Child Sexual Exploitation: We force West Midlands Police to release secret report which confirms ‘significant similarities’ with Rotherham scandal

From the Birmingham Mail 

Police have today been forced to publish a damning child sexual exploitation problem profile document after a Birmingham Mail campaign – and admitted ‘significant similarities’ to the Rotherham abuse scandal.

The 120-plus page report, released only after our Freedom of Information request, reveals startling new details about the on-street grooming gangs and online perverts targeting our children.

The document tells how the CSE situation in Birmingham has ‘significant similarities’ with Rotherham, where 1,600victims were abused by Asian grooming gangs.

The new West Midland reports states: There are significant similarities to the Rotherham victim/offender and location

profiles. It goes on to state:

*The majority of offenders are typically Asian, of Pakistani origin, aged from 17 to 40.

*A number of Organised Crime Groups associated with CSE exist in the West Midlands. Many are associated with areas of high population densities of Pakistan heritage.

*Victims are typically, but not exclusively, white females aged 13 to 16. . . 

* . . . Home Debriefs suggest victims are transported widely across the West Midlands and the wider region whilst missing and are abused by multiple men.

*Targeting of victims takes place mainly at children’s homes and schools. Offending typically takes place in private houses or hotels often under the guise of “house” parties.

In terms of offenders, the report states: “A profile dating back to 2010 identifies that the majority of suspects and or offenders are Asian (79 per cent) with a large proportioin being of Pakistani heritage and are likely to be from a Muslim faith background. Subsequent profiles identify offenders as typically Asian of Pakistani heritage and aged from 17 to 40 years of age with an average age of (redacted). 49 per cent of offenders live in Birmingham….”

West Midlands Police and the region’s seven local authorities jointly commissioned the in-depth problem profile for both on-street and online CSE last year, but the findings were never made public.

But in January the Mail revealed the on-street profile had discovered a ‘disproportionately high’ number of suspected offenders were of Pakistani Muslim origin, both British born and migrants. The ethnicity link mirrored that of other cities hit by CSE scandals, including Rotherham and Rochdale.

In October we told how an internal police problem profile from 2012 had shown 75 per cent of known on-street groomers in the West Midlands were Asian, with 82 per cent of victims aged 14 to 16 being white.

Yet Birmingham City Council had played down the ethnicity link when it published its own report into CSE in November, called We Need To Get It Right. It stated: “The high-profile cases have largely drawn explicit attention to the girls being ‘white’ and the perpetrators ‘Asian’. Our evidence has shouted out that the exploitation can happen to anybody irrespective of where you live or your family circumstances.’’

In November we told how a 20-year-old Birmingham council commissioned report which had first raised the links with CSE and Asian taxi drivers had been ‘buried’ by not being fully published.

Child Protection boss Peter Hay went public to deny our claims and to state the report had been published in full, but was eventually forced to backtrack when pressed on the point on national radio.

Meanwhile, West Midlands Police has breached statutory guidelines by being too slow in providing information on their latest problem profile,