Police failed child abuse victims

GREATER Manchester’s top policeman has admitted police “could have done more” to crack down on child-grooming gangs in the past decade.

The revelation follows a review by the Rochdale Safeguarding Children Board last year which highlighted failures by 17 organisations meant to protect children.

That came after nine men — including two Oldhamers — were jailed in 2012 for running a child-sex ring in Rochdale.

The review said police and social workers failed the girls, who were passed around for sex by a gang of paedophiles.

Greater Manchester Chief Constable Sir Peter Fahy spoke out following media reports claiming GMP failed to investigate allegations of abuse by child-grooming gangs over a 10-year period.

He claimed that before 2010, GMP had been forced by police standards watchdogs to offer a better response to lesser crimes such as burglary. Once those targets were removed, his officers had been encouraged to support sexual exploitation victims.

He said: “GMP has recognised that it could have done more to support the victims of child sexual exploitation.”