Grooming gangs scandal

Several government reviews have reported failures by British institutions in preventing, identifying and prosecuting the widespread cases of [[Child sexual abuse in the United Kingdom#Group-based child sexual exploitation|group-based child sexual abuse and exploitation]] that mostly occurred between the 1990s and 2010s.{{sfn|Casey audit|2025|pp=61, 74}} Allegations of governmental and institutional failures to respond to the problem or to downplay or cover up the issue have been described as a '''grooming gangs scandal'''.<ref>{{Cite journal |last=Hanson |first=Martin |date=2018 |title=Muslim grooming gangs |url=https://search.informit.org/doi/10.3316/informit.T2024062400003801479408026 |journal=The Open Society|volume=91 |issue=4 |pages=5–10 }}</ref><ref>{{cite journal |last1=Wroe |first1=Lauren Elizabeth |last2=Vaughn |first2=Leona |title=Race, class and the weaponisation of child safety |type=editorial |journal=Critical and Radical Social Work |date=April 2025 |volume=13 |issue=2 |pages=148–154 |doi=10.1332/20498608Y2025D000000074 |doi-access=free}}</ref>

Several government reviews have reported failures by British institutions in preventing, identifying and prosecuting the widespread cases of [[Child sexual abuse in the United Kingdom#Group-based child sexual exploitation|group-based child sexual abuse and exploitation]] that mostly occurred between the 1990s and 2010s.{{sfn|Casey audit|2025|pp=61, 74}} Allegations of governmental and institutional failures to respond to the problem or to downplay or cover up the issue have been described as a '''grooming gangs scandal'''.<ref>{{Cite journal |last=Hanson |first=Martin |date=2018 |title=Muslim grooming gangs |url=https://search.informit.org/doi/10.3316/informit.T2024062400003801479408026 |journal=The Open Society|volume=91 |issue=4 |pages=5–10 }}</ref><ref>{{cite journal |last1=Wroe |first1=Lauren Elizabeth |last2=Vaughn |first2=Leona |title=Race, class and the weaponisation of child safety |type=editorial |journal=Critical and Radical Social Work |date=April 2025 |volume=13 |issue=2 |pages=148–154 |doi=10.1332/20498608Y2025D000000074 |doi-access=free}}</ref>

Media coverage of these crimes has especially focused on the Pakistani heritage of perpetrators in high-profile cases and whether this prevented proper investigation.<ref name=":4">{{Cite news |date=2025-06-14 |title=Britain's Starmer announces national inquiry into 'grooming gangs' |url=https://www.reuters.com/world/uk/britains-starmer-there-will-be-national-inquiry-into-grooming-gangs-2025-06-14/ |access-date=2025-07-06 |work=Reuters |language=en}}</ref><ref name="GillHarrison2015" /><ref name="CockbainTufail2020">{{Cite journal |last1=Cockbain |first1=Ella |last2=Tufail |first2=Waqas |year=2020 |title=Failing victims, fuelling hate: Challenging the harms of the 'Muslim grooming gangs' narrative |url=https://journals.sagepub.com/doi/10.1177/0306396819895727 |url-status=live |journal=Race & Class |volume=61 |issue=3 |pages=3–32 |doi=10.1177/0306396819895727 |s2cid=214197388 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20210308203535/https://journals.sagepub.com/doi/10.1177/0306396819895727 |archive-date=8 March 2021 |access-date=25 July 2023}}</ref><ref name="Tufail Meyer" /> Data in [[Greater Manchester]], [[South Yorkshire]] and [[West Yorkshire]] suggests that, in the 2020s, [[British Pakistanis|British Pakistani]] men are disproportionately represented among perpetrators in those areas, although national data is insufficient to draw conclusions about ethnicity elsewhere.{{sfn|Casey audit|2025|pp=61, 74}} Scholars{{Which|date=July 2025}} have accused politicians and the media of creating a [[moral panic]] over the issue that demonises Muslims.<ref name="GillHarrison2015" /><ref name="Tufail Meyer">{{Cite journal |last=Tufail |first=Waqas |date=2015 |title=Rotherham, Rochdale, and the Racialised threat of the 'Muslim grooming gang' |url=https://search.informit.org/doi/abs/10.3316/INFORMIT.252439513232546 |journal=International Journal for Crime, Justice and Social Democracy |volume=4 |issue=3 |pages=30–43 |doi=10.5204/ijcjsd.v4i3.249 }}{{pb}}{{Citation |mode=cs1 |last=Meyer |first=Anneke |title=The Rotherham abuse scandal |date=30 June 2015 |work=Revisiting Moral Panics |pages=113–122 |editor-last=Cree |editor-first=Viviene E. |url=https://bristoluniversitypressdigital.com/view/book/9781447321873/ch010.xml |access-date=21 June 2025 |publisher=Policy Press |doi=10.51952/9781447321873.ch010 |isbn=978-1-4473-2187-3 |editor2-last=Clapton |editor2-first=Gary |editor3-last=Smith |editor3-first=Mark}}</ref><ref name="CockbainTufail2020" />

Media coverage of these crimes has especially focused on the Pakistani heritage of perpetrators in high-profile cases and whether this prevented proper investigation.<ref name=":4">{{Cite news |date=2025-06-14 |title=Britain's Starmer announces national inquiry into 'grooming gangs' |url=https://www.reuters.com/world/uk/britains-starmer-there-will-be-national-inquiry-into-grooming-gangs-2025-06-14/ |access-date=2025-07-06 |work=Reuters |language=en}}</ref><ref name="GillHarrison2015" /><ref name="CockbainTufail2020">{{Cite journal |last1=Cockbain |first1=Ella |last2=Tufail |first2=Waqas |year=2020 |title=Failing victims, fuelling hate: Challenging the harms of the 'Muslim grooming gangs' narrative |url=https://journals.sagepub.com/doi/10.1177/0306396819895727 |url-status=live |journal=Race & Class |volume=61 |issue=3 |pages=3–32 |doi=10.1177/0306396819895727 |s2cid=214197388 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20210308203535/https://journals.sagepub.com/doi/10.1177/0306396819895727 |archive-date=8 March 2021 |access-date=25 July 2023}}</ref><ref name="Tufail Meyer" /> Data in [[Greater Manchester]], [[South Yorkshire]] and [[West Yorkshire]] suggests that, in the 2020s, [[British Pakistanis|British Pakistani]] men are disproportionately represented among perpetrators in those areas, although national data is insufficient to draw conclusions about ethnicity elsewhere.{{sfn|Casey audit|2025|pp=61, 74}} Scholars have accused politicians and the media of creating a [[moral panic]] over the issue that demonises Muslims.<ref name="GillHarrison2015" /><ref name="Tufail Meyer">{{Cite journal |last=Tufail |first=Waqas |date=2015 |title=Rotherham, Rochdale, and the Racialised threat of the 'Muslim grooming gang' |url=https://search.informit.org/doi/abs/10.3316/INFORMIT.252439513232546 |journal=International Journal for Crime, Justice and Social Democracy |volume=4 |issue=3 |pages=30–43 |doi=10.5204/ijcjsd.v4i3.249 }}{{pb}}{{Citation |mode=cs1 |last=Meyer |first=Anneke |title=The Rotherham abuse scandal |date=30 June 2015 |work=Revisiting Moral Panics |pages=113–122 |editor-last=Cree |editor-first=Viviene E. |url=https://bristoluniversitypressdigital.com/view/book/9781447321873/ch010.xml |access-date=21 June 2025 |publisher=Policy Press |doi=10.51952/9781447321873.ch010 |isbn=978-1-4473-2187-3 |editor2-last=Clapton |editor2-first=Gary |editor3-last=Smith |editor3-first=Mark}}</ref><ref name="CockbainTufail2020" />

The [[National Audit on Group-based Child Sexual Exploitation and Abuse]] ("Casey audit") called for better recording of ethnicity by police forces to prevent misinformation, aid examination of the underlying issues, and restore public trust.{{sfn|Casey audit|2025|pp=4}} In 2025, following the Casey audit's recommendations, the British Government indicated it would fund a national inquiry into the issue of group-based child sexual exploitation, including the role played by the ethnic background of offenders and to what extent there were failings by local authorities in the prevention and policing of such abuse.

The [[National Audit on Group-based Child Sexual Exploitation and Abuse]] ("Casey audit") called for better recording of ethnicity by police forces to prevent misinformation, aid examination of the underlying issues, and restore public trust.{{sfn|Casey audit|2025|pp=4}} In 2025, following the Casey audit's recommendations, the British Government indicated it would fund a national inquiry into the issue of group-based child sexual exploitation, including the role played by the ethnic background of offenders and to what extent there were failings by local authorities in the prevention and policing of such abuse.

==Initial reports==

== Background ==

=== Initial reports ===

{{See also|Investigations into the Rotherham child sexual exploitation scandal}}

{{See also|Investigations into the Rotherham child sexual exploitation scandal}}

Reports of organised sexual offending against children by groups of men of Pakistani heritage have been investigated in the north of England since the 1980s.<ref>{{cite news |last1=Keynon |first1=Megan |title=The Casey report reveals 15 years of establishment denial |url=https://www.newstatesman.com/politics/uk-politics/2025/06/the-casey-report-reveals-fifteen-years-of-establishment-denial |access-date=20 June 2025 |agency=The New Statesman |date=17 June 2025}}</ref> In August 2003, a television documentary reported details of an 18-month police and social services investigation into allegations that groups of [[British Pakistanis|British Pakistani]] men were targeting under-age girls for sex in the West Yorkshire town of [[Keighley]].<ref>{{cite web|url=http://www.channel4.com/news/articles/society/law_order/Asian+rape+allegations/256893 |title=Asian rape allegations|publisher=Channel 4 News |url-status=dead |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20100620042427/http://www.channel4.com/news/articles/society/law_order/Asian%2Brape%2Ballegations/256893 |archive-date=20 June 2010 }}</ref> In the 2010s, the [[Rotherham child sexual exploitation scandal]] resulted in the convictions of several child abusers. The [[Leeds]]-based [[Coalition for the Removal of Pimping]] (CROP) sought to bring this behaviour to national attention from at least 2010.<ref name="Independent31 Jan 2010">{{cite web |last=Stanford |first=Peter |date=31 January 2010 |title='They like us naive': How teenage girls are groomed for a life of prostitution by UK gangs |url=https://www.independent.co.uk/news/uk/crime/they-like-us-naive-how-teenage-girls-are-groomed-for-a-life-of-prostitution-by-uk-gangs-1880959.html |url-status=live |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20170819112456/http://www.independent.co.uk/news/uk/crime/they-like-us-naive-how-teenage-girls-are-groomed-for-a-life-of-prostitution-by-uk-gangs-1880959.html |archive-date=19 August 2017 |access-date=25 July 2023 |work=The Independent}}</ref>

Reports of organised sexual offending against children by groups of men of Pakistani heritage have been investigated in the north of England since the 1980s.<ref>{{cite news |last1=Keynon |first1=Megan |title=The Casey report reveals 15 years of establishment denial |url=https://www.newstatesman.com/politics/uk-politics/2025/06/the-casey-report-reveals-fifteen-years-of-establishment-denial |access-date=20 June 2025 |agency=The New Statesman |date=17 June 2025}}</ref> In August 2003, a television documentary reported details of an 18-month police and social services investigation into allegations that groups of [[British Pakistanis|British Pakistani]] men were targeting under-age girls for sex in the West Yorkshire town of [[Keighley]].<ref>{{cite web|url=http://www.channel4.com/news/articles/society/law_order/Asian+rape+allegations/256893 |title=Asian rape allegations|publisher=Channel 4 News |url-status=dead |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20100620042427/http://www.channel4.com/news/articles/society/law_order/Asian%2Brape%2Ballegations/256893 |archive-date=20 June 2010 }}</ref> In the 2010s, the [[Rotherham child sexual exploitation scandal]] resulted in the convictions of several child abusers. The [[Leeds]]-based [[Coalition for the Removal of Pimping]] (CROP) sought to bring this behaviour to national attention from at least 2010.<ref name="Independent31 Jan 2010">{{cite web |last=Stanford |first=Peter |date=31 January 2010 |title='They like us naive': How teenage girls are groomed for a life of prostitution by UK gangs |url=https://www.independent.co.uk/news/uk/crime/they-like-us-naive-how-teenage-girls-are-groomed-for-a-life-of-prostitution-by-uk-gangs-1880959.html |url-status=live |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20170819112456/http://www.independent.co.uk/news/uk/crime/they-like-us-naive-how-teenage-girls-are-groomed-for-a-life-of-prostitution-by-uk-gangs-1880959.html |archive-date=19 August 2017 |access-date=25 July 2023 |work=The Independent}}</ref>

In 2016, following the largest child sexual exploitation investigation in British history,<ref>{{cite news |title=Child sexual abuse ring in Halifax: 25 men charged - police reaction |url=https://www.halifaxcourier.co.uk/news/crime/child-sexual-abuse-ring-in-halifax-25-men-charged-police-reaction-1-7096362#ixzz42ztRnuvm |access-date=13 February 2018 |work=Halifax Courier |date=9 February 2015 |quote=police say is the largest child sexual exploitation (CSE) investigation in the country - bigger than high profile cases in Rochdale and Rotherham |archive-date=7 April 2019 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20190407095139/https://www.halifaxcourier.co.uk/news/crime/child-sexual-abuse-ring-in-halifax-25-men-charged-police-reaction-1-7096362#ixzz42ztRnuvm |url-status=live}}</ref> 18 men in the [[Halifax child sex abuse ring]] case were sentenced to a combined total of over 175 years in prison.<ref>{{cite news|title=Last two men sentenced in Calderdale's biggest child sex abuse case|url=https://www.halifaxcourier.co.uk/news/last-two-men-sentenced-in-calderdale-s-biggest-child-sex-abuse-case-1-7982099|access-date=13 February 2018|work=Halifax Courier|date=24 June 2016|quote=Sentences imposed on the sexual offenders now total more than 175 years and an 18th man convicted only of supplying the girl with cannabis was also jailed for 10 months.|archive-date=15 June 2018|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20180615004340/https://www.halifaxcourier.co.uk/news/last-two-men-sentenced-in-calderdale-s-biggest-child-sex-abuse-case-1-7982099|url-status=live}}</ref>

In 2016, following the largest child sexual exploitation investigation in British history,<ref>{{cite news |title=Child sexual abuse ring in Halifax: 25 men charged - police reaction |url=https://www.halifaxcourier.co.uk/news/crime/child-sexual-abuse-ring-in-halifax-25-men-charged-police-reaction-1-7096362#ixzz42ztRnuvm |access-date=13 February 2018 |work=Halifax Courier |date=9 February 2015 |quote=police say is the largest child sexual exploitation (CSE) investigation in the country - bigger than high profile cases in Rochdale and Rotherham |archive-date=7 April 2019 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20190407095139/https://www.halifaxcourier.co.uk/news/crime/child-sexual-abuse-ring-in-halifax-25-men-charged-police-reaction-1-7096362#ixzz42ztRnuvm |url-status=live}}</ref> 18 men in the [[Halifax child sex abuse ring]] case were sentenced to a combined total of over 175 years in prison.<ref>{{cite news|title=Last two men sentenced in Calderdale's biggest child sex abuse case|url=https://www.halifaxcourier.co.uk/news/last-two-men-sentenced-in-calderdale-s-biggest-child-sex-abuse-case-1-7982099|access-date=13 February 2018|work=Halifax Courier|date=24 June 2016|quote=Sentences imposed on the sexual offenders now total more than 175 years and an 18th man convicted only of supplying the girl with cannabis was also jailed for 10 months.|archive-date=15 June 2018|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20180615004340/https://www.halifaxcourier.co.uk/news/last-two-men-sentenced-in-calderdale-s-biggest-child-sex-abuse-case-1-7982099|url-status=live}}</ref>

== Scale ==

=== Scale ===

An estimated 17,100 contact-based child sexual abuse offences are "flagged" as child sexual exploitation in police recorded crime data. The Casey report had access to the Complex Organised Child Abuse Dataset (COCAD), identified around 700 recorded offences of group-based child sexual exploitation in 2023.<ref name=":5">{{Cite web |last=Morton |first=Becky |date=16 June 2025 |title=Key takeaways from grooming gangs report |url=https://www.bbc.com/news/articles/cx2r2ejlvm1o |access-date=20 June 2025 |website=[[BBC News]] |language=en-GB}}</ref> The Casey report did not have access to additional datasets from the [[Home Office]].<ref name="Casey audit" />

An estimated 17,100 contact-based child sexual abuse offences are "flagged" as child sexual exploitation in police recorded crime data. The Casey report had access to the Complex Organised Child Abuse Dataset (COCAD), identified around 700 recorded offences of group-based child sexual exploitation in 2023.<ref name=":5">{{Cite web |last=Morton |first=Becky |date=16 June 2025 |title=Key takeaways from grooming gangs report |url=https://www.bbc.com/news/articles/cx2r2ejlvm1o |access-date=20 June 2025 |website=[[BBC News]] |language=en-GB}}</ref> The Casey report did not have access to additional datasets from the [[Home Office]].<ref name="Casey audit" />

===Media===

===Media===

{{Undue weight|date=July 2025}}

British media has been criticised by academics,<ref name="Tufail">Tufail, Waqas, and Scott Poynting. "Muslim and dangerous: 'Grooming' and the politics of racialisation." ''Fear of Muslims? International Perspectives on Islamophobia'' (2016): 79-92.</ref><ref name="Miah">{{Cite journal |last=Miah |first=Shamim |date=18 April 2015 |title=The Groomers and the Question of Race |url=https://www.identitypapers.org.uk/article/id/410/ |journal=Identity Papers: A Journal of British and Irish Studies |volume=1 |issue=1 |pages=54–66 |doi=10.5920/idp.2015.1154 |issn=2058-6205|doi-access=free }}</ref><ref name="GillDay2020" /> journalists,<ref name="Versi" /> politicians,<ref>{{Cite web |date=6 January 2025 |title=PM attacks those 'spreading lies' on grooming gangs as he hits back at Musk |url=https://www.bbc.co.uk/news/articles/c75wp53vk1lo |access-date=9 January 2025 |website=BBC News |language=en-GB}}</ref><ref name="police chief" /> the police,<ref name="police chief">{{Cite news |last1=Jenkins |first1=Lin |last2=Parveen |first2=Nazia |date=21 February 2016 |title=Rochdale: police chief 'appalled' by Times 'sex grooming town' report after imam's murder |url=https://www.theguardian.com/uk-news/2016/feb/20/times-apologise-rochdale-sex-grooming-town-murder-imam |access-date=9 January 2025 |work=The Guardian |language=en-GB |issn=0261-3077}}</ref><ref>{{Cite news |last=Dodd |first=Vikram |date=8 December 2023 |title=Police still victim blaming in grooming gang cases, watchdog finds |url=https://www.theguardian.com/uk-news/2023/dec/08/police-still-victim-blaming-child-grooming-gang-cases-watchdog-finds-inspection-england-and-wales |access-date=9 January 2025 |work=The Guardian |language=en-GB |issn=0261-3077 |quote=Any public perception that those responsible are predominantly from the Pakistani or south Asian community may be influenced by national media coverage of some of the cases ... Furthermore, we didn’t find that this public perception was supported by the 27 group-based child sexual exploitation investigations we examined during the inspection.}}</ref> and community groups<ref name="Sky20232" /><ref name="Guardian2023" /> for its coverage of group-based child sexual abuse, including that it is sensationalist, misleading, and perpetuates [[Islamophobia]].<ref name="CockbainTufail2020" /><ref name="scapegoating">Gill, Aisha K. "Child sexual exploitation and scapegoating minority communities." In ''The Routledge Companion to Gender, Media and Violence'', pp. 105-115. Routledge, 2023.</ref><ref>{{Cite web |last=Kanter |first=Jake |date=8 January 2025 |title=How Elon Musk's intense interest in a UK grooming gangs scandal is being driven by disruptive right-wing network GB News |url=https://deadline.com/2025/01/elon-musk-uk-grooming-gang-scandal-driven-by-gb-news-1236250381/ |access-date=9 January 2025 |website=Deadline |language=en-US |quote=Peters' reporting has been amplified by colleagues who embellish GB News' output with outraged monologues. Presenters like Patrick Christys have consistently leaned into the racial dimension of the story, accusing the government of failing to act amid fears of offending the 'Muslim community.' And it has worked — coverage has resonated. 'Every time this story is connected to British-Pakistanis, ratings and traffic go up,' says someone familiar with GB News' internal audience data.}}</ref> According to [[Miqdaad Versi]], director for media monitoring at the [[Muslim Council of Britain]], the media does this by "conflating the faith of Islam with criminality, such as the headlines 'Muslim sex grooming{{' "}}.<ref name="Versi">{{Cite web |date=4 April 2016 |title=Why the British media is responsible for the rise in Islamophobia in Britain |url=https://www.independent.co.uk/voices/why-the-british-media-is-responsible-for-the-rise-in-islamophobia-in-britain-a6967546.html |access-date=3 September 2024 |website=The Independent |language=en}}</ref>

British media has been criticised by academics,<ref name="Tufail">Tufail, Waqas, and Scott Poynting. "Muslim and dangerous: 'Grooming' and the politics of racialisation." ''Fear of Muslims? International Perspectives on Islamophobia'' (2016): 79-92.</ref><ref name="Miah">{{Cite journal |last=Miah |first=Shamim |date=18 April 2015 |title=The Groomers and the Question of Race |url=https://www.identitypapers.org.uk/article/id/410/ |journal=Identity Papers: A Journal of British and Irish Studies |volume=1 |issue=1 |pages=54–66 |doi=10.5920/idp.2015.1154 |issn=2058-6205|doi-access=free }}</ref><ref name="GillDay2020" /> journalists,<ref name="Versi" /> politicians,<ref>{{Cite web |date=6 January 2025 |title=PM attacks those 'spreading lies' on grooming gangs as he hits back at Musk |url=https://www.bbc.co.uk/news/articles/c75wp53vk1lo |access-date=9 January 2025 |website=BBC News |language=en-GB}}</ref><ref name="police chief" /> the police,<ref name="police chief">{{Cite news |last1=Jenkins |first1=Lin |last2=Parveen |first2=Nazia |date=21 February 2016 |title=Rochdale: police chief 'appalled' by Times 'sex grooming town' report after imam's murder |url=https://www.theguardian.com/uk-news/2016/feb/20/times-apologise-rochdale-sex-grooming-town-murder-imam |access-date=9 January 2025 |work=The Guardian |language=en-GB |issn=0261-3077}}</ref><ref>{{Cite news |last=Dodd |first=Vikram |date=8 December 2023 |title=Police still victim blaming in grooming gang cases, watchdog finds |url=https://www.theguardian.com/uk-news/2023/dec/08/police-still-victim-blaming-child-grooming-gang-cases-watchdog-finds-inspection-england-and-wales |access-date=9 January 2025 |work=The Guardian |language=en-GB |issn=0261-3077 |quote=Any public perception that those responsible are predominantly from the Pakistani or south Asian community may be influenced by national media coverage of some of the cases ... Furthermore, we didn’t find that this public perception was supported by the 27 group-based child sexual exploitation investigations we examined during the inspection.}}</ref> and community groups<ref name="Sky20232" /><ref name="Guardian2023" /> for its coverage of group-based child sexual abuse, including that it is sensationalist, misleading, and perpetuates [[Islamophobia]].<ref name="CockbainTufail2020" /><ref name="scapegoating">Gill, Aisha K. "Child sexual exploitation and scapegoating minority communities." In ''The Routledge Companion to Gender, Media and Violence'', pp. 105-115. Routledge, 2023.</ref><ref>{{Cite web |last=Kanter |first=Jake |date=8 January 2025 |title=How Elon Musk's intense interest in a UK grooming gangs scandal is being driven by disruptive right-wing network GB News |url=https://deadline.com/2025/01/elon-musk-uk-grooming-gang-scandal-driven-by-gb-news-1236250381/ |access-date=9 January 2025 |website=Deadline |language=en-US |quote=Peters' reporting has been amplified by colleagues who embellish GB News' output with outraged monologues. Presenters like Patrick Christys have consistently leaned into the racial dimension of the story, accusing the government of failing to act amid fears of offending the 'Muslim community.' And it has worked — coverage has resonated. 'Every time this story is connected to British-Pakistanis, ratings and traffic go up,' says someone familiar with GB News' internal audience data.}}</ref> According to [[Miqdaad Versi]], director for media monitoring at the [[Muslim Council of Britain]], the media does this by "conflating the faith of Islam with criminality, such as the headlines 'Muslim sex grooming{{' "}}.<ref name="Versi">{{Cite web |date=4 April 2016 |title=Why the British media is responsible for the rise in Islamophobia in Britain |url=https://www.independent.co.uk/voices/why-the-british-media-is-responsible-for-the-rise-in-islamophobia-in-britain-a6967546.html |access-date=3 September 2024 |website=The Independent |language=en}}</ref>