Keith Vaz says child sex ring case ‘not race issue’

Leading MP Keith Vaz has insisted the case of an Asian paedophile gang that exploited dozens of vulnerable white teenagers is not a “race issue”.

Mr Vaz, chairman of the Commons home affairs committee, said the “appalling” offences of the kind carried out by the gang needed to be looked into but it was important not to “stigmatise a whole community”.

He made the remarks after nine men from Rochdale were convicted for their role in a child sex ring.

Police and social workers have been accused of failing to investigate the gang for fear of being perceived as racist, allowing them to prey on up to 50 young white girls.

Assistant Chief Constable Steve Heywood acknowledged that officers could have dealt with the case “better than we did”.

But he denied that the girl’s complaints had been “brushed under the carpet” because officers were reluctant to confront the issue of race.

Martin Narey, former chief executive of children’s charity Barnardo’s, said there was “troubling evidence” that Asians were “overwhelmingly represented” in prosecutions for street grooming and trafficking of girls in towns such as Derby, Leeds, Blackpool, Blackburn, Oldham and Rochdale.

He told BBC Radio 4’s Today programme: “That is not to condemn a whole community, most Asians would absolutely abhor what we have seen in the last few days in the Rochdale trial, and I don’t think this is about white girls.

“It’s sadly because vulnerable girls on the street at night are generally white rather than more strictly-parented Asian girls, but there is a real problem here.”

Mr Narey, who is a former head of the prison service, added however that sex offenders were “overwhelmingly white” and that there was evidence that those guilty of online grooming were “disproportionately white”.

Mr Vaz told Today the offences committed by the gang were “absolutely appalling crimes”.

But he added: “Right at the start of this trial the BNP were outside demonstrating saying that this was a race issue. I do not believe it is a race issue.”

He said his view was backed by the police and children’s experts.

“What we need to do is to have a proper far-reaching, thorough investigation into these crimes and causes of these crimes.

“There are a lot of questions about the way in which organisations that have care of young girls have dealt with them and allowed them to be put into these positions.

“I think we do need to look into this but I think it is quite wrong to stigmatise a whole community.

“This is where it all ends up. It is already extending from ‘Pakistani men’ to ‘Asian men’.”

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