By Aneeta Prem MBE JP
When truth is treated as a threat, children pay the price.
The resignation of survivors from the UK grooming gangs inquiry has exposed a deeper crisis — the public’s loss of faith in the very institutions designed to protect them.
“The scope of this inquiry must be agreed with survivors. Widening it too far will only dilute it.”
Aneeta Prem MBE, quoted in 360wire (6 November 2025)
This was never simply an administrative issue. It is about justice, power, and how a nation responds when it discovers that its most vulnerable children were systematically betrayed.
For over two decades, the UK has faced the devastating reality of organised sexual exploitation.
In Rotherham, the Jay Report (2014) revealed that at least 1,400 children were abused between 1997 and 2013. Victims were dismissed, blamed, or silenced. Officials feared controversy more than they feared continued abuse.
The Casey Review (2015) later found that the council was “in denial,” describing its approach as one that placed image over protection.
“Silence is never neutral. It sides with those who harm.”
Aneeta Prem MBE
After decades of denial, the national statutory inquiry was launched in 2025, following Baroness Louise Casey’s Rapid Audit of Group-Based Child Sexual Exploitation and Abuse.
Her report showed how ethnicity, data, and accountability had been “shied away from” by local authorities.
Prime Minister Sir Keir Starmer subsequently announced a full inquiry under the Inquiries Act 2005, intended to deliver long-overdue transparency.
But recent resignations from the survivor panel — including those of Fiona Goddard and Ellie-Ann Reynolds — suggest that old patterns of mistrust remain.
“If survivors speak and no one listens, silence wins again. Trust is not promised; it is proven.”
Aneeta Prem MBE
Following Baroness Casey’s audit, the inquiry will examine the role of ethnicity among offenders.
Some survivors welcome this, while others fear it risks distracting from systemic failure.
“Culture, religion and background should be no barrier to finding out who these people are and prosecuting them.”
Aneeta Prem MBE, in 360wire (2025)
The aim is not to stigmatise communities but to confront truth without fear. Both the ethnic and institutional dimensions must be examined together, or justice will remain incomplete.
For more than a decade, Freedom Charity has supported victims of forced marriage, grooming, and related sexual violence.
Our work has shown that genuine safeguarding cannot depend on public mood or politics — it must rest on law, empathy, and courage.
“Justice for survivors is not a political argument. It is a moral promise to put children before image and truth before comfort.”
Aneeta Prem MBE
Freedom will continue to advocate for survivor-centred leadership and full transparency within all inquiries into child sexual exploitation.
Britain’s response to grooming gangs will define our moral legacy.
This is not about blame; it is about responsibility. The inquiry must be transparent, survivor-led, and unflinching — or it will fail the very people it was created to serve.
“We have spent too long arguing about race and too little time fighting for children.”
Aneeta Prem MBE
Jay Report (2014)
Casey Review (2015)
Home Office Report (2020)
IICSA Final Report (2022)
Baroness Casey Audit (2025)
360wire, University of Sheffield (6 Nov 2025)
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