Cowardice and inaction left children to suffer

As the chief prosecutor who led the teams that brought the so-called Rochdale grooming gang to justice in 2012 — for the abuse of up to 47 young girls - I went on to lead the national response to localised grooming and child sexual abuse across England and Wales. The Rochdale case moved forwards because I overturned a decision not to prosecute.

- Nazir Afzal

I spent long days at the CPS consulting with my boss, Keir Starmer, on what we needed to do. We had learned a lot and I felt optimistic that we could apply the lessons successfully. We developed the child sexual abuse review panel, which would look at previously dismissed cases of sexual abuse that could be re-examined, should a victim wish to revisit their allegations. The position of a complainant whose allegation is described as "unsubstantiated" is extraordinarily difficult. Sometimes "unsubstantiated" is in reality a euphemism for "uninvestiga