What is Starmer's record on prosecuting grooming gangs?

Multi-billionaire Elon Musk has accused Prime Minister Sir Keir Starmer of being "deeply complicit successful the wide rapes successful speech for votes".

Mr Musk has published a bid of posts connected X suggesting Starmer failed to woody with the grooming pack ungraded portion caput of the Crown Prosecution Service (CPS) betwixt 2008 and 2013.

In response, Starmer has accused critics of "spreading lies and misinformation" and claims helium tackled prosecutions "head on".

The enactment betwixt Mr Musk and Starmer centres astir a bid of high-profile cases wherever groups of men - chiefly of Pakistani descent - were convicted of sexually abusing and raping predominantly young achromatic girls astir the UK.

In 2012 The Times paper investigated Rotherham grooming gangs, which led to a large inquiry.

At slightest 1,400 children were subjected to appalling intersexual exploitation successful Rotherham betwixt 1997 and 2013, according to a 2014 study written by Prof Alexis Jay.

The study made headlines successful the UK and astir the satellite and led to large debates successful Parliament.

Similar scandals besides occurred successful different towns, including Oldham, Oxford, Rochdale and Telford, leading to a nationalist enquiry into kid intersexual abuse, which was besides by Prof Jay.

The cases sparked investigations into alleged failures to decently code the crimes and enactment victims.

The CPS, an autarkic body, prosecutes transgression cases successful England and Wales.

After the constabulary analyse crimes and contiguous their findings, the CPS decides whether to prosecute based connected grounds and nationalist interest.

Starmer was appointed caput of the CPS successful 2008 and held the relation for 5 years. He became an MP successful 2015.

The CPS was criticised for a determination not to proceed with a prosecution successful Rochdale connected the ground that it viewed the main unfortunate arsenic "unreliable" pursuing an probe betwixt August 2008 and August 2009.

That determination was overturned aboriginal by Nazir Afzal successful 2011 aft being appointed by Starmer arsenic the CPS main authoritative for north-west England.

Speaking to BBC Verify, Mr Afzal said that the presumption of prosecutors not to proceed to proceedings astatine the clip was "if the constabulary aren't blessed that she volition springiness credible grounds past we're not blessed either".

He went connected to accidental that helium had reviewed and reversed the determination arsenic "I believed what she [the victim] was saying".

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But this is not the lone lawsuit wherever the CPS has faced criticism.

Prof Jay's study into the Rotherham cases said the constabulary would often mention the CPS arsenic being unwilling to prosecute alleged perpetrators, but they said that it had been "much much helpful" aboriginal on.

A 2013 study from the Home Affairs Committee said that "unlike galore different authoritative agencies implicated successful this issue", the CPS had "readily admitted that victims had been fto down by them and person attempted some to observe the origin of this systematic nonaccomplishment and to amended the mode things are done truthful arsenic to debar a repetition of specified events".

It added: "Mr Starmer has striven to amended the attraction of victims of intersexual battle wrong the transgression justness strategy passim his word arsenic Director of Public Prosecution."

Maggie Oliver, a erstwhile Manchester detective who present campaigns for victims of kid enactment abuse, told BBC Verify that the CPS "bear a large woody of work for the failures astir this issue", including bringing inadequate charges and blaming victims.

She added that portion determination was present overmuch much consciousness astir the issue, "in my instauration we inactive spot idiosyncratic cases subjected to monolithic failures successful the systems".

We person been incapable to find immoderate nonstop disapproval of Starmer personally successful immoderate of the reports connected the scandal, nor tin we place immoderate suggestions that helium himself made immoderate decisions not to prosecute.

The premier curate has robustly defended his grounds arsenic the erstwhile caput of the CPS, telling journalists he:

• Changed the prosecution attack to "challenge myths and stereotypes" that had stopped victims from being heard
• Left bureau erstwhile the CPS had the highest fig of kid enactment maltreatment prosecutions connected record
• Reopened cases that had been closed
• Brought the archetypal prosecution of an Asian grooming gang

It is close that Starmer revised the guidance connected kid intersexual exploitation successful 2013 to marque aboriginal prosecutions easier.

Previously, victims whitethorn not person been viewed arsenic credible if they had not complained immediately, if they had utilized drugs oregon intoxicant oregon if they had dressed oregon acted successful peculiar ways.

On kid intersexual maltreatment prosecutions, we recovered CPS figures dating backmost to 2007 but the aboriginal years are present lone connected archived web pages - arsenic they are nary longer connected the CPS website.

They amusement that the "number of prosecutions for kid intersexual maltreatment flagged cases" did emergence from that twelvemonth to scope 4,794 successful April 2010 to March 2011 - a highest for Starmer's clip successful complaint of the CPS.

That full was subsequently surpassed - determination were astir 7,200 prosecutions successful 2016-2017.

BBC Verify has asked Downing Street for much item connected the information down the premier minister's claim.

On reopening cases, Mr Afzal said that the instauration of a nationalist sheet to revisit cases nether Starmer had been a success.

"That sheet besides included - for the clip ever - outer representatives. It revisited dozens of cases that were past restarted," helium said.

In defending his record, Starmer referred lone to the wide class of kid enactment maltreatment prosecution data.

When it comes to kid grooming gangs, determination is nary azygous wide information acceptable due to the fact that nary circumstantial offence exists.

Instead, offenders tin beryllium prosecuted for causing oregon facilitating intersexual exploitation, oregon for committing circumstantial offences specified arsenic rape and indecent assault.

Information connected kid grooming-related prosecutions look successful Prof Jay's 2022 report into kid intersexual exploitation by organised networks - a government-commissioned study into organization kid maltreatment failings published successful 2022.

The study mentions respective "significant prosecutions" betwixt 2010 and 2014, including 35 convictions which took spot portion Starmer was DPP:

• November 2010 - 5 men convicted successful Rotherham
• November 2010 - 11 men convicted successful Derbyshire
• 2008-2010 - 3 men convicted successful Cornwall
• May 2012 - 9 men from Rochdale and Oldham convicted
• June 2013 - 7 men from Oxford convicted

A Times report from 2011 identified 17 grooming pack prosecutions since 1997.

It said 14 of them took spot during the erstwhile 3 years and progressive the on-street grooming of girls aged 11 to 16 by groups of men crossed 13 towns and cities.

A study by the National Police Chiefs' Council past twelvemonth concluded that 5% of kid intersexual maltreatment and exploitation crimes were group-based - but much circumstantial figures weren't disclosed.

BBC Verify has sent a state of accusation petition to the CPS asking for a yearly breakdown of prosecutions for kid grooming related offences.

We person besides contacted the Ministry of Justice and the Home Office.

Additional reporting by Lucy Gilder and Gerry Georgieva