IT was a scandal that shocked and appalled the nation and has left what residents call a “permanent stain” on a once proud northern town.
From as early as the late 90s, a child sex abuse ring preyed on vulnerable girls as young as 12 in Rochdale, with victims claiming they felt “betrayed” by police and social workers who “turned a blind eye”.
Now, as Prime Minister Sir Keir Starmer has finally agreed to a national inquiry into the scandal – months after dismissing calls for one as a “far-Right bandwagon” – angry locals say they fear the Greater Manchester town will be forever tarnished, and worry it may never recover.
What makes it worse is the fact a prominent grooming gang leader is still resident on one of its tree-lined streets – much to the disgust of his neighbours.
Qari Abdul Rauf, a former taxi driver and mosque teacher, lives a comfortable life behind net curtains with his wife and children, working as a food delivery driver.
He was part of a nine-strong gang of Asian men convicted of sex trafficking and other offences including rape, trafficking girls for sex and conspiracy to engage in sexual activity with a child in May 2012.
Up to 47 girls as young as 12 were plied with booze and drugs and gang-raped across Rochdale during the gang’s two-year reign of terror.
Child sex fiend Rauf trafficked a 15-year-old girl, using his taxi to drive her to secluded areas to sexually abuse her and ferry her to a flat where he and others abused her.
The 55-year-old was caged for six years but released in November 2014, after serving just two years and six months of his sentence.
Then-Home Secretary Theresa May ordered him and fellow gang member Adil Khan, who got a 13-year-old girl pregnant, to be sent back to Pakistan in 2014, as it would be “conducive to the public good”.
But Rauf used human rights law to evade deportation, and successive governments failed to deport him. Pakistan has also refused to take him back.
Over a decade later Rauf and Khan remain in Rochdale, where their victims are forced to live alongside them.
Sickened neighbours have dubbed Rauf the “monster paedo” and wish he would be deported – while even he has admitted he cannot believe he is still living in the former mill town.
David Carter, 69, who lives a few doors away from Rauf, told The Sun: “I’m horrified he’s living near us.
“He’s a monster – he should never be in this country, never mind living in the same town where he caused so much misery.
“It’s appalling he’s not been sent back to Pakistan. My grandchildren come to visit, so we always keep a close eye on him.
“You see kids play in the street near his home. It’s disgusting he’s still here – he makes my skin crawl.
“You only see him jump in the car – I think he knows everyone hates him.
“An Asian man who lives in the street has said that he would be stoned to death if he ever made it back to Pakistan.”
Retired train driver David added: “The whole grooming scandal is a stain on our town. It’s scandalous what happened.”
Mum-of-two Sharon Hughes, 32, added: “I can’t believe this monster paedo is still here.
“I tell my kids not to cycle near his house. It’s terrifying this man still lives in our street.”
One mum told The Sun that grooming by Asian gangs was “rife” in the Greater Manchester town, admitting she was one of its victims, plied with booze, cannabis and ecstasy and driven to darkened flats.
They would give us booze, weed and ecstasy. They would take us to flats and we would be in scary situations… They preyed on poor white girls
Melissa
Walking near a tram stop in the town centre, 37-year-old Melissa recalled: “It nearly happened to me when I was 13.
“Two Asian men, who were in their 30s or 40s, would pick us up and drive us around.
“They would give us booze, weed and ecstasy. They would take us to flats and we would be in scary situations.
“They would try and kiss you. I knew it was wrong and that I had to get out of there.
“Thankfully I was never abused or raped, but they gave us drugs all the time.
“I didn’t go to the police. It feels like we were abandoned to these men. They preyed on poor white girls.”
Scathing review
The subject of grooming gangs has been thrust back into the spotlight this week following the bombshell report by Baroness Casey.
The scathing review found councils, police and the Home Office repeatedly “shied away” from dealing with uncomfortable questions on the ethnicity of rapists who targeted young white girls.
It revealed police and council leaders deliberately covered up the abuse – predominantly by men of Pakistani origin – because they feared being called racist.
Baroness Casey’s review also found that asylum seekers and foreign nationals are involved in a “significant proportion” of live investigations into grooming gangs across the UK.
The national inquiry was prompted by the recent convictions of another grooming gang in Rochdale during a five-year reign of terror.
The seven men “passed” victims around for sex and preyed on them in squalid flats and car parks in the town between 2001 and 2006.
They groomed the girls from the age of 13, and made them their “sex slaves” by plying them with gifts, including alcohol and drugs.
Last week Mohammed Zahid, 64, Kasir Bashir, 50, Mushtaq Ahmed, 66, Roheez Khan, 39, Mohammed Shahzad, 43, Nisar Hussain, 43, and Naheem Akram, 48, were convicted.
Three of the abusers – Zahid, Ahmed and Bashir – were born in Pakistan and worked as stallholders on Rochdale’s indoor market.
Father-of-three Zahid – known as Boss Man – gave free underwear from his lingerie stall to victims.
‘Betrayed a generation’
One Rochdale victim previously stressed her belief that police and social workers ignored the horrifying crimes because of political correctness.
Girl A, as she was known in court, was raped multiple times by sick grooming gang leader Shabir Ahmed, known as ‘The Daddy’ to his victims.
He plied her with alcohol above a dingy takeaway. Ahmed, 72, who was in the same gang as Rauf, was caged for 22 years.
Now 24, she told the BBC: “The police and social workers betrayed a generation of girls by turning a blind eye.
“They knew exactly what was going on — they just didn’t want to stop it.
“They knew the girls were under-age, they knew the men abusing them were Asian. They were just too politically correct to admit it.
“They thought they’d be called racist if they told the truth.”
The police and social workers betrayed a generation of girls by turning a blind eye. They knew exactly what was going on — they just didn’t want to stop it… They thought they’d be called racist if they told the truth
Girl A
A government report in August 2014 found that 1,400 girls were groomed and abused between 1997 and 2013.
Other estimates have put the figure as high as 2,000.
In 2017, BBC1 drama The Girls, starring Shameless actress Maxine Peake, featured the shocking child sex abuse in Rochdale and the fact that it was ignored for years.
It prompted major criticism of the authorities as police, prosecutors and Rochdale Council were forced to apologise for their failings.
‘We should all hang our heads in shame’
When The Sun visited Rochdale this week, residents told of their shame that the abuse went unchecked under their noses.
Grandmother Beryl Jones, 64, said: “It’s sickening what went on.
“The town has been shamed by it and the fact that no-one believed these girls. We should all hang our heads in shame.”
Taxi driver Karamat Hussain, 59, told The Sun: “What happened was disgusting.
“It was shocking that it was ignored for so long. I didn’t know anything about it and was stunned when I read about it.
“I think it is going to take a long time for the town’s reputation to recover.
“When people talk about Rochdale they now think about grooming gangs which is so sad.
“Much more should have been done to help these girls and stop all the abuse.”
Grooming gang crackdown unveiled
BARONESS Casey's report sets out a series of recommendations, which the government has accepted in full.
1. Strengthen the law: Tighten the law so that any adult who has sex with a child under the age of 16 is automatically charged with rape, removing current legal grey areas that allow abusers to avoid proper punishment.
2. Address Historical Failings: Through a national inquiry pursue justice for past cases and hold accountable those who failed to act.
3. Enhance Intelligence Gathering: Improve the collection and analysis of information to combat exploitation more effectively.
4. Improve Inter-Agency Collaboration: Foster stronger cooperation and information-sharing among agencies.
5. Mandatory Reporting: Require all services to share information when a child is at risk.
6. Introduce Unique Child Identifiers: Implement a system to ensure children are consistently and accurately identified across services.
7. Modernise Police Systems: Upgrade technology to enable seamless communication and prevent missed opportunities.
8. Treat Grooming Gangs as Serious Organised Crime: Employ the same robust strategies used to combat other forms of organised criminal activity.
9. Investigate Declining Reports: The Department for Education must examine why reports of child abuse are decreasing and take corrective action.
10. Understand the Underlying Drivers: Conduct in-depth research into the factors underpinning grooming gangs, including cultural and online influences.
11. Regulate the Taxi Industry: Prevent exploitation by restricting the use of “out-of-area” taxi drivers.
12. Commit Government Resources: Ministers must allocate funding and ensure measurable progress is achieved.
