An independent report into group-based child sexual exploitation has claimed that organised grooming networks operated in at least 149 local authority areas across the United Kingdom, raising fresh questions about the true scale of the abuse and whether it was treated for too long as a series of isolated scandals rather than a national problem.
The findings were published by the non-statutory Rape Gang Inquiry, a separate initiative established by campaigners and parliamentarians. Its executive summary argues that organised abuse networks operated across a far wider geographical area than previously acknowledged, with victims allegedly trafficked between towns and cities over several decades.
