‘Turning away again!’ Maggie Oliver accuses Keir Starmer of neglecting grooming gang victims
Grooming gangs whistleblower Maggie Oliver has accused Labour leader Sir Keir Starmer of “turning away again” from addressing the issue of child sexual exploitation.
Speaking on GB News, the former Greater Manchester Police detective criticised Starmer’s record both as Director of Public Prosecutions and in his current role.
“I see Keir Starmer turning away again. I’m not saying he is the only one, we have had a whole army of public figures who have failed in their public duty to prosecute child abusers,” Oliver said.
She argued that “using fear of racial tension as a reason not to prosecute is not good enough”.
Oliver pointed to specific actions during Starmer’s time as Director of Public Prosecutions in 2008.
“A circular was sent out to all crown prosecutors and police forces telling them this was a well known problem,” she told GB News.
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She highlighted the victims were “young, white children being groomed or raped on a daily basis” as young as 12 or 13 years old.
“The law in our country says you cannot have sex with a 12-year-old child. If the Director of Public Prosecutions is instructing police forces not to prosecute, I say there is no higher authority in the land,” Oliver stated.
“We don’t cherry pick which rapist we prosecute. I don’t care if it’s a priest, Jeffrey Epstein or Harvey Weinstein, the law should be equal.”
Labour’s safeguarding minister Jess Phillips has rejected requests for the Home Office to lead a public inquiry into child sexual exploitation in Oldham.
Phillips stated it should be for the local council to commission its own inquiry, following the approach taken in Rotherham and Telford.
Meanwhile, Conservative leader Kemi Badenoch has called a full national inquiry into organised grooming gangs “long overdue.”
Conservative shadow ministers Chris Philp and Alicia Kearns have written to the Home Secretary demanding a “time-limited, national statutory Public Inquiry into grooming and rape gangs.”
Their letter also calls for mandatory deportation of all foreign nationals convicted of grooming and rape offences.
Oliver has criticised previous inquiries into grooming gangs, saying they have led “absolutely nowhere” and “wasted” millions of pounds.
Writing on social media platform X, she called for “totally independent people who will ensure it’s not just another attempt to delay and hide the truth.”
The whistleblower demanded “criminal accountability for all our senior police and public officials who have turned a blind eye.”
She added that both Conservative and Labour parties were “equally to blame” for the current situation.
Oliver resigned from Greater Manchester Police in 2012 after uncovering police failings in investigating grooming gangs.