From The Express.
EXCLUSIVE: Retired detective Jon Wedger says he identified at least 52 victims of abuse by a sex gang targeting care homes in London. Jon Wedger has been critical of the police in several areas on his podcasts and social media for some time.
Decorated former detective Jon Wedger claims he uncovered a trove of evidence suggesting that there is organised sexual exploitation of children in the capital on a level that goes way beyond notorious scandals in towns like Rotherham or Rochdale. “I’d actually uncovered kids from the age of nine to 14 that were being trafficked for prostitution on an industrial scale,” he told the Express.
“They were being sold in crack houses, swapped for nine rocks of crack, then taken to hotels to have sex with builders that were working in central London. After that, the kids would then be taken to upmarket Arab restaurants in Mayfair around the Curzon Street, where they would be traded for as much as £2,000 each. That was happening on a daily basis.”
Whilst working in the London Borough of Haringey, Wedger said he identified 52 potential victims of a sex abuse ring that took children from care homes, six of whom were in dire need of help. Haringey has a poor reputation in child welfare in the past, the most welll known instance of which was the death of Baby P.
However, when he presented these findings to senior police officers and representatives from the local council he claims his efforts to safeguard victims and bring perpetrators to justice were blocked.
His cop bosses also stonewalled detailed reports about grooming gangs operating in Tower Hamlets, Croydon and Westminster.
“I was told if I ever mentioned what I’d uncovered, I would lose my home, job and children,” he claimed, “[because] this would “f***k the Metropolitan Police past, present and future.”
To back up his claims, the whistleblower showed the Express his police notebook from the time and contemporary reports sent to superiors, as well as his detailed statement submitted to the 2022 Independent Inquiry into Child Sexual Abuse.
The former detective said Mr Khan should be “removed immediately” for repeatedly refusing to accept the problem and continuing a policy of “willful neglect” that, he felt, amounted to an “act of malfeasance in high office.”
Wedger believes Khan’s behaviour in these sessions, footage of which has gone viral, was contributing to an environment where police officers who speak out about child abuse are “bullied and crushed” and suggested the dismissive answers could potentially push survivors of abuse to suicide.
A survivor of an East London grooming gang who spoke to the Express on the condition of anonymity said she was “disgusted” by the mayor’s response.
“The way he’s been acting is disgusting,” she said, “it is hard enough for victims of sexual abuse to come forward as it is. So to have a man with the power Sadiq Khan holds, pulling faces and making snide remarks in response to questions about grooming gangs only enables perpetrators.”
Responding to Wedger’s revelations, Mrs Hall said: “These abuses have been going on for years now, and we know that well-meaning people have been silenced for raising the alarm. It is my sincere wish that authorities – of all parties, organisations, and responsibilities – will take this horrific crime seriously and work together without fear or favour to get the victims the justice they deserve – the justice they need.”
Chris Philp MP, Shadow Home Secretary, said: “The comments by Jon Wedger are damning. This is yet another example of a cover-up by the police who shut down his investigations into child sexual exploitation in London. Sadiq Khan should be leaving no stone unturned to get to the bottom of organised child sexual exploitation in London – instead he has been facilitating a cover-up.
His view was supported by Reform UK MP Lee Anderson, who said it was time for “Sadiq Khan to either step down or be removed from office. . . We cannot allow the continued destruction of our capital city or its further degradation on the world stage,” he added.
In response to Wedger’s claims, a spokesperson for the Met said: “Our data shows the most prevalent threat to children and young people in London is criminal exploitation, particularly recruitment into county lines gangs, however we are not complacent to other types of exploitation such as offending by grooming gangs. . . ” Which is largely Sadiq Khan’s stock reposnse, although he denies knowing what a grooming gang is, and previous failure to recognise the term has resulted in failure to answer any questions on statistics as we ‘don’t recognise that term’.
A spokesperson for the mayor of London said: “These accusations are false, malicious, and politically motivated. . . ”
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