MAYOR ACCUSED OVER GROOMING GANGS 'COVER-UP' IN CAPITAL

Whistleblowers say Sadiq Khan has serious questions to answer

- Zak Garner-Purkis and Callum Cuddeford

SADIQ Khan has been accused of covering up evidence of grooming gangs in London, after an Express investigation.

The city mayor read reports of young girls being raped in hotels by groups of men, while publicly denying there were any grooming gangs in the capital.

The children were also plied with drugs and had their lives threatened, evidence uncovered by the Express and MyLondon shows.

Ex-police whistleblower Maggie Oliver said the cases followed "the same pattern" that she saw with her Greater Manchester force's cover-up of the Rochdale scandal.

Shadow Home Secretary Chris Philp accused Mr Khan of being part of a "cover-up" and called for accountability. He said: "It is shameful that the Mayor of London is claiming to have no indication that grooming gangs are operating in London despite personally responding to reports containing evidence of victims abused by grooming gangs in the city." He added: "It is clear Sadiq Khan is facilitating a cover-up." Reform UK MP Lee Anderson claimed the mayor had "serious questions to answer", adding: "There is real, credible evidence that grooming gangs exist in London, and for the mayor to have potentially turned a blind eye is utterly shameful." He added that the UK could not "go on making the same catastrophic errors we saw in Rochdale, Rotherham and all over the country" and demanded that victims receive "proper justice".

The mayor and the Met consistently claimed to have "no reports" of Rochdale or Rotherham-style rape gangs in London, with Mr Khan suggesting there was "no indication" they exist.

However in four reports by His Majesty's Inspectorate of Constabulary and Fire & Rescue Services from 2016-2025, which the Mayor of London personally responded to, we found details of six potential victims.