INSIDE LONDON'S GROOMING GANG SHAME

Police failure. Institutional suppression. Establishment silence. The shocking story of a harrowing crisis — and the series of cover-ups keeping it hidden from view.

- By Rachael Burford

In the shadow of Stratford Westfield, just a few minutes’ walk from the Olympic Park and the canal dotted with riverboats, young skateboarders and dancers would flock nightly to the glossy, white-tiled floors of a nearby shopping mall. The fading Stratford Centre was a magnet for teenagers. When shoppers departed, it would turn into a sanctuary for London's homeless seeking shelter. It also became something much darker: a hub for grooming gangs who sought vulnerable teens to exploit.

In 2017, only a few years after the national scandal of grooming gangs in Rotherham dominated the news, another investigation was launched in east London: Operation Grandbye. It was sparked by allegations from four girls, aged between 13 and 15, who alleged they had been raped by men based around the Stratford Centre. Officers went on to identify 18 girls as victims, most aged 14 and 15.

The teens targeted in this area of east London are far from London's only victims. Yet there has seemingly been a catastrophic failing of the Met Police to connect the dots from borough to borough, meaning grooming gangs in the capital can operate unbothered.

The Standard has spoken to social workers, charities, experts and survivors who all say sexual abuse by gangs is ubiquitous across the capital. More than half a dozen cases outlined in independent reports published by local authorities in London over the past two years suggest many young girls are being groomed by groups of men. The investigations — known as Child Safeguarding Practice Reviews — were ordered after serious incidents involving children who were sexually and criminally exploited. They all tell a similar story of vulnerable youngsters, often in care, let down by the authorities there to protect them.