Hundreds of historic child sex abuse cases could be re-opened after police forces carried out reviews ordered by the Home Secretary to tackle grooming gangs.
Some 287 closed cases have been identified so far by police to be looked at again by a national task force on child sexual exploitation, Yvette Cooper told a committee of MPs on Tuesday.
In January, the Home Secretary urged chief constables in England and Wales to reopen cold case investigations, as she also announced a rapid review by Baroness Casey to look at the nature and scale of gang-based exploitation across the country.
Ms Cooper has also vowed for at least five local inquiries to take place, including in Oldham, Greater Manchester where work is “under way already”.
The series of announcements to tackle child grooming gangs came as the Government faced pressure over the issue, including criticism from billionaire X owner Elon Musk.
Ms Cooper told the Home Affairs Select Committee half of police forces have reported back to the Home Office after reviewing past investigations.
“As you will know, I have also always said the most important thing is to get perpetrators behind bars and to make sure that they face justice for these horrendous crimes,” she said.
“I did ask all police forces to review historic cases.
“We’ve asked them to review cases that were closed, where no further action was taken and where there are cases, to then work with the police child sexual exploitation task force … which has considerable expertise, to then review those cases and to look to reopen and pursue any new lines of inquiry that have not been properly pursued.”
Of half of the forces who have reported back, she said: “For those forces, 287 historic cases have been identified for review by the police child sexual exploitation task force.”
The move comes after the Independent Inquiry into Child Sexual Abuse (IICSA), led by Professor Alexis Jay, found institutional failings and tens of thousands of victims across England and Wales.
The seven-year probe made 20 recommendations in the final report published in 2022, as it described child sexual abuse as an “epidemic” across the two nations.
The Government had knocked back calls for a national review in favour of locally led inquiries, saying it was focused on implementing recommendations from Prof Jay’s report.
Ms Cooper also told the committee Baroness Casey has asked for a short extension to complete the national audit, before the Government can set out next steps for local inquiries and how they will run.
“Once the Casey review and the Casey audit has reported back to us, we will set out those next steps, both about how we will then expect local inquiries to be taken forward, and also the funding support that we will give,” she said.
It was previously announced a funding pot of £5 million would be available for local authorities to support locally led work on grooming gangs.
