Grooming gangs probe 'significantly delayed by Labour council bosses'

DOCUMENTS 'HEAVILY REDACTED'

- By Paul Jeeves

A GROOMING gang report has been branded a whitewash after it was revealed Labour council leaders heavily redacted pages of evidence as police attempted to investigate over 1,000 suspected child abusers.

The redactions caused “significant delays” to investigations into historical child grooming cases across Greater Manchester, said the report published yesterday.

It found confidence in Greater Manchester Police among some victims is so low that it is deemed to be beyond repair.

The review into GMP’s handling of such cases was commissioned last year by Greater Manchester Mayor Andy Burnham to look at the “current and ongoing provision”.

But despite noting the issue with redactions the report praised the force for improvements it has made.

Former GMP detective turned victim campaigner Maggie Oliver said: “This review is meant to look at what is going on now.

“How can they assess what is going on now if they have blocked the voices of every single victim who is engaging with these new investigations? It’s a whitewash I’m afraid.”