Victims of Scots grooming gangs deserve justice

THE horrific and despicable abuse by grooming gangs is one of the worst scandals in decades. The UK Government has now, after much delay, announced a full public inquiry into these offences, which had thousands of victims and were perpetrated by organised criminal gangs.

- Liam Kerr Scottish Conservative Shadow Justice Secretary

But it will cover only England and Wales.

Yet we know that grooming gangs also operated in Scotland. In 2016, Police Scotland conducted an investigation called Operation Cerrar into a gang of more than 50 alleged perpetrators in Glasgow which had more than 40 victims.

In January, a Romanian gang was convicted of preying on women and young girls in Dundee, in which 10 victims were identified.

We know that it's not confined to historic cases and the gangs are still operating. On Sunday, the Scottish Express carried an exclusive report on the Care Inspectorate's finding that criminal and sexual exploitation of children is going on right now in Glasgow.

That should not come as a surprise.

WHEN Baroness Casey, whose investigation recommended the inquiry down south, was asked about Scotland following suit, she said: "I can move from Scotland to England pretty easily, and criminals do."

But despite that obvious point and the weight of evidence, John Swinney has said that he is "not persuaded" of the need for a Scottish inquiry. The sheer scale of public revulsion at these crimes suggests that he must be almost alone in that belief.