A child sex abuse ring targeted underage teenage girls in Rochdale , Greater Manchester , England. Nine men were convicted of sex trafficking and other offences including rape, trafficking girls for sex and conspiracy to engage in sexual activity with a child in May This resulted in Greater Manchester Police launching Operation Doublet and other operations to investigate further claims of abuse.
As of January a total of 42 men had been convicted resulting in jail sentences totalling years. There have been several reviews and reports written about the Rochdale child sexual abuse cases, including a Home Affairs Select Committee HASC report that was published in The events have also been widely covered in the media and portrayed in a BBC television drama , Three Girls , in In March , Greater Manchester Police apologised for its failure to investigate the child sexual exploitation allegations more thoroughly between and The investigation looked at the conduct of 13 officers between and and served notices of misconduct on seven.
One officer was found to have warranted disciplinary action but was able to retire without any sanction being taken against him. A report on child sex exploitation in Rochdale from to found that there was "compelling evidence" of widespread abuse, and that Greater Manchester Police and Rochdale Council had failed to properly investigate these cases, leaving girls "at the mercy of their abusers". While there were successful prosecutions, the report said that the investigations only "scraped the surface" of what had happened, and that many abusers had gone unpunished.
Twelve men were initially charged with sex trafficking and other offences including: rape, trafficking girls for sex and conspiracy to engage in sexual activity with a child. On 8 May nine men were convicted of whom eight were of British Pakistani origin and one was an Afghan asylum-seeker.
Of the three not convicted, one was cleared of all charges, the jury was unable to reach a verdict in the case of the second, and the third was not present at the trial after fleeing to Pakistan whilst on bail. Two worked for the same taxi firm and another two worked at a takeaway restaurant; some came from the same village in Pakistan and another two men shared a flat. The abuse of minor female children that occurred in and centred around two takeaways in Heywood near Rochdale.
