However, after a MyLondon investigation uncovered evidence of a Metropolitan Police probe leader of the council, Cllr Shantanu Rajawat, told a regular public meeting it had not disclosed the case because of the impact the news might have on the community.

“[In regards to] child exploitation and grooming gangs, [we] as an administration take it very seriously,” he said.

“[But] I would urge a slight amount of caution, just out of respect, because we don’t want to create panic.

“A lot of the cases that are reported are dealt with by a specialist team within the Met.

“The case mentioned wasn’t just Hounslow, it was across a number of boroughs, and it’s for the Met to take forward.

“We have to strike that balance between absolutely being serious about it, providing the mechanisms to report cases and concerns, without creating panic.

He added that “behind the scenes” there was “a lot of work going on” and that intelligence was being “gathered and analysed.”

Hounslow initially told MyLondon in response to a February Freedom of Information Request that it was aware of “one historic case, reported this year,” “one current grooming gang,” and ” one report of a sexual grooming gang that was investigated by the police in Hounslow and other boroughs between 2021 – 2024.”

However, when asked by the title to clarify how many cases this referred to, the council took three days to tell MyLondon the FOI response was false and “should not be taken to mean that there was a grooming gang in Hounslow.”

The local authority said the information it disclosed related to an “ongoing investigation in relation to a single Hounslow child.

“That investigation was subsequently closed and we understand that no criminal charges were brought. Our September 2025 FOI response refers to this closed investigation,” it added.

MyLondon had approached every single borough about sexual grooming gangs and found that  most “refused to answer, citing the cost of performing manual checks on files, due to the way information is recorded, or because it is not held.”

Mayor of London Sadiq Khan has repeatedly refused to answer questions about the scale of the capital’s problem with grooming gangs when grilled by Conservative London Assembly Members.

In June, Khan claimed in a written response that there were “no reported cases or indication of these sorts of grooming gangs” to Tory AM Susan Hall in the city.

Responding to MyLondon’s findings, a spokesperson for the mayor of London said: “The Mayor is committed to doing everything in his power to build a safer London for everyone and has always been clear that all violence against women and girls must be treated with the utmost urgency – both by our police and society as a whole.”

A Met Police spokesperson added: “Our data shows the most prevalent threat to children and young people in London is criminal exploitation, particularly recruitment into county lines gangs, however we are not complacent to other types of exploitation such as offending by grooming gangs.

“We also accept this type of crime often goes under-reported and we are working to improve the quality of data we hold to ensure it is sufficiently comprehensive to enable us to make a definitive assessment about the issue.

“While this work takes place our priority remains on supporting victims and investigating alleged offences by following the facts without fear or favour.”

Last week, retired Metropolitan Police detective Jon Wedger revealed that he’d uncovered evidence of sexual abuse in the North London borough of Haringey on an “industrial-scale” and said mayor Sadiq Khan should be removed from office over his refusal to acknowledge the problem.