Overview
- Metropolitan Police say they will review roughly 9,000 historic investigations over 15 years to identify missed lines of inquiry, safeguarding risks and potential routes to prosecute offenders, with initial assessments due by April 2026.
- Sadiq Khan has come under criticism for earlier statements questioning the presence of grooming gangs in London, while his office says exploitation is abhorrent and that he will support and hold the Met to account.
- Recent reporting by the Express and MyLondon details allegations of trafficking and rape of children, including victims as young as nine, which the Met says will feed into its reassessment.
- Retired Met detective Jon Wedger alleges long-standing institutional failures and says cases involving vulnerable children were mishandled or halted years ago.
- The government’s national inquiry has hit turbulence after survivor panel resignations and the withdrawal of potential chairs, prompting Nigel Farage to urge Parliament to use select committee powers to run a swift commission.