q6sqk5v”>here's a letter in today's Times from former judge Peter Ross:
I read with dismay the suggestion that the Independent Inquiry into Child Sexual Abuse (IICSA) was not to examine the “grooming” cases that occurred in Oxford and other cities (“Child abuse inquiry ‘scared of racist tag’ ”, News, Oct 24).
I tried the last three cases at Oxford crown court. All defendants and those in Rotherham and Rochdale were of similar ethnic and religious backgrounds. Neither I nor my colleagues made reference to this when sentencing. My working life within the criminal justice system and 16 years as a circuit judge did not qualify me to conclude how such depraved and destructive criminality occurred. The IICSA, though, has such expertise available to it.
The IICSA’s approach is fundamentally flawed: akin to seeking to identify why fatal accidents occur on one stretch of road by examination of roads where no such accidents occurred. Thames Valley police and Oxfordshire social services learnt lessons: the excellent “Kingfisher team” was set up to investigate current cases involving vulnerable children. Their work would be aided immeasurably by qualified analysis of these cases. The IICSA is uniquely equipped to do this, representing a once in a lifetime opportunity; otherwise many further victims will be exposed to such offending and communities unfairly labelled.
For the IICSA to turn a blind eye to these cases is an avoidance of responsibility.
That's putting it mildly.
Ross retired recently, citing the emotional toll of trying a series of horrifying child grooming gang cases in Oxford as a major contributory factor:
"I decided I had had enough, because of their sheer size and because one listens not just to the accounts of what happened, awful though they are, but you also see the terrible consequences upon the lives of the young women who have been the victims.
"Their lives are destroyed and that's quite distressing to observe at close quarters."
He added: "I challenge anyone to be left untouched by some of the horrifying stories you listen to."
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