Grooming inquiry needs region-wide focus, says PCC

The prime minister announced a national grooming gangs inquiry in June

An inquiry into child sexual exploitation should look at the West Yorkshire region as a whole rather than focusing on Bradford, the region's police and crime commissioner has said.

Alison Lowe, whose deputy mayor role covers policing and crime in the region, said she wanted to "validate survivors across the whole of West Yorkshire".

Lowe was responding to Keighley and Ilkley MP Robbie Moore, who suggested the scale of Bradford's problem with child sexual exploitation would "dwarf" other areas.

Both Lowe and Moore were speaking after seven members of a grooming gang from the city were jailed on Friday for abusing a vulnerable girl from the age of 13.

The prime minister announced a national statutory inquiry into grooming gangs in June.

A spokesperson for the Home Office said work had begun to appoint a chair for the national inquiry, who would identify the first areas for review.

Conservative MP Moore said: "We must have a spotlight shone on Keighley and the Bradford district.

"Once the lid is lifted I have no doubt the scale of the issue of child sexual exploitation and gang-related grooming will be far, far greater than that of any other area in the United Kingdom.

"It will dwarf that of Rotherham, Rochdale and Telford," he said.

Keighley MP Robbie Moore has called for a local inquiry into child sexual exploitation

Moore said that testimony and evidence from other parts of the country had suggested the Bradford district had been the "epicentre" of gang-related sexual abuse.

However, Labour Deputy Mayor for West Yorkshire Lowe said that current data suggested that Kirklees, Calderdale and the Bradford district were the three areas of West Yorkshire with the most convicted perpetrators.

The deputy mayor said Kirklees currently had "double" the number of convictions for child sexual exploitation compared to Bradford, although she said that was subject to change, with about 50 trials still pending.

Alison Lowe said she wanted all child sex abuse survivors to "have a voice"

Lowe said the national inquiry should look at West Yorkshire as part of its work and that she and Mayor of West Yorkshire Tracy Brabin had asked the home secretary for the region to be included in its scope.

She said she believed Bradford would be one area focused on in the inquiry.

"But I can't look survivors in the eye and say, 'we're not going to give you justice in Kirklees or Calderdale', or even in Leeds and Wakefield, although the numbers are much smaller there," she said.

"I want to represent the whole of West Yorkshire.

"I want to validate all survivors in West Yorkshire. I want them all to have a voice and I want them all to feel they have had their day in court."

A Home Office spokesperson said every allegation would be "thoroughly investigated, no matter where it leads".

"We have committed to a new national inquiry which will undertake specific investigations locally.

"We are in the process of appointing a chair, and we are consulting victims and survivors as part of this process, to ensure we get it right," they said.

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