EXCLUSIVE: Sadiq Khan has faced questions for the first time since the grooming gangs scandal broke.
Sadiq Khan failed three times to apologise to victims of grooming gangs during a tense exchange at the London Assembly. Mr Khan was challenged by Conservative GLA member Susan Hall on the issue.
Referring to a previous session, Ms Hall said: “When I asked if we had grooming gangs in London you dismissed my question by saying you didn’t know what I meant. ‘What does she mean? Chair, what is she talking about?’ I have to tell you, the rape victims knew exactly what I was talking about, and actually so did most other people. So would you like to apologise to all those victims of the rape gangs that actually saw you dismiss this?”
Mr Khan said said he was “thinking about the victims and survivors who have been treated appallingly over many, many years, particularly the northern towns.”
He added: “And what they want is two things. One is support, and it’s important we give them a support I’ll set up shortly some of the support we’ve given to victims of violence and child exploitation.
“But secondly, justice to be done as well, which is incredibly important, and I’ve led efforts to strengthen the protection of children and those women exploited by abuse and exploitation.”
Notably, however, Mr Khan did not offer an apology.
Susan Hall puts Sadiq Khan on the spot (Image: GLA)
Ms Hall persisted, saying: “Would you just like to apologise to them for pretending you didn’t know what these rape gangs were?”
The Mayor replied: “It is really important – we’re talking about incredibly serious and emotive issues – to actually clarify what is meant when it comes to grooming gangs.”
Ms Hall said: “You’re not doing yourself any favours here. Everybody knows what I was talking about, except you, it would appear, and since you’re the Police and Crime Commission, that’s very embarrassing for you.
“I didn’t stop asking questions. I asked your deputy mayor, and never, ever got an answer, of course, from her. In the meantime, Yvette Cooper was asking all police forces in Britain to identify cases.
Sir Mark Rowley was also at the GLA (Image: GLA)
“But on June 19, you said: ‘I choose my words carefully. There are no reported cases, and also no indication of the grooming gangs that she is concerned about.'”
Mr Khan insisted: “It’s because of my concern about people being exploited sexually that the Met Police Service embedded all the recommendations made by HMI.
“It has a child-first approach. We’ve had tens of thousands of officers and staff trained on this very issue.”
Ms Hall hit back: “You’re not doing very well on this though are you?
“You haven’t apologised yet, unless I’ve missed that, on the first of July, you tell the London Assembly, none of the cases mentioned by Cooper are in London.”
Sadiq Khan’s appearance at the London Assembly comes after weeks of scrutiny regarding grooming gangs in the capital. This morning, it was revealed that former Prime Minister Boris Johnson raised concerns about a group in Hillingdon linked to serial killer Levi Bellfield whilst he was in 10 Downing Street.
A survivor of the alleged gang, which was outed in a 2018 council report, told the Express on the weekend they were “sick of screaming and shouting about it and nothing happening.”
Crystalla, a singer/songwriter who claims to have seen other girls being groomed, also criticised Sadiq Khan and Mark Rowley for what she saw as their previous denial of the problem.
“I’m baffled as to how Sadiq Khan and Mark Rowley could have stood up there and said London didn’t have grooming gangs when they’ve had this report about Levi Bellfield’s Hillingdon gang for seven years. How could they say it? Why?” she added.
The Hillingdon case was one of 24 examples identified by an Express and MyLondon investigation, which revealed the scale of the capital’s grooming gang crisis. It followed a previous expose published in October that found the Mayor of Londonread reports of young girls being raped in hotels by groups of men while publicly claiming there were “no reports” or “indications” of grooming gangs in the capital.
Following the publication of that investigation, the Metropolitan Police said it would review 9,000 potential grooming gang cases.
