Rochdale grooming boss worked as 'welfare officer' at Oldham Council

Rochdale grooming gang boss – known as ‘Daddy’ – worked as ‘welfare officer’ at Oldham Council: Damning report reveals how police failed to flag his arrest to his employers leaving ‘other children exposed to tragic abuse’

• Damning report revealed groom gang leader ‘Daddy’ was employed by council
• The review also says police and councils failed a number of Oldham children
• Report insisted there had not been an effort to cover up the problem in the area
• But it said Oldham Council and Greater Manchester Police should apologise

The notorious ringleader of a grooming gang portrayed in the BBC’s Three Girls series was employed as a welfare rights officer by Oldham Council, a major report has revealed. 

Shabir Ahmed, who led the sexual abuse ring in Rochdale and was nicknamed ‘Daddy’, was seconded to the Oldham Pakistani Community Centre during his time at the local authority.

Ahmed, identified only as ‘Offender A’ in the report, is now serving a 22-year jail sentence.

He was a sex predator and former taxi driver, and was described as the ‘ringleader’ of the nine-strong group found guilty of exploiting girls as young as 13 at Tasty Bites and another takeaway in Heywood from 2007.

Despite multiple concerns being raised about him and his arrest for the sexual assault of children, police failed to tell his employers.

‘If this had happened, it may have potentially avoided the tragic abuse of other children…’ the report states, citing ‘serious multiple failures’ by both GMP and the local authority.

Welfare rights officers are responsible for helping people with what benefits and allowances they are able to get. 

The report looked into the alleged grooming of children in council homes, shisha bars and by taxi drivers in the town and concluded there was no evidence of a cover up or ‘widespread’ child sex abuse in those settings.  

Report also details how Shabir Ahmed, the ring-leader of a notorious grooming gang in Rochdale, was employed by Oldham Council as a welfare rights officer

Amber, Ruby and Lorna Bowen in the second episode of the drama which airs on BBC One at 9pm on Wednesday

But the leader of Oldham Council apologised to victims of child sexual exploitation in the town – after the review said some had not been protected from grooming.

Cllr Amanda Chadderton said she would be writing to all the victims in the report and would be happy to meet them personally.

It looked into the alleged grooming of children in council homes, shisha bars and by taxi drivers in the town and concluded there was no evidence of a cover up or ‘widespread’ child sex abuse in those settings.

Despite ‘legitimate concerns’ of police and the council in Oldham of the far right capitalising on the issue of grooming by predominantly Pakistani men, the authorities in the town, which suffered race riots in 2001, did not shy away from tackling the issue, the report said.

But the authorities did fail some children, notably citing the case of one girl identified only as ‘Sophie’, who was abused aged just 12, after ‘significant opportunities missed’ to protect her.

She went to Oldham police station to report being raped by an Asian man in October 2006.

She was told to come back when she was ‘not drunk’ and was instead taken from the police station in a car and she was then raped in the vehicle, then taken to a house and raped multiple times by five different men.

Both Oldham Council and Greater Manchester Police (GMP) should apologise for their failings, the report concluded, after being ‘more concerned about covering up their failures’ than acknowledging they failed to take action 

The report on Oldham, pictured, follows an earlier damning report, centred on grooming gangs in Manchester

Cllr Amanda Chadderton at the press conference on the Oldham CSE report saying sorry

Cllr Chadderton said of Sophie: ‘I will never pretend to be able to understand fully what she went through, but it’s clear that the council and the police failed in our duty of care towards her – both as a child, and the subsequent responses to her as an adult. For that, I am truly sorry.

‘It is clear that at the time, the police and the local authority did not understand enough about this horrendous crime and how best to support and protect its victims.

‘Much has changed since then. We’ve learned from similar reports and reviews from around the country. From changes to national guidelines and from best practice – and the way we deal with victims of this terrible abuse is now completely different.’

The 202-page report is authored by Malcolm Newsam, a renowned child care expert, and Gary Ridgeway, a former detective superintendent with Cambridgeshire Police.

Maggie Oliver, the former GMP detective who turned whistleblower (second left) in April

The report on Oldham follows an earlier damning report, centred on grooming gangs in Manchester, which said victims had been failed by police and local authorities in the city.

Maggie Oliver, the former GMP detective who turned whistleblower, said: ‘Another day, yet another report about the failures of a police force to protect the most vulnerable in our society, even when there is irrefutable evidence to prosecute offenders and safeguard children.

‘This report yet again clearly evidences catastrophic failings by the force and their repeated attempts to cover up and hide these failings both from the victims and from the public they serve, and that is extremely worrying.’

Andy Burnham, Mayor of Greater Manchester, said: ‘This report continues the process of shining a spotlight on past failures in Greater Manchester.

‘There were serious failings and victims were let down, particularly Sophie.

‘Whilst there was no evidence of a cover-up, we must not flinch from acknowledging shortcomings.’

A criminal investigation has been reopened in Manchester and police watchdogs called in to investigate former senior GMP officers following the grooming report on the city published in January 2020. Both probes are still ongoing.

Mr Burnham, chief constable of GMP Stephen Watson and the report authors will hold a press conference later today on publication of the report.

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