Grooming still happening in Oxford, ex-detective says 
2025-01-09
Category: news

A former police officer who led a grooming investigation in Oxford has said a similar type of sexual abuse is still happening, warning that the "guys we couldn't catch are still out there". Simon Morton, former senior investigating officer for Thames Valley Police, told the BBC that perpetrators in the area are operating in plain sight and are "influencing and arranging others to do the same thing". He added that it is "obvious" grooming is "happening in every city around the country" - a claim supported by another police source.His comments come as a Tory amendment to the government's Children's Wellbeing and Schools Bill, which would have forced a national inquiry into grooming gangs, was voted down on Wednesday evening. 
The government has already said it would adopt the recommendations made in 2022 by the Independent Inquiry into Child Sexual Abuse (IICSA), led by Professor Alexis Jay. Mr Morton led Operation Bullfinch, then the biggest criminal investigation in Oxford's history, which resulted in the convictions of 21 men for offences spanning the late 1990s to the late 2000s.He said calls for a new public inquiry are "pointless" and would be a waste of money."We've done the public inquiry. Every single investigation has been thoroughly reinvestigated and checked. We've had seven years worth of Prof Jay and her team looking at child sex exploitation and made the recommendations. "Let's get it going. Don't waste your money on more pointless inquiries," he added.That is a view echoed by a child sexual abuse survivor, who cannot be named, who said the focus in recent days has been misplaced with much of the debate surrounding whether there should be a public inquiry, rather than on what can be done to help victims."It's naïve to think [grooming] is not still happening and the political debate is not focused on the problem but on trying to outdo one another," she told the BBC. "My life has been destroyed by this. People need to focus on us and how to stop this and not on scoring points." On Monday, Home Secretary Yvette Cooper announced those who cover up or fail to report child sexual abuse could face professional or criminal sanctions under a new offence to be introduced this year.But Mr Morton said survivors of abuse often don't trust anyone – including the police or social services.He claimed perpetrators have been driven underground by the recent publicity about abuse but are still active.  
Mr Morton said feelings of fear and shame often lead victims to cover up for their abuser by refusing to testify against them. "When we did this investigation, we spoke to lots of girls and there were even more offenders or suspects," he said.  "We weren't able to turn some of the girls to talk to us and tell us their story. We took nine men to court, and we had only a small amount of victims come and give evidence. It was much bigger than that." In response to Mr Morton's allegations, Thames Valley Police said that information uncovered during Operation Bullfinch, which was launched in 2011 to investigate allegations of historical sexual abuse, led to "24 convictions with sentences totalling over 250 years' imprisonment"."There are now more police officers and detectives working in child abuse investigation and the management of sexual offenders and a new dedicated team monitor all investigations into missing people and identify patterns or underlying issues," it said. The force added that the exploitation of children "is and continues to be a priority".