Britain has justice all backwards.
Britain has justice all backwards.
W e already know that the authorities in England have deliberately avoided prosecuting members of the “grooming gangs” who horrifically exploit young girls, in part because identifying the trend of largely white victims and largely Pakistani perpetrators might have motivated accusations of racism and “Islamophobia.” But something equally sinister occurs in the rare cases that the authorities do pursue criminal charges: The abusers are regularly handed mild sentences, and they might not even serve them fully. A disturbing portrait of England emerges. The authorities neglect their responsibilities because of fears of racism accusations, thereby informally pardoning the pimps who exhibit a clear racial motive by targeting white girls — and yet, separately, the judiciary hands out prison time to individuals whose speech is deemed “racist.”
The recent outrage about the “grooming gangs,” more accurately dubbed “child-prostitution rings,” has brought attention to the stunning lack of prosecution. It is well documented that the authorities looked away when informed of the ghastly abuse — not because the officers lacked the resources to pursue justice but because they worried about facing allegations of “racism.” British journalist Andrew Norfolk released material from hundreds of documents that showed that the authorities in Rotherham knew that thousands of child-sexual-exploitation instances occurred locally each year but cared more about maintaining the impression of cross-cultural cohesion: “There are sensitivities of ethnicity with potential to endanger the harmony of community relationships. Great care will be taken in drafting . . . this report to ensure that its findings embrace Rotherham’s qualities of diversity. It is imperative that suggestions of a wider cultural phenomenon are avoided,” read one document. The 2014 “Jay Report” confirmed Norfolk’s reporting, stating that “several staff described their nervousness about identifying the ethnic origins of perpetrators for fear of being thought racist; others remembered clear direction from their managers not to do so.” Such sentiment was shared by the broader public, too. Julie Bindel, a British feminist, had extensive evidence documenting the gangs, although she could not publish an article until 2007 because “many of the members of grooming gangs were of Pakistani origin” and “some editors feared an accusation of racism.” And so both government agents and swaths of civilians cared more about preserving the optics of multiculturalism than penalizing the pimps or aiding the young victims who have been mentally, physically, and emotionally abused.
But equally infuriating is the suspiciously low jail time that is given in the rare cases that sentencing actually occurs. Consider, as previously noted in National Review, that Ramin Bari was found guilty on four counts of rape but sentenced to only nine years. Faisal Khan was found guilty of three counts of sexual activity with a child and providing cannabis to a teenage girl; he was sentenced to four years and ten months in 2023. In 2018, Mohammed Imran Ibrar of the Huddersfield gang was found guilty of trafficking for sexual exploitation and assault occasioning actual bodily harm. During the trial, it emerged that he battered one victim and dumped her on a moor “covered in blood” after she refused to perform a sexual act. Ibrar was sentenced to three years. He was convicted again in 2023, that time for sexual assault and one rape offense, and was sentenced to five years.
Despite the short sentences, some abusers don’t even serve them in full. Abdul Rauf was sentenced to serve six years behind bars for trafficking and conspiracy. According to the judge’s remarks, there were between ten and 20 occasions when he drove a 15-year-old girl in his taxi to an apartment, where he and other men “had sex” with her. But he only served two and a half years. He was stripped of citizenship and ordered to return to Pakistan — but today, he still lives and works in the same English city where he trafficked. Banaras Hussain admitted to ten charges — including rape and indecent assault, with some of his victims being just eleven years old. (Like most other cases, the authorities permitted his abuse: The Daily Mail reported that police found a victim performing a sex act on Hussain, but the officers drove off.) He was sentenced to 19 years behind bars, but he was released after just nine years. According to the BBC, Hussain (along with his two brothers, a family business of sorts) had “groomed and raped children for nearly 20 years.” So Hussain spent more time abusing children than he did behind bars.
To American ears, these sentences seem suspiciously weak. (In the United States, the federal mandatory minimum for sex trafficking a minor is ten years.) In fact, the sentences are infuriating when compared with the punishments imposed for “racist” or “offensive” comments, including assertions about the gangs themselves. Jordan Plain was sentenced to eight months behind bars last year because, at a protest, he made “monkey gestures” toward counter-protesters (some of whom were minorities) and mockingly imitated Muslim prayer gestures. In 2024, Derek Heggie was sentenced to nearly a year for “grossly offensive” comments made in two YouTube videos, such as stating that “young white girls are being raped by these grooming gangs that worship the Prophet Muhammad.” David Jordan was sentenced to over two years behind bars because he shouted “f***ing paedos” during a protest outside a hotel that housed migrants, and because he told police officers to “f*** off.” Peter Lynch was sentenced to two years and eight months in 2024 because he “waved conspiracy theory placards” and “screamed abuse at police” outside of a hotel housing asylum seekers in Rotherham; Lynch shouted “You are protecting people who are killing our kids and raping them” at officers.
Peter Lynch was condemned to spend more time behind bars for shouting “You are protecting people who are killing our kids and raping them” at police than Abdul Rauf actually served for repeatedly trafficking a teenage girl. England has effectively adopted the following standard: South Asian men get a slap on the wrist for operating gangs that exploit young white girls, but anyone else might spend more time in jail for tweeting about who is doing it.