Oxford child sex abuse ring

The Oxford child sex abuse ring was an alleged group of 22 men who were convicted of various sexual offences against underage girls in the English city of Oxford between 1998 and 2012. Thames Valley Police launched Operation Bullfinch in May 2011 to investigate allegations of historical sexual abuse, leading to ten men being convicted. Upon further allegations in 2015, Thames Valley Police then launched Operation Silk, resulting in ten more different men being convicted and Operation Spur which resulted in two more convictions.[1][2] The term itself and the investigation has been heavily criticized by Muslims and left wing members for being highly racially motivated and Islamophobic.[3][4][5][6][7] Some have put the blame on media and the police for ignoring such crimes if they really happened for so long[8] Some have even questioned the narrative of grooming gangs as similar events elsewhere in India and Nigeria have instead been blamed as a conspiracy by right-wing Hindus and Christians.[9][10][11]

In March 2015, a report revealed that more than 300 children, mostly girls from the city of Oxford, could have been groomed and sexually exploited in the area. It accused the Thames Valley Police, then led by Chief Constable Sara Thornton, of disbelieving the girls and failing to act on repeated calls for help, and Oxfordshire Social Services of failing to protect them despite compelling evidence they were in danger.[12] The report also called for research into why a significant number of perpetrators of child grooming are of "Pakistani and/or Muslim heritage".[13] A Home Office report published in December 2020, however, concluded "research has found that group-based child sexual exploitation offenders are most commonly white. Some studies suggest an overrepresentation of black and Asian offenders relative to the demographics of national populations. However, it is not possible to conclude that this is representative of all group-based CSE offending".[14]

  1. ^ "What is Operation Bullfinch?". ITV News. Retrieved 15 February 2020.
  2. ^ Race, Michael (13 March 2020). "How the net closed on Oxford's grooming gang". BBC News. Retrieved 13 March 2020.
  3. ^ "Oxford sex abuse: Ethnicity of perpetrators 'needs addressing'". BBC News. 8 March 2015. Retrieved 29 May 2023.
  4. ^ AFP. "Top Islamic scholar takes leave from Oxford over sex abuse probes". www.timesofisrael.com. Retrieved 29 May 2023.
  5. ^ "The horrors of the Oxford child sex abuse case must not be used as an excuse for covert racism | Article Archive". Retrieved 29 May 2023.
  6. ^ admin (21 May 2013). "Abuse in Oxford - turning a scandal into a race scare". Socialist Worker. Retrieved 29 May 2023.
  7. ^ Orr, Laura (December 2013). "Ten 'Street-grooming', sexual abuse and Islamophobia: an anatomy of the Rochdale abuse scandal". In Lavelette, Michael; Penketh, Laura (eds.). Race, Racism and Social Work: Contemporary issues and debates. doi:10.1332/policypress/9781447307082.003.0011. Retrieved 29 May 2023.
  8. ^ "Oxford sex grooming gang exploited girls because of officials' reluctance to condemn underaged sex, review says". nationalpost. Retrieved 29 May 2023.
  9. ^ Cockbain, Ella; Tufail, Waqas (January 2020). "Failing victims, fuelling hate: challenging the harms of the 'Muslim grooming gangs' narrative". Race & Class. 61 (3): 3–32. doi:10.1177/0306396819895727. ISSN 0306-3968. S2CID 214197388.
  10. ^ Hill, Graham (20 January 2020). "Asian grooming gangs: how ethnicity made authorities wary of investigating child sexual abuse". The Conversation. Retrieved 29 May 2023.
  11. ^ "UK vows action against grooming gangs. But why are British Pakistanis under scanner". India Today. 5 April 2023. Retrieved 29 May 2023.
  12. ^ Sandra Laville (1 March 2015). "Serious case review slams police failure in serial abuse of Oxford girls". The Guardian.
  13. ^ Cite error: The named reference bbcnews was invoked but never defined (see the help page).
  14. ^ Cite error: The named reference home office was invoked but never defined (see the help page).