'Horrific rape case of Sophie failed by police is not unique'

FORMER DETECTIVE AND WHISTLEBLOWER SAYS READING DAMNING REPORT ON COPS WAS LIKE 'GROUNDHOG DAY

- CHARLOTTE GREEN

THE HORRIFIC case of a 12-year-old girl who was raped by strangers and let down by authorities in Oldham is 'not unique, says the ex-detective who has repeatedly blown the whistle on child abuse failings.

Maggie Oliver, a former detective constable with Greater Manchester Police (GMP), resigned from her job claiming that the force had failed the victims of the Rochdale sex grooming scandal.

She has since been instrumental in Mayor Andy Burnham's decision to launch a wide-reaching assurance review looking into failures in how police and social services protected vulnerable girls.

The first part of that review, published in 2020, focused on the abandoned 'Augusta' police operation which was investigating abuse by mainly Pakistani men in the Rusholme area of Manchester.

The authors, Malcolm Newsam and Gary Ridgway, proved that the force closed down the operation despite knowing that scores of potential paedophiles were preying on vulnerable girls.

Now the second part focusing on Oldham and how services handled allegations of child sexual exploitation and protected children, has been published.

Its damning findings are all too familiar for Maggie, who describes reading it as being like 'groundhog day!