Police took foetus to test for DNA without permission of a Rochdale grooming survivor
A damning report into the treatment of victims of grooming in Rochdale has revealed that police took an aborted foetus from a survivor without permission, to test it for DNA.
The damning 173-page review covers 2004 to 2013 and sets out multiple failed investigations by Greater Manchester Police (GMP) and apparent local authority indifference to the plight of hundreds of youngsters, mainly white girls from poor backgrounds, all identified as potential victims of abuse in Rochdale by Asian men.
The report, commissioned by Metro Mayor Andy Burnham, revealed that police examined the foetus, searching for a DNA match with a possible suspect. However, no match was found and no immediate action was taken.
The 13-year-old has previously had a termination at Rochdale Hospital in March 2009. Neither her or her mother were told by investigators that police would be keeping the foetus.
It was kept in storage in a freezer at a police station, before being found later during a 'routine property review'.
The report authors said: "We regard it as highly unacceptable that Child 44 and/or her parents were not informed of the retention and why GMP required it. Child 44 did not become aware of this information until 2011 when she was told by Detective Constable Oliver during Operation Span."
Child 44, as she's known in the report was spoken to as part of the review.
She said: “After the trial [a GMP officer] came to ask if I wanted a funeral for the baby.
"It was an abortion, I didn’t want it so I told them to get rid of it, and they robbed it. They should never have robbed it, they should’ve asked permission, even though I was a minor they should’ve gone through my mum they shouldn’t have gone in and took it either way.”
The Human Tissue Authority codes of practice came into force in July 2006, and stipulate that it is not an offence to retain human tissue for a DNA examination if it is for a criminal investigation.
Malcom Newsam, a renowned childcare expert, authored the report with Gary Ridgeway, a former detective superintendent, following allegations by whistleblowers Sara Rowbotham and Maggie Oliver in a BBC TV documentary The Betrayed Girls, which aired in 2017.
The report identifies 96 men still deemed a potential risk to children, but this is “only a proportion” of the numbers involved in the abuse.
The report concludes the scale of abuse in Rochdale was known about by senior and middle managers in the police and children’s social care, but the problem was not given “sufficient priority”.
“We regard this as a lamentable strategic failure by senior leaders in GMP and Rochdale Council,” the report continues. It said the failure to prioritise, detect, disrupt or prosecute “should firmly be laid at the door of the senior officers in GMP throughout this period.”
Greater Manchester Police Chief Constable Stephen Watson said: “It remains to be a matter of profound regret that victims of child sexual exploitation in Rochdale in the early 2000s were failed by Greater Manchester Police – to them, I apologise. Today, I also recognise the plight of Maggie Oliver and Sara Rowbotham - who advocated for victims and survivors when no one else did, and ultimately enabled the review and publication of this report.
“Whilst the report rightfully vindicates Maggie and Sara and reinforces the importance of the changes we have already made – many with Maggie’s support, it remains to be said that the current prevention of and response to child sexual exploitation in Rochdale and across Greater Manchester has been overhauled since the early 2000s to ensure that victims and survivors are cared for and receive the expected level of service.
“With Rochdale’s Complex Safeguarding Hub and the force’s Child Sexual Exploitation Major Investigation Team now boasting 120 police officers and staff, following a multi-million-pound investment, we have data to assure ourselves and communities that we have and are making progress. Since nine men were convicted following Operation Span in 2012, there have been a further 135 arrests, 432 charges, and 32 convictions.
“This data should also warn perpetrators of child sexual exploitation that, regardless of the passage of time, GMP will pursue you until you face justice.
“The partnership will, of course, now spend time digesting the contents of the report to ensure the partnership has not missed any opportunities to improve.”
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