Willing"

[Ken Tone]

There are sickos in every culture Dune, this isn't an occurence that is exclusive to Muslims.

 

Weird quote at the bottom of the article, an ex-police officer from the area saying that the investigation had been hampered in the past by political correctness... I doubt that was the case.

 

Even odder, why is this being published by the paper now when the investigation was in 2003, and why is the Telegraph apparently quoting something said to the Times?

 

Will you also start a thread about abuse in Christian children homes, Dune, or maybe about abuse by Catholic priests? Every society, and most sub-groups of society, has sick bastards in it.

[badgerx16]

the investigation was in 2003

Exactly. Shows how up to date the Torygraph is, printing a headline story that is 8 years old.

[Weston Super Saint]

There have been some terrible instance of abuse amongst Christian organisations. I don't think it is sensible to label a thread in the way you have or to try to generalise about whole groups of people but then it is unsurprising given your agenda.

 

Errr, the thread is about muslims grooming children, and has a link to a newspaper article about muslims grooming children. What would you like the title to be? 'Freddy ate my hamster' might be a little misleading....

 

 

Down with Muslims.

 

Down with Blackpool.

 

Down with School girls.

 

Sadly the last one may actually be true

[Crab Lungs]

Exactly. Shows how up to date the Torygraph is, printing a headline story that is 8 years old.

 

and that makes it any less valid, how?

 

If it's a problem, it's a problem...?

 

Edited 7 April, 2011 by Crab Lungs

[badgerx16]

and that makes it any less valid, how?

 

If it's a problem, it's a problem...?

I'm not denying there may be a problem, but with the sensationalist way it is headlined, and by the way dunce has edited the story to form his OP, it seem to me that it is being used to support a particular anti-muslim agenda.

The actual story is that an ongoing Home Office enquiry is investigating claims that this practice may be spreading to the midlands, hardly a surprise given the prosecutions in Derby.

And this story is so much of a current issue up here, the local rag doesn't have a single line on it.

[Crab Lungs]

I'm not denying there may be a problem, but with the sensationalist way it is headlined, and by the way dunce has edited the story to form his OP, it seem to me that it is being used to support a particular anti-muslim agenda.

The actual story is that an ongoing Home Office enquiry is investigating claims that this practice may be spreading to the midlands, hardly a surprise given the prosecutions in Derby.

And this story is so much of a current issue up here, the local rag doesn't have a single line on it.

 

Ok, fair enough but I have to say that last month was when I had the conversation with my friend. He, like me, tries to be objective and reasonable about things but we got onto the conversation of "Islam" and that is when it started to flow that there is a real problem... and what with him being what I consider "front line", I've no doubt he can at the very least make an accurate assessment on the things that are going on and have been going on for a while.

 

And this, of course, is what has heightened my attention over the past few weeks...

[View From The Top]

I'm at a mosque after prayers tomorrow, as per normal, I'll ask the Iman, who's a proper yamyam, if he considers it a problem in the area.

 

I know that our child protection team, as well as the other local agencies, don't think it's an issue in The Black Country.

[anothersaintinsouthsea]

Errr, the thread is about muslims grooming children, and has a link to a newspaper article about muslims grooming children. What would you like the title to be? 'Freddy ate my hamster' might be a little misleading....

 

Wow, thanks for your contribution.

 

 

Anyway, here is something that informs the debate

Sadly for the racists, the figures just do not support any attempt to paint British Muslims and Asians as sex predators on a national scale. Asians are, in fact, under-represented among sex offenders. As at June 2009, there were 7,021 British men in prison for sex crimes, of whom only 234 were Asian. That is 3.3 per cent, rather less than the proportion of Asians in the population. And a 2008 study by Malcolm Cowburn of Sheffield Hallam University found that jailed sex criminals from ethnic minorities were less likely to have abused children than white sex offenders.

[Lord Duckhunter]

The muslim faith appears to have a serious issue with it's treatment of females in general, and headlines like this do not help in changing that or help in any way. The problem is not sex offenders, but that across the muslim world women are treated as second class citizens. It obviously varies from Country to Country and some are more hardline than others, but we seem to accept a lower level of human rights when it comes to Muslim women, then for our own Western women.

[View From The Top]

The muslim faith appears to have a serious issue with it's treatment of females in general, and headlines like this do not help in changing that or help in any way. The problem is not sex offenders, but that across the muslim world women are treated as second class citizens. It obviously varies from Country to Country and some are more hardline than others, but we seem to accept a lower level of human rights when it comes to Muslim women, then for our own Western women.

 

Plenty of Muslim women are Western and that can, and does, cause all sorts of issues.

[scotty]

The muslim faith appears to have a serious issue with it's treatment of females in general, and headlines like this do not help in changing that or help in any way. The problem is not sex offenders, but that across the muslim world women are treated as second class citizens. It obviously varies from Country to Country and some are more hardline than others, but we seem to accept a lower level of human rights when it comes to Muslim women, then for our own Western women.

 

Western European countries arent necessarily exempt from child abuse. The only nationality I have direct experience of is Italy, being married to an Italian, and some of the treatment their children get is abysmal. My wife's aunt was raped by a married man of 50 when she was 14, and fell pregnant as a result. She told me at the age of 75 that it had been the first and last time she had had sex, and at the age of 75 was in tears as she said it. She was shunned by her parents as a result, and had to bring the child up alone. I have hated the catholic religion with a vengeance ever since I met the lady. If you look into it a little, some googling will do it, the mediterranean countries have a culture of madonna/whore mentality which is beyond belief, women are either there to be put on a pedestal and married, or used as a sexual plaything.

[dune]

Western European countries arent necessarily exempt from child abuse. The only nationality I have direct experience of is Italy, being married to an Italian, and some of the treatment their children get is abysmal. My wife's aunt was raped by a married man of 50 when she was 14, and fell pregnant as a result. She told me at the age of 75 that it had been the first and last time she had had sex, and at the age of 75 was in tears as she said it. She was shunned by her parents as a result, and had to bring the child up alone. I have hated the catholic religion with a vengeance ever since I met the lady. If you look into it a little, some googling will do it, the mediterranean countries have a culture of madonna/whore mentality which is beyond belief, women are either there to be put on a pedestal and married, or used as a sexual plaything.

 

I blame Eve for listening to the serpent.

[EastleighSoulBoy]

Why put the race or religion into the thread title?

 

(would you do the same if this were a caucasian 'gang'?)

 

He wouldn't even start a thread in that particular case.

[swannymere]

Wow, didn't realise the Catholic Church, Gary Glitter and Michael Jackson were Muslim.

[dune]

He wouldn't even start a thread in that particular case.

 

I most certainly wouldn't because the term Caucasian is a term I hate. I'm not Caucasian because i'm not from the Caucasus mountains and i'm not Asian.

 

[Verbal]

I most certainly wouldn't because the term Caucasian is a term I hate. I'm not Caucasian because i'm not from the Caucasus mountains and i'm not Asian.

 

I know. You're indiginous.

[dune]

I know. You're indiginous.

 

I am indigenous, just like the Aboriginal people are indigenous to Australia. I bet when they fill out their census form they are allowed to differentiate themselves from the majority of the population who settled from the UK.

[SuperMikey]

I am indigenous, just like the Aboriginal people are indigenous to Australia. I bet when they fill out their census form they are allowed to differentiate themselves from the majority of the population who settled from the UK.

 

If we all put in a quid, would you get genetically screened? Would love to see how you report that you're 2% Chinese, 6% Scandinavian etc. Truth is, there's no such thing as 'Indigenous British'. Us Brits are a mish-mash of all different peoples and cultures. Yes, there were the Celts, but they were spread across the whole of Europe from the Shetlands to Turkey, so they're hardly what we would define as 'British'.

[View From The Top]

I know. You're indiginous.

 

I wonder if he's using the one drop rule?

[Deppo]

There are some bacteria that are indigenously British. I think that dune may be correct about himself.

[Jonnyboy]

I wonder if he's using the one drop rule?

 

whats that?

[View From The Top]

whats that?

 

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/One-drop_rule

 

In Stanley's case, it would refer to any Roman, Norman, Saxon, Jute, Ingle or Viking blood.

[Thorpe-le-Saint]

Oh for **** sake. Why didn't you just say 'men' you racist ****? I can't believe the mods allow this.

[benjii]

Oh for **** sake. Why didn't you just say 'men' you racist ****? I can't believe the mods allow this.

 

Calm down dear.

[LGTL]

Oh for **** sake. Why didn't you just say 'men' you racist ****? I can't believe the mods allow this.

 

Kiddy fiddling is only carried out by Muslims, did you not realise...?!

[dune]

Oh for **** sake. Why didn't you just say 'men' you racist ****? I can't believe the mods allow this.

 

Mick Gradwell, a former detective superintendent with Lancashire Police, told The Times officers had long been aware that girls in Blackpool, Blackburn and Burnley were being “passed around like toys for sexual gratification” but that investigations were being hampered by political correctness

[anothersaintinsouthsea]

I am indigenous

 

lol

 

If we all put in a quid, would you get genetically screened?

 

Come on Dune, don't dodge the question. Will you or won't you? You've surely not scared of finding some non-indigenous blood in you?

[Thorpe-le-Saint]

Mick Gradwell, a former detective superintendent with Lancashire Police, told The Times officers had long been aware that girls in Blackpool, Blackburn and Burnley were being “passed around like toys for sexual gratification” but that investigations were being hampered by political correctness

 

In what way were they being hampered? Does the paper go into details? I doubt it.

Edited 7 April, 2011 by Thorpe-le-Saint

[dune]

In what way were they being hampered? Does the paper go into details? I doubt it.

 

Are you suggesting that Mick gradwell is a liar.

[Thorpe-le-Saint]

Are you suggesting that Mick gradwell is a liar.

 

I want to know what why he is using political correctness to cover up the fact that his force KNEW this disgraceful and dispicable act was going on and did nothing about it. I refuse to believe a competent police force would allow this level of suffering to continue in case it offended the Muslim community. Any community would welcome intervention and arrests for something this hideous.

[Jonnyboy]

I want to know what why he is using political correctness to cover up the fact that his force KNEW this disgraceful and dispicable act was going on and did nothing about it. I refuse to believe a competent police force would allow this level of suffering to continue in case it offended the Muslim community. Any community would welcome intervention and arrests for something this hideous.

 

Well put. I expect Mick Gradwell is a liar. and a cvnt.

[badgerx16]

Are you suggesting that Mick gradwell is a liar.

For what it's worth, Mick Gradwell's involvement in this particular area of investigation ceased just after the 2003 report was produced. His last case in Lancashire, of any sort, was in 2008 before he went to head up the Haut de la Garenne enquiry in Jersey, after which he retired.

Edited 8 April, 2011 by badgerx16

[badgerx16]

http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/uk-england-lancashire-13001777

'Mr Lund said: "We've always been completely open and honest about the fact we'd identified a problem. The initial research, referred to in The Times, was carried out in 2003. It was identified that children were potentially at risk from sexual exploitation, which led to Blackpool Council and Lancashire Constabulary pledging to tackle the problem head on by establishing the Awaken Project. Due to the success of the project, children in Blackpool are now safer than they've ever been. The project has received national acclaim and is now a model which other authorities have adopted.'

[JackanorySFC]

Good links to the Telegraph but the main investigation was done by The Times. Sorry to burst a few people's bubbles but there most definately was a cover up, the reports are incredibly thorough and some genuinely concerning findings have come out of it. Here’s today’s latest update on the story (I've pasted the whole story because timesonline is a paid for site):

 

Andrew Norfolk

Last updated April 8 2011 12:01AM

The sexual exploitation of children by older men has become such an endemic problem in towns across northern England that one county has established six dedicated police units to address the issue.

Blackpool, where The Times yesterday revealed that more than 60 young girls were found to have been systematically groomed for sex by a closely-linked group of men operating from a cluster of 11 takeaway food premises, is one of six policing divisions in Lancashire.

In the past six years, each has set up a multi-agency team to target offenders and to work with thousands of vulnerable young people. During three months last year, 796 Lancashire children were identified as being at risk of sexual exploitation, a 90 per cent rise from the same three-month period in 2009.

They come from a variety of social and ethnic backgrounds. Some fall victim to online paedophiles, others to adults in a position of authority. Most are female and during the past six months 116 adults were arrested, 80 per cent of them white.

However in several Lancashire towns, including Blackburn, Burnley and Blackpool, and also in Greater Manchester, West Yorkshire and South Yorkshire, agencies have been confronted by a specific model of abuse.

It involves girls aged from 12 to 16, often from troubled backgrounds, and their targeting on the street by groups of men who offer them rides in cars and gifts including cigarettes, alcohol and drugs. In the most serious cases, the grooming process led to girls being sexually exploited by several older men and driven to different towns to be passed around friends and relatives.

Some groups targeted girls in residential children’s homes.

A study by The Times of 17 court cases in northern England in which two or more men were convicted of street-grooming sex crimes revealed that 50 of the 56 offenders were Muslim, mostly of Pakistani heritage. The findings, published in January, have led to a national inquiry.

Retired head teachers, former detectives, youth and drug workers, plus — speaking off the record — senior police officers and a social services director, have told The Times that such exploitation has been wrecking young lives in the North for at least two decades.

So great have been the sensitivities over acknowledging a crime pattern that is defined by ethnicity and the collective nature of the abuse that many child protection agencies, including police forces, charities and local authorities, chose to deny its existence. No research attempted to discover why the sexual exploitation became so widespread or whether cultural or religious attitudes played any role.

Last year, however, minutes from a Lancashire Safeguarding Children Board meeting show that Superintendent Ian Critchley, head of the force’s public protection unit, presented a report on child sexual exploitation which noted that “BME (black and minority ethnic) groups are disproportionately represented”.

Assistant chief constable Andy Rhodes, of Lancashire Constabulary, said yesterday that his force had “worked closely with other agencies over the past six years to tackle the issue ”.

Mr Rhodes accepted that “in some areas the number of Asian offenders is disproportionate to the population” and said that officers had been “tackling the issue head-on”.

He added: “We have worked with, and will continue to work with, communities that have been identified as having a disproportionate level of offenders. Education packages have been delivered in schools , highlighting dangers.and raising awareness among teenagers about sexual exploitation.”