Towns across the north are in 'denial' about the extent and impact of historic child sexual abuse, a former chief crown prosecutor has claimed. Nazir Afzal, who worked tirelessly to bring grooming gangs in Rochdale to justice, said a number of local authorities had point blank refused to launch reviews into child sexual exploitation in their areas - with council bosses allegedly saying 'we've moved on'.
Mr Afzal, who is now Chancellor at the University of Manchester, said a perceived culture of denial at many town halls needs to be tackled. Speaking to the Northern Agenda podcast, he said: "I do have a sense of denial around the country. I've approached some towns for example, and said 'why aren't you carrying out a look into what's going on or had gone on in your areas?' and they said, 'we've moved on'.
"I'm afraid they may have moved on, but the children who were victims have never moved on and can't move on. So we've got to tackle that issue of denial."
