Labour frontbencher: people are not raising potential cases of child abuse as they fear being labelled racist

People are not raising potential cases of child abuse as they fear beinglabelled racist, according to a Labour frontbencher.

Shadow women and equalities secretary Sarah Champion said there is a need to acknowledge the "majority of perpetrators have been British-Pakistani" in the English towns and cities where grooming gangs have targeted girls.

The Labour MP for Rotherham, who called for more Government research, added that the lack of action is because people are "more afraid to be called a racist than they are afraid to be wrong about calling out child abuse".

Operation Shelter

It was revealed on Wednesday that 18 people have been convicted after a massive operation by Northumbria Police looking at the abuse and sexual exploitation of children and vulnerable young women girls in Newcastle’s West End.

The Police investigation, named Operation Shelter, focussed on offences by sex gangs operating in Newcastle’s West End. It came under the umbrella of Operation Sanctuary which dealt with cases in the wider Northumbria Police force area.

The 17 men and one woman were involved in supplying the girls with drink and drugs and then sexually abusing some of them.

Former Crown Prosecution Service chief Lord Macdonald of River Glaven also admitted cases of Asian grooming gangs targeting white girls were not previously examined as "rigorously as they might have been".

He believes this is no longer the case, with recent successful prosecutionsshowing the "so-called taboos" no longer exist, and called on all communities to recognise it is a "profoundly racist crime".

The remarks emerged after 18 people were convicted of or admitted offences in a series of trials related to child sexual exploitation in Newcastle.

Newcastle joins a growing list of English towns and cities where sex rings have been exposed, including in Rotherham and Rochdale.