A damning investigation has laid bare the scale of group-based child sexual exploitation across London, identifying two dozen potential grooming gang cases that experts say follow established patterns of organised abuse.
Capital-Wide Pattern of Abuse
Evidence compiled by MyLondon and the Express reveals 24 distinct examples of potential grooming gang activity across the capital, drawn from council documents, child death reviews and historical media reports. The cases span multiple boroughs and decades, painting a disturbing picture of systematic child exploitation.
Rochdale whistleblower and former police detective Maggie Oliver analysed the compiled evidence and confirmed the cases exhibit identical patterns to the grooming gangs she investigated in Greater Manchester. "The same methods, the same vulnerabilities being exploited, the same failures to protect children," she noted.
Survivor-advocate Jade Nurse, who also reviewed the cases, described some findings as "close to home" and questioned why authorities hadn't taken more decisive action. She specifically criticised Mayor of London Sadiq Khan for previously claiming there were "no reports" of grooming gangs operating in the city.
Disturbing Case Histories Across Boroughs
The investigation uncovered harrowing individual cases across London boroughs:
In Haringey, Child O was believed to have been raped by men in Finsbury Park from age 12. She wrote about being abducted, beaten and raped by multiple men, experiencing numerous pregnancies and miscarriages. Police failed to act on her letter, suggesting instead they check her "mental state." She took her own life at 16.
Croydon's 'Chloe', aged 11, alleged she had been raped, but professionals described her as "spiteful and defiant" and suggested she was "putting herself at risk with older men."
In Lambeth, 'Olivia' went missing at least 25 times and reported being raped four times from age 13. At 17, she was found in a hotel room with six men who had given her alcohol and Class A drugs. She reported being raped by two men, with parts of the attack filmed.
Hounslow Council published a front-page story in their 2015 magazine about 'Jaime', a 15-year-old approached by a man in his 20s who gave her vodka and cigarettes before progressing to harder drugs and coercing her into sex with his friends. The man filmed the abuse and used it for blackmail.
Historical Context and Police Response
The problem isn't new. In 2002, Barnardo's launched a national campaign about child prostitution, with billboards across the London Underground. A project leader from Islington said at the time that despite clear evidence, "social services and the police were telling us sexual exploitation wasn't happening."
When Metropolitan Police Commissioner Sir Mark Rowley was asked in January if London had a problem with child sexual exploitation gangs, he said they had "not seen" it. However, following this investigation, Sir Mark told the London Assembly the force is dealing with "tens of" recent and non-recent group-based CSE cases that the public would characterise as grooming gangs.
A Metropolitan Police spokesperson said: "The Met takes all allegations of child sexual and criminal exploitation extremely seriously, which is why we are currently reviewing around 9,000 cases and have significantly enhanced our approach to identifying and investigating group-based offending since 2022."
They noted this has led to a threefold increase in solved cases of child sexual exploitation over the past year, resulting in 134 additional suspects being charged.
Institutional Responses and Ongoing Concerns
A spokesperson for the Mayor of London stated: "Any individuals or grooming gangs exploiting children for sex are utterly abhorrent and Sadiq wants justice for every single victim of these horrific crimes. These children have not only suffered terrible abuse at the hands of the perpetrators but have been woefully let down by the authorities meant to protect them from harm."
Local councils responded with statements of condolence for victims and outlined safeguarding improvements. Croydon Safeguarding Children Partnership acknowledged that language used in Chloe's case "did not accurately reflect that Chloe was a victim of child sexual exploitation" and said understanding of CSE has "developed significantly" since 2013.
However, survivor-advocate Jade Nurse remains critical, asking: "How does the Mayor not see it? Because they're all part of a massive cover-up that we all need to get to the bottom of. [We] girls are suffering day in, day out. When we close our eyes we're having bad dreams."
The investigation confirms that group-based child sexual exploitation has been a persistent problem in London across multiple decades and boroughs, with victims repeatedly let down by safeguarding failures despite clear patterns of organised abuse.
