it started with a journalist at the times called andrew norfolk. he first encountered the grooming gangsin first encountered the grooming gangs in 2003, when labour mp ann cryer revealed local concerns about asian men targeting teenage girls outside school gates. he admitted later that a story about ethnic minorities targeting white girls felt like a far right fantasy. liberal guilt kicked in, so he wrote one story and dropped it. but over the years, he kept encountering similar stories. his conscience nagged him, and in 2010, he began to research court records. what he found was a pattern. abusers would meet girls in public places. they would give them gifts or take them out on joyrides until they felt like the man was their boyfriend. then they'd give them alcohol or drugs and rape them. often they trafficked the girls between their family and friends to be raped by them too. the girls were mostly white, the abusers mainly pakistani. when andrew norfolk approached the authorities, they all refused to speak to him. finally, he found a group who wo

but this morning we've also heard from the former chief reporter of the times newspaper, andrew norfolke man who really broke this scandal nationwide in 2011. he said that we still don't understand the origins of this crisis. he also said that alexis jay's report shied away from assessing many of those causes. he said that many people still fear being called islamophobic for getting involved in this sort of discussion, and that comes after the prime minister, sir keir starmer, on monday said that people calling for a national pubuc people calling for a national public inquiry were jumping on the bandwagon and the poison of the bandwagon and the poison of the far right. another government intervention that has caused so much anger. also, as jess phillips, the safeguarding minister, has defended the government last night, saying that their decision to implement new 1526 00:10:21,856 --

times newspaper ran a series of articles byjournalist andrew— a series of articles byjournalist andrew norfolkion and gangs, the role of ethnicity— exploitation and gangs, the role of ethnicity in those gangs, and that started _ ethnicity in those gangs, and that started the ball rolling, if you like. — started the ball rolling, if you like. in — started the ball rolling, if you like, in terms of attention at a nationai— like, in terms of attention at a national level. the 2014 jay report then looks — national level. the 2014 jay report then looks specifically at claims of exploitation in rotherham between 1997 in _ exploitation in rotherham between 1997 in 2013. the statistic it came up 1997 in 2013. the statistic it came up with— 1997 in 2013. the statistic it came up with is— 1997 in 2013. the statistic it came up with is shocking more than 1400 chiidren— up with is shocking more than 1400 children had been exploited in that period _ children had been exploited in that period of— children had been exploited in that period of time. that led to national headlines— period of time. that led to