UK Grooming Gang Inquiry Begins with Bradford, Oldham, and London, Putting Sadiq Khan's Denials Under Scrutiny

The government's statutory inquiry into grooming gang abuse has moved from setup to active investigation. On Wednesday, June 24, the inquiry led by former Children's Commissioner for England Baroness Anne Longfield CBE announced it will open with three locations: Bradford, Oldham, and London.

Why These Three Areas

Bradford and Oldham have been linked to grooming gang cases for years. Neither city is a surprise on this list. London is a different matter.

London Mayor Sadiq Khan has maintained publicly that his city does not have a grooming gang problem. Metropolitan Police Commissioner Sir Mark Rowley initially told the public that Scotland Yard had "not seen" such groups operating in the capital. Rowley later walked that back, acknowledging the original claim was unlikely to be accurate, according to Breitbart's reporting on the inquiry announcement.

An Express newspaper investigation conducted last year identified at least six criminal cases in London with characteristics consistent with grooming gang activity, including an incident involving a 15-year-old girl who was given drugs and alcohol before being raped by multiple men at a London hotel.

The inquiry itself stated Wednesday that London has one of the highest rates of child sexual exploitation in Britain, per reporting in the Times of London. Investigators acknowledged that London presents a complex challenge because its metropolitan area overlaps with many smaller towns and connects to networks across the country.

"A London investigation will help the inquiry understand how grooming gangs were identified and responded to across multiple organisations and overlapping local, regional, and national systems and where children were not protected," the inquiry said, according to the Times of London.

What the Statutory Powers Mean

This inquiry carries tools that past reviews did not have. Statutory powers mean Baroness Longfield can compel witnesses to testify and force the release of documents from government agencies, police departments, social services, and local councils. The inquiry will also examine whether recommendations from past reviews in Oxford and Rotherham were actually implemented, or whether they were shelved once public attention moved on.

The Khan Position and Its Limits

The strongest case for Khan's prior denials is straightforward. His defenders argue he was describing the Metropolitan Police's documented caseload at the time, not dismissing the possibility of abuse. Commissioner Rowley's initial statement may have reflected a genuine, if mistaken, read of how London's decentralized, multi-borough structure masks patterns that are more visible in smaller cities.

That defense gets harder to sustain given Rowley's own subsequent admission and the Express newspaper's documented cases. An inquiry with statutory compulsion will be able to test whether London's bureaucratic complexity was a genuine investigative obstacle or whether it also served as institutional cover.

The Political Context

Prime Minister Keir Starmer initially framed calls for a statutory inquiry as demands from the "far right." He changed course after the Baroness Louise Casey report, published in June 2025, established documented evidence that Pakistani Muslim men were significantly overrepresented in grooming gang offending and that local officials including police, social workers, and school staff had ignored victims out of fear of appearing racist.

Fiona Goddard, a survivor of a Pakistani Muslim grooming gang in Bradford who quit the inquiry's victims panel last year over concerns it was elevating police and social workers to leadership positions, said on Wednesday: "It's been a long road, but we are here finally."

The Breitbart report on Wednesday's announcement frames the inquiry primarily through the lens of Khan's political exposure, which reflects that outlet's editorial priorities.

What Comes Next

The inquiry has not yet published a timetable for how long the initial three investigations will take before expanding to other areas.

The unresolved question with the most direct consequence is whether the London investigation produces documentary evidence that contradicts Khan's public statements, and if so, what accountability mechanism the inquiry has to act on that finding beyond publishing it in a report.