Seven members of a Rochdale grooming gang have been found guilty of charges including rape and indecency with a child.
The men were convicted at Manchester Minshull Street Crown Court of a total of 50 offences that occurred between 2001 and 2006.
The conviction follows a four-month long trial which included testimony from two survivors of child sexual exploitation (CSE) who were ‘abused, degraded, and discarded’, according to Greater Manchester Police.
The convictions were part of Operation Lytton – an investigation by the Greater Manchester Police into non-recent CSE in Rochdale, supported by Rochdale Borough Council.
In 2012 Rochdale Borough Council apologised for the failings that allowed young girls to be abused and took disciplinary action against 12 staff.
Sharon Hubber, Rochdale Borough Council's director of children's services, said: ‘We know that these convictions are unlikely to erase the memories of the abuse these women were subjected to as children, but we hope they do bring some form of closure.
‘We know that more could and should have been done by the people who were working here at the time, and for that we are truly sorry.’
Prime Minister Keir Starmer has announced he will launch a statutory inquiry into the grooming gangs scandal.
For more on this topic, check out: Getting prepared for local child sexual exploitation inquiries.
