Eighteen of the Newcastle child grooming gang who were found guilty (Picture: Northumbria Police/PA)

Hundreds of victims of grooming gangs were punished and even blamed by police for years in the North East, a Serious Case Review has found. 

The 150-page report found that grooming gangs were allowed to prey on 700 girls and vulnerable young women for years.

The report was produced in a bid to investigate the authorities’ response to child sexual exploitation after a series of trials which saw 22 defendants sentenced for a range of offences including rape, drugs and prostitution.

Before 2014 there were so few prosecutions concerning child abuse and rape that those doing it carried on with an ‘arrogant persistence’ and victims felt they were being punished for their circumstances.

The report said: ‘This sent an unhelpful message to perpetrators – they were unlikely to be prosecuted or prevented from continuing to abuse – encouraging an arrogant persistence.

‘It also had a significant impact on victims who learnt that nothing would be done against perpetrators.’

‘Practitioners did feel that early responses had the appearance of blaming the victims for their behaviour and allocating them responsibility for making bad choices.’

Some of the victims even ended up being placed in secure accommodation after making accusations against their abusers.

The Serious Case Review press conference at Newcastle City Council’s Civic Centre today (Picture: PA)

Officers soon realised the problem was much worse than first thought and broadened the investigation, including paying £10,000 to an informant, who turned out to be a child rapist, for information.

The abusers were mainly ‘not white but came from a diverse range of backgrounds including Pakistani, Bangladeshi, Indian, Iranian, Iraqi, Kurdish, Turkish, Albanian and Eastern European’.

At the trials, 22 young women gave evidence which resulted in substantial prison sentences but the review estimated there were around 700 victims in total.

The only abuser to help the inquiry was an asylum seeker who had spent 10 years in Turkey, around five in Greece and some time in Italy and France and hoped to get to Canada.

He exploited a 15-year-old girl and later showed no regret, telling the inquiry team he was only convicted ‘because of a conspiracy by the government, police and the judge who paid the victims’.

The 150-page report detailed how grooming gangs were allowed to prosper before 2014  (Picture: PA Wire)

The report added: ‘While perpetrators were not punished or disrupted, attempts to persuade victims to change behaviours and not return to the abusers led to consideration of deterrent punishments of victims for being drunk and disorderly or for making false allegations when accounts were changed.

‘Some victims were placed in secure accommodation.’

Northumbria Police launched Operation Sanctuary in January 2104 after a young woman with learning difficulties told her social worker she had been sexually abused.

The report added: ‘If convicted for rape in his home country, he would be beheaded or buried up to the neck and stoned.

 

Jahanger Zaman, 45, was jailed for 29 years after being found guilty of oral rape and drug dealing (Picture: PA)

‘He was asked about what he thought about the United Kingdom and influences in his education. He said you can get anything here – any sex, drugs, alcohol. There is no control.

‘He spoke in a derogatory way about lack of morals in British girls and did not go with Muslim girls because there are not many of them.’

Barrister and CSE expert David Spicer who led the review, said other towns and cities could learn from Newcastle’s response.

He said: ‘Unlike some other areas, Newcastle agencies did not try and sweep this under the carpet but actively went looking for it – and as a result, a large number of perpetrators were arrested and prosecuted, and victims saved from further trauma. That is not say that lessons have not been learned.’

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